2 Pro Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Florida

Dale D · Dec 22, 2020

I am happy to present this little 2:40 minute holiday gift. It is a short video of the amazing architectural structure of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, also known as "The Guitar Hotel", is a hotel and casino resort near Hollywood, Florida, United States, located on 100 acres of the Hollywood Reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The property currently has one hotel tower, a 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2) casino, large poker room, a 4 acres lagoon-style pool facility with a center bar and many private cabanas, restaurants, shops, spa, bars and nightclubs, and the Hard Rock Event Center. A large expansion was completed in October 2019.

The resort has a 12-story "classic Hard Rock Hotel" with 469 guest rooms and suites. Guests are greeted by a 50-foot tall signature Hard Rock guitar, (based on a famous Gibson electric guitar model) at the entrance of the hotel, along with a massive LED advertising screen at the front of the main parking garage. The resort has 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) of meeting space, including a 38,000-square-foot exhibit hall.
The Hard Rock's $1.5 billion property expansion project added a 450-foot (140 m) "Guitar Hotel" with 638 rooms and a seven-story 168-room "Oasis Tower" overlooking the pool cabanas—these new buildings were scheduled to open on October 24, 2019, several months in advance of Super Bowl LIV being held in Miami on February 2, 2020. The expansion also included a 42,000-square-foot "Rock Spa", and over 20 new dining and nightlife destinations. Between the existing 12-story hotel, new Guitar Hotel, and new Oasis Tower, over 1,200 hotel rooms became available in October 2019.

Photography performed using two (2) Nikon D750 DSLR bodies and two (2) 28-300mm,f/3.5-5.6 lenses, Really Right Stuff tripod, DJI Osmo Action camera, Apple iPhone XI pro max video, DJI Mavic 2 Pro not exceeding 70 feet, Adobe Photoshop CC2021, Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software, and LRTimelapse 5.4 timelapse software. No filming was done on the actual property. The film is a combination of timelapse photography, single images, images shot from a stable (non flying) position of 70 feet directly above my filming position across the street from the hotel.

Click here for the film and be sure to go full screen by clicking the small box of 4 arrows on the lower right hand corner of the image.

Thomas B · Dec 22, 2020

Not much drone footage, but love the capture of all the lighting effects on the building. Well done!

Dale D · Dec 22, 2020

Thomas B said:
Not much drone footage, but love the capture of all the lighting effects on the building. Well done!

Tom:
There most certainly would have been a lot more drone footage, but when I got to the filming site, I realized I was in the no fly zone of Fort Lauderdale International Airport! I was able to see landing planes nearby! Yikes! I thought I had more leeway but the Airmap only allowed less than 100 feet above ground level. Also, the hotel is under the very strict policing of the Seminole Native American tribe and they have a fierce reputation of being very strict. I was really very afraid to move an inch forward towards the hotel. So I behaved myself, and listened to the good fairy on my shoulder and stopped my temptation to do all sorts of aerial maneuvers around the hotel that I had already pre-planned. I opted, instead, for more safety instead of a night in jail. I found a grassy lawn in front of a Mac Donald's Hamburger restaurant across from the hotel and did most of the filming from there. I was able to put the drone 60 feet right above my head, for some nice elevated shots, and even a panorama stitched in Photoshop. The site was a 50 minute drive on a tollway from my house so I didn't want to waste the trip.

Dale

Thomas B · Dec 22, 2020

Dale D said:
Tom:
There most certainly would have been a lot more drone footage, but when I got to the filming site, I realized I was in the no fly zone of Fort Lauderdale International Airport! I was able to see landing planes nearby! Yikes! I thought I had more leeway but the Airmap only allowed less than 100 feet above ground level. Also, the hotel is under the very strict policing of the Seminole Native American tribe and they have a fierce reputation of being very strict. I was really very afraid to move an inch forward towards the hotel. So I behaved myself, and listened to the good fairy on my shoulder and stopped my temptation to do all sorts of aerial maneuvers around the hotel that I had already pre-planned. I opted, instead, for more safety instead of a night in jail. I found a grassy lawn in front of a Mac Donald's Hamburger restaurant across from the hotel and did most of the filming from there. I was able to put the drone in the air for some nice elevated shots, and even a panorama stitched in Photoshop. The site was a 50 minute drive on a tollway from my house so I didn't;t want to waste the trip.

Dale

Figured that was the kind of thing you had going on.
Enjoyed the video!

Lens · Dec 23, 2020

Loved the lighting too, and the combination of timelapses

wind-up · Dec 23, 2020

Dale D said:
I am happy to present this little 2:40 minute holiday gift. It is a short video of the amazing architectural structure of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, also known as "The Guitar Hotel", is a hotel and casino resort near Hollywood, Florida, United States, located on 100 acres of the Hollywood Reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The property currently has one hotel tower, a 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m2) casino, large poker room, a 4 acres lagoon-style pool facility with a center bar and many private cabanas, restaurants, shops, spa, bars and nightclubs, and the Hard Rock Event Center. A large expansion was completed in October 2019.

The resort has a 12-story "classic Hard Rock Hotel" with 469 guest rooms and suites. Guests are greeted by a 50-foot tall signature Hard Rock guitar, (based on a famous Gibson electric guitar model) at the entrance of the hotel, along with a massive LED advertising screen at the front of the main parking garage. The resort has 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) of meeting space, including a 38,000-square-foot exhibit hall.
The Hard Rock's $1.5 billion property expansion project added a 450-foot (140 m) "Guitar Hotel" with 638 rooms and a seven-story 168-room "Oasis Tower" overlooking the pool cabanas—these new buildings were scheduled to open on October 24, 2019, several months in advance of Super Bowl LIV being held in Miami on February 2, 2020. The expansion also included a 42,000-square-foot "Rock Spa", and over 20 new dining and nightlife destinations. Between the existing 12-story hotel, new Guitar Hotel, and new Oasis Tower, over 1,200 hotel rooms became available in October 2019.

Photography performed using two (2) Nikon D750 DSLR bodies and two (2) 28-300mm,f/3.5-5.6 lenses, Really Right Stuff tripod, DJI Osmo Action camera, Apple iPhone XI pro max video, DJI Mavic 2 Pro not exceeding 70 feet, Adobe Photoshop CC2021, Adobe Premiere Pro video editing software, and LRTimelapse 5.4 timelapse software. No filming was done on the actual property. The film is a combination of timelapse photography, single images, images shot from a stable (non flying) position of 70 feet directly above my filming position across the street from the hotel.

Click here fore the film and be sure to go full screen by clicking the small box of 4 arrows on the lower right hand corner of the image.

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wonderful construction. I made a promotion from vimeo to the page I have on facebook, photo-news.gr

Squidinc · Dec 23, 2020

Brilliant. Great information, beautifully shot, flown & edited. ???

SmilingOgre · Dec 23, 2020

Beautiful work! Love seeing both drone and ground video combined.

Karlewski · Dec 23, 2020

Thanks Dale! Cool experience!

Photo Beaty · Dec 23, 2020

Dale, you are a master at making interesting videos. I also appreciate that you share technical information about how you got the video and some of the constraints you had to work with.

Karlewski · Dec 23, 2020

As much as I hate to say it, especially here. The best videos are always with many cameras but, if drone alone, only short videos really work, maybe a bit longer if there is good music and or commentary. . .

Jack43 · Dec 23, 2020

Karlewski said:
As much as I hate to say it, especially here. The best videos are always with many cameras but, if drone alone, only short videos really work, maybe a bit longer if there is good music and or commentary. . .

I agree 100% with you Karlewsky ?
cheers Paul

Dale D · Dec 23, 2020

Karlewski said:
As much as I hate to say it, especially here. The best videos are always with many cameras but, if drone alone, only short videos really work, maybe a bit longer if there is good music and or commentary. . .

Karlewski:

I am confused by your statement. Was that a positive or a negative?

My style has evolved to multi-media rather than just pure single media. Thus, I try to combine timelapse (using DSLR), timelapse using Osmo Pocket, timelapse using Osmo Action camera, and timelapse using iPhone. Combined with those 4 sources of timelapse, I then add drone footage, and single shot images from all sources, especially DSLR. The Seminole film used the Mavic 2 Pro to capture 4 images at a height of 60 feet for a panorama (opening shot of film), as well as single images of the various color displays taken both with the drone at 60 feet as well as from a tripod (DSLR).

I was severely constrained at the Seminole. As explained, I was being chased by the Indian police, and I was near the Ft. Lauderdale Airport landing path. Airmap only allowed 100 ft ceiling and I only put the drone up above my head to clear the auto traffic and trees, about 40-60 feet. I didn't dare fly towards the hotel structure. I never realized the geographic layout was so constrained until I made the one hour drive from my house, so I just made the best of it and got what I could get.

Dale

Karlewski · Dec 23, 2020

Totally Positive Dale, always better with many different cameras, just hate to say it on a drone forum.
My friend, that story is hilarious! You could have make one silly funny spy type movie with that surrounding story including a selfie shot with the Indian coppers in hot pursuit. LOL I can see it now!
That explains the inability to lower your shutter speed assuming you shot with your I phone for the time-lapse. I am a big fan of the phone lapses . . . for its simplicity but, I am trying to get myself to shoot them in raw on a micro 4/3 Panasonic G85 to really spruce them up, such a PITA though!
Here is a phone lapse I shot just the other day! Cheers buddy

Dale D · Dec 23, 2020

Karlewski said:
Totally Positive Dale, always better with many different cameras, just hate to say it on a drone forum.
My friend, that story is hilarious! You could have make one silly funny spy type movie with that surrounding story including a selfie shot with the Indian coppers in hot pursuit. LOL I can see it now!
That explains the inability to lower your shutter speed assuming you shot with your I phone for the time-lapse. I am a big fan of the phone lapses . . . for its simplicity but, I am trying to get myself to shoot them in raw on a micro 4/3 Panasonic G85 to really spruce them up, such a PITA though!
Here is a phone lapse I shot just the other day!

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Cheers buddy

That sunset of yours was really spectacular. The America West has amazing sunsets.

There is even MORE to the story but I would not tell it on a forum such as this. I was nearly arrested! The story is longer but I cannot tell it here. The Seminole tribe police this hotel site like they are looking for a jail break!

I am continuously amazed as the quality of my Apple iPhone XI Pro Max. Its low light capabilities are amazing to me. Some of the video was made using the mini Manfrotto tripod and the iPhone holder. I did a time lapse, and a regular video of the illumination of the guitar hotel in the dark! I had so much fun, I spent a total of 5 hours from my door in South Miami, up the turnpike, and back to my house, and at least 3 full hours at the site. The editing took about 5 hours. All for 2:40 minutes of show. But so much fun and pleasure!