'Three Kids Mine' outside Las Vegas

[ToTheSummit]

So as a brand new drone pilot of one month (Mavic Mini) this was the first time I went and shot footage specifically to edit into an artistic video. I'm not a great pilot yet and I just used the free video editor provided with Windows 10 (built into the photo app) so I'm not thrilled with the finished product. Most notably this program doesn't provide any transition effects between shots and I hate sharp edits like that. But hey, its my first video with the new toy.

A little history...the Three Kids Mine just outside of Las Vegas opened in 1916 and provided manganese ore to support U.S. war efforts through 3 wars (WWI, WWII and Korea) before it was mothballed and abandoned in the early 1960s. Since then it has been a hot spot for people to explore during the day and kids to party during the nights. Rockhounds can find many interesting minerals here as well. The site has been the subject of legislation targeting clean up efforts to address the environmental damage at the nearly 1000 acre site.

A couple notes about the video:
1) I wanted to come shoot here specifically to do the "Wheel of Fortune" shot at 1:12
2) You can see the city of Las Vegas prominently in the background starting at 3:20
3) To get an idea of the size of the open pit note the 2 people walking in it about halfway up on the left side of the pit at around 4:30

Hope you enjoy. Any tips or criticisms welcomed.

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[MAvic_South_Oz]

Nice job for early flying / basic editing.
I'm still at basic editing, after 3-1/2 years, ha ha.

The 2 standouts for me were the wheel and the open cut pit.

Some vision down in the pit would've been good to get, you'd have to get closeish to the edge and watch signal, but it'd be nice to see some of the things down there.

The wheels effect, liked that.
Did you manage to do that in editing, or (more likely) you flew up and yawed ?
If flying, the mini did a good job of rising without lateral movement.

Try ad get the footage down a bit shorter in time, a few minutes tops.
There was a lot of shots of the round pits, probably a couple of passes over those would have sufficed.

Again, nice effort for a new pilot / editor.

 

[ToTheSummit]

Thanks for the comments. The wheel effect was done in flight. The mini did a better job than I expected. I may go back and shoot the site again. I will most likely stand at the rim of the pit for the very purpose you stated (flying into the pit) and also the site continues further up the hill from where these shots were taken.

Def need to shorten things up. Wife said the same thing when she watched it. A couple dramatic, sweeping flyovers would be more than enough and cut in some more closeups. Keep it around 3 min.

 

[TCMini]

Great job. Very interesting place to fly. Thanks for the information and sharing your first edit.

 

[Mavic Maxwell]

Impressed To The Summit!
From the heading I thought it was going to be a family outing with 3 Kids of Yours LOL.
Looking forward to tracking your learning curve. You will get great tips from some great experience on this forum.
Welcome mate and stay safe...from Down Under