Motorcycle Video - what I learned

[ddodell]

Newish pilot flying the Mavic 2 Pro ... usually my videos and photos are of landscapes ... but I have a friend who rides his motorcycle in the desert, so I thought I do something new; and learned a-lot from my first experience ... things I would do differently next time;


(1) Try and coordinate the shots more with rider and drone pilot coordinating by radio. We tried to coordinate the shots by discussing in advance, but if something didn't get lined up right, I had no way to stop him from continuing. Wasted a lot of time.

(2) Take more video from either the side, or head-on versus following all the time, need to break up the view/orientation to keep it interesting. Tried using ActiveTrack for a heads on shot with the thought the drone would fly backwards ... but instead it kept rotating so it was a rear view ... anyway to use ActiveTrack to come from the front and fly backwards tracking the object oncoming?

(3) Tried ActiveTrack 2 several times ( the open 15 seconds are ActiveTrack) ... but found with all of the shadows and brush, that track was lost very easily. Better to fly manually most of the time, but this meant do a higher, more wide angle shot to keep rider in the frame.

(4) Trying to watch the drone flight and filming a moving object is hard for one person. I certainly understand why professional drones such as the Inspire have separate controls for video and pilot. One part of the video I thought I was getting a good shot as I was getting closer to the riders. I realized after a few seconds that the slope of the land was going up fairly quickly and I was loosing vertical distance space to the ground and tall cactus ... I was so centered on my video, I was loosing orientation of the drone ... not good ( luckily no harm done ).

(5) Same as #4 ... would have wanted more low angle, closer video, but was concerned about tall cactus, ground constantly changing altitude, and trying to video and fly at the same time.


Any other critique would be appreciated.

David

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[LazyBird]

Take more video from either the side, or head-on versus following all the time, need to break up the view/orientation to keep it interesting.

Nice video, must have been challenging. Perhaps placing yourself mid-point between start and finish points could be a good strategy so you get a better chance to talk and coordinate with the rider when he reaches that mid-point.

 

[ddodell]

Nice video, must have been challenging. Perhaps placing yourself mid-point between start and finish points could be a good strategy so you get a better chance to talk and coordinate with the rider when he reaches that mid-point.

Good suggestion, however, some of the video is taken from a distance away from me ... rider still would have had to go a distance before he found me.

Also for safety purposes, I was in the staging area ... there were multiple motorcycles and ATV type vehicles in the area ... It would not have been a good idea for me to be in the middle of it standing in the desert

That is why I was thinking of a 2 way radio system ... my friend's helmet would handle the hookup ... just didn't think to bring them ( Two Family Radio Service type UHF radios ) ... good for a couple of miles in the empty desert.

 

[53-63-6f-74-74]

Sudden yaws and gimbal pitches never look good in videos. The best drone videos I have seen are those that almost make you forget that they are. The sudden movements are a constant reminder. I also agree that more low angle shots would be great. A quick aerial scout of the area could determine a minimum safe height, or instead of always chasing, find a safe low-angle vantage point and let the bike come to you.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Not bad at all.
For a dramatic shot would hovering ( at the correct height some feet above the rider ) and getting him to ride towards & under the drone work ?

 

[ddodell]

Not bad at all.
For a dramatic shot would hovering ( at the correct height some feet above the rider ) and getting him to ride towards & under the drone work ?

Like the suggestion ...

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Mixing up the shots with different perspectives would make it more interesting. Front, back, side, close, far, etc.

 

[ddodell]

Mixing up the shots with different perspectives would make it more interesting. Front, back, side, close, far, etc.

Yep agree 100% ... mentioned both of those in #2 and #5 of my critique .. after I started editing ... removed about 20 minutes of very boring repetitive video

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

Yep agree 100% ... mentioned both of those in #2 and #5 of my critique .. after I started editing ... removed about 20 minutes of very boring repetitive video

Your right, my suggestions were already covered in your great self critique. I read your post but then my terrible short term memory got the best of me before I posted.

 

[ddodell]

Your right, my suggestions were already covered in your great self critique. I read your post but then my terrible short term memory got the best of me before I posted.

No problem at all ... doesn't hurt to hear it again ... helps confirm my own critique ... I really appreciate feedback, and enjoy looking at others videos/photos and techniques ... I'm not a very "creative" person ... my thinking is always logical and mathematical in orientation, and I've learned a ton just watching our more creative fellow pilots videos.

 

[Mav1c]

Beautiful country out there!

 

[dmac1]

I ride dirt bikes and recently tried my Mavic Pro 1 in similar terrain.

I too found Active Track modes Trace and Profile to be woefully inadequate for high speed action. I could get the drone to stay with me, even at a decent speed (slow actually tho for a dirt bike) but slow down suddenly or turn and the drone loses the object and even me riding under the drone wouldn't get active track to 'connect' again.

I found Spotlight to be the most useful mode...but I didn't get to try Follow me. Spotlight too was problematic though because of its optical connection to the subject and if the drone is flown too far from the subject, connection is lost. With a good pilot and a small riding area, I think a decent video could be obtained...probably you got most of your vid with Spotlight?

Follow Me might work, but whether the resulting video is useful seems like it will be a crap shoot as far as camera aim. Have you gotten it to provide any useful vid?? Follow me is problematic for a rider in that I've not yet found a good way to have the controller/phone accessible and ride the bike.

For me to capture good drone video, likely I'd need riders to ride the same segment multiple times and get multiple takes, which pretty much ruins the fun of riding. I'd guess you too had to have your subjects ride the same course multiple times. Straight line courses seem best at this point, which is what I saw your vid mostly contained.

Clearly, a wrist watch like device that the drone follows, like what a Staaker uses, would be best for tracking a bike. Maybe DJI will go that route some day and then they will have a product that might do what I would like. I'd also like better obstacle avoidance than what my MP1 has, and it needs to fly alot faster in the intelligent flight modes.

 

[Bigbird48]

Where was this shot? I think you mean Boulder OHV

 

[ddodell]

Where was this shot? I think you mean Boulder OHV

Ooops, yep typo fixing it now

 

[ddodell]

Beautiful country out there!

Yep, funny I got so wrapped in the subject ( taping the motorcycle ) ... that I forgot how beautiful the terrain was and could have used more video of the area to intermix in with the action ... another lesson learned ... use the surrounding landscape to set the location.

 

[Bigbird48]

yes beautiful in the winter not so much in June, July and Aug LOL