Opinions on Editing - Drone Only Footage

[Patman Droneography]

When Putting together a video using footage only from the drone... I'm looking for opinions.
- How long for each clip?
- Length of entire video?
- Do you try to match the music to the scene?
- Do you edit to the music?
- What do you look for in transitions?
- What do you render at?
- Where do you upload?
- How much do you play with color?

My Latest

 

[BigAl07]

When Putting together a video using footage only from the drone... I'm looking for opinions.
- How long for each clip?
- Length of entire video?
- Do you try to match the music to the scene?
- Do you edit to the music?
- What do you look for in transitions?
- What do you render at?
- Where do you upload?
- How much do you play with color?

Below are my 2-cents worth:

- How long for each clip? No set time. Depends on the subject matter
- Length of entire video? No set time but after a couple of minutes most people zone out unless the video/action is REALLY good. Drone Only footage gets boring (in average) very quickly. Our "production" videos are usually 2 minutes or less.
- Do you try to match the music to the scene? The music should "compliment" the scene so yes usually.
- Do you edit to the music? No not ever. Some people (like me) find that very distracting. When I see something "edited to the music I tend to get caught up in anticipating the scene change with the beat more than the content I'm watching. Some people like it but I find it VERY distracting unless used VERY sporadically.
- What do you look for in transitions? Fancy Transitions (more often than not) are something we get fixated on early in our editing endeavors. Once we've been there and done that we go for simple (unnoticeable) transitions.
- What do you render at? Depends on the clients needs and scope of work.
- Where do you upload? Also depends on client and what they need/want. Sometimes direct delivery to the client, sometimes YT, sometimes Vimeo.
- How much do you play with color? Most of the time we "dabble" in color grading but I've found if I am not careful I'll spend a LOT of time going down that rabbit hole. Time is $$ so we try to do little to no color grading.

Keep in mind most of my current clients are Real Estate professionals or Construction companies so they aren't nearly as picky as if we were shooting for Disney or the Travel Channel.

 

[akdrone]

No answer to how long for each clip. 10 sec to a minute (rare). I do try to match the music to the scene. I use Epidemic music but sure as one person will like the music another won't. Musical tastes vary so make it how you like it. I don't edit to the music. I only edit for length and fading it out when I want. I rarely use anything but cross fades. Very rarely. Typically I don't bother rendering till it's all done but sometimes render a particular effect that requires it for me to view that it's what I want. I upload to YouTube and Facebook. I shoot in cine at all times so I always set whites and blacks and midtowns manually, increase saturation to taste and sharpen a bit. I rarely use pre-mixed luts or effects but I'm not above it if the mood calls for it. Most color manipulation is to warm a scene's color temp. Dunno if you can search by member name but I have one or two vids I've posted here. Nothing special, just amateur stuff, but I do enjoy working things up.

 

[db4476]

There are no fast and hard rules to making a video despite what the internet wags say. Experiment and find what works best for you. The three things common to all my videos/pictures are:

1) Capture the exposure in camera not in the editing software. This saves so much time, I rarely color correct.
2) Shoot for the edit, Another time saver.
3) Edit ruthlessly, most footage does not get used.

Watch films, commercials and other drone videos and study how they put it together. A good video flows along.

Practice and experiment, and you'll arrive at where you want to be, it's a learning process.

Cheers!

 

[baristabob]

I try to keep any scene less than a minute, more often way shorter. Try to back scenes doing the movement. Flying out to another flying out or a right to left to another right to left. My goal for YouTube, Facebook is less than 4 minutes
Then I find music which compliments the video.
Yes on color. Trying to match across clips.

 

[Jim D]

In your example I loved the slow-mo on the birds flying (some action), but it didn't enhance any more of the water shots. Many of your clips would have made good still photos, but were too long for video. Overall this footage might be cut down to 1.5 min. and be fine, but I scrubbed through after 30 sec.

 

[Dave Maine]

The reasons that drone movies are difficult, is that most viewers will not be as fascinated by the footage as the creator. In addition, there is generally no compelling story line created by the combination of shots.

For slow changing recorded events, like drone views shot hundreds of feet above ground 5-10sec max for shot time for the average viewer. If you want to hold a shot longer, consider speeding the shot up in post. Try to find a relationship in the cutting the shots together. Start with a wide shot to establish overall perspective, then concentrate on interesting details to keep the viewer engaged.

 

[MN.MavicFlyer]

When Putting together a video using footage only from the drone... I'm looking for opinions.
- How long for each clip?
- Length of entire video?
- Do you try to match the music to the scene?
- Do you edit to the music?
- What do you look for in transitions?
- What do you render at?
- Where do you upload?
- How much do you play with color?

My Latest

Your questions are all valid and tells me you want to do the best you can. I am a 3 year Mavic 2Pro owner and read a book suggested on this forum. It is “How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck.” by Steve Stockman. It will answer all your questions. After more than 2 years, I still re-read parts of it. Editing is a whole different ball game, and I had to answer my own question, do I want to fly my quad copter or spend the rest of my life learning editing. If you use Windows 10, there is a simple piece of editing that’s easy to grasp with You Tube help, and it’s buried within the ‘photos’ app. Try it.

 

[LenSavage]

I'll answer every one of your questions with questions.
Overall: Who is your target audience? What point / message are you putting forth?
Is the video; art, entertainment, educational, marketing or something else.
Cut to the music? Yes & no - depends. Clip length - total length? Depends. Transitions? Yes & no.
Where to upload? If the target audience is kids on cell phones and don't know quality and doesn't even notice that it downgraded to 720 or lower for a quick stream, then youtube or tic toc. If your audience are professionals who views with desktops or quality laptops and demands quality, go Vimeo or other high-end streaming servers.

Trade seats with the viewer. Forget what you are showing, focus on what they are seeing.
Most people suffer from SAS: Short attention span. Just sayin.
I personally would have carefully picked the 6 to 10 very best clips with the most variety and cut them to 6 to 10 seconds to end up at about 1 minute. The vast majority of viewers will never see the end of an 8 or 9 minute video with little variety or story. Most people would see the end of your video if it was 1 or 2 minutes.
In entertainment, it's 'always leave them wanting more'.
In business, it's 'Show then what they need to be impressed and hire you'.
In film & TV, it's 'Cut out everything that doesn't drive the story forward'.
Bottom line; make the point and move on.

Some of this is cut to the music and some not. Some color graded and some not. Every project is different.
Examples:
Cinematic Reel to showcase completed Film & TV projects to Producers

Document a construction project for the Contractor:

More similar to what you did except - maybe lower quality video but I believe MIGHT holds attention a bit better:

Keep shooting, keep editing, keep creating.
I'm now better than any of my published work - and improving.

 

[dronertv]

When Putting together a video using footage only from the drone... I'm looking for opinions.
- How long for each clip?
- Length of entire video?
- Do you try to match the music to the scene?
- Do you edit to the music?
- What do you look for in transitions?
- What do you render at?
- Where do you upload?
- How much do you play with color?

My Latest

One of the issues is that drone footage is typically "B" roll footage. In other words, it is not usually the main content of a video. You are not going to get a lot of view with most drone videos unless it is something really special - (flying into a volcano, one shot fpv of a bowling alley). There are a lot of drone videos out there, so it needs to be something compelling to get the views. When I make the videos, I make it mostly for myself. I don't expect a lot of views.

But to answer you questions

How long for each clip? - probably shorter than you think. A lot of drone clips go on with more of the same.
Length of video? - If is just drone clips, I keep to about 2 min.
Do you match music? - I usually start with the music and match the scene to the music.
Do you edit the music? - sometimes I will slow up or speed up slightly. But am usually editing the video more to match the music.
Transitions? - I don't use transition effect much. Less is more.
What do you render at? 4K 30fps - same I capture in
Where do you upload? - YouTube
How much do you play with color? - I fim in dlog - do do a significant amount of color grading.

In the end, it goes back to what you are trying to accomplish. For me it is a hobby and I enjoy the creative process. If I was doing it professionally, it would change the answers.