Aerial Wedding Cinematography... new venture or adventure?

[Andrew Waite]

I don't want anyone to think we are just throwing caution to the wind here. This is very different than the infamous "flying lawnmower" which was a gas powered plane. That was 1979 and there is a huge difference between 30 year old gas powered technology and the electric technology of today. I have to reiterate, I'm not making excuses for why we did what we did, but you have to fully understand the technology before making a judgment. I just typed in the words killed... wedding... accident... death... into google and I'm shocked to see some of the horrible things that have happened to people at their weddings. It's seems like I'm taking a lot of flak on this thread when it's those horrible limo drivers we should be concerned about! What would you think is more dangerous, Bowling or Paintball... if your guessed Bowling, you are wrong. Paintball is statistically safer than Bowling... or even Tennis. Why? Safe guards... sure a lot of people are going to thing hurling balls at high speeds at peoples heads is totally unsafe, but those same people don't understand the sport, technology, and the safe guards that are in place. You are far more likely to hurt yourself or others with a bowling ball and America's Funniest Home Videos has proven that time and time again. Again... not downplaying safety in ANY way. At the same time don't be so quick to judge without fully understanding everything that was behind getting "The" shot. Anyway... hoping down from my soapbox for now/ :) I do appreciate the input... don't get me wrong.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Not to make too fine a point of it, but some 17 y.o. clown plowed through a red light and killed a pedestrian and flipped a huge school bus over... so should all Beemers be banned, because this one idiot used it improperly?


And we've all seen and been traumatized by the recent footage of innocent cameras being shattered by golf balls, hockey pucks and baseball bat fragments.

The PACC (People Against Cruelty to Cameras) is of course about to scream loudly for new standards where all future golf balls, hocky pucks and baseball bats must be "camera safe" and composed of soft foam like materials...

and the esteemed ambulance chasers (oops, honerable attorneys) Khan, Whee, Rheemum & Goode are putting together a class action lawsuit on behalf of the cameras ever damaged by flying objects, and of course a suit to compensate all the "victims" traumatized by the recklessness of all golf ball, hockey puck, and bat manufacturers, with manufacturers of "obejcts that can fly" expected to be added as "Does 4-10,000" as further facts about flying objects causing injury are uncovered...


<tongue removed from cheek>

Truly, rediculous lawsuits abound, so anything is possible, but getting out of bed can be DANGEROUS if improperly executed. It would appear that Andrew has put reasonable thought and taken appropriate steps in this undertaking. I don't think he's advocating going out and buying an R/C chopper, hooking up your cam and "flying a wedding" (from my simulator experience, neither would I!).

I actually appreciate the fact he sought out an experienced pilot and is taking this a step at a time, letting us in on what it takes. THAT is why the "new boot" poster coming in with a post (follow all the dead "links" in the link posted, you'll find FUD) making all sorts of wild and unsubstantiated claims struck me as "paranoia". Of if one prefers a "troll"...

Then again, I suppose I should get back to spray painting my tripods day-glo-orange and go get that order of traffic cones and caution tape that I'll be putting in a 15 foot perimeter around all my equipment in the future... gotta go! Anyone seen my tinfoil hat, I'm sure I had it here a moment ago, hope it wasn't sucked into another space-time rift by pan-dimensional aliens AGAIN!

[Peter Ralph]

Do you have a rider on your insurance to cover this?

[Warren Kawamoto]

Originally Posted by Andrew Waite

Amaud,

I appreciate your concern, but I think you might be a jumping to judgement a little too quickly here and blowing this way out of proportion Unlike most videographers out there we actually do have insurance.

Andrew, please explain how you got insurance, or even permission to fly a helicopter during wedding events. Does your insurance company know you're flying a camera/copter over people? Did you contact the owner/manager of the event site beforehand to acquire permission of what you'll be doing?

I'm just asking because putting cameras on helicopters is not new, its been around for many years now. However, being able to LEGALLY fly at any event is very new to me.

[Andrew Waite]

I really didn't want this thread to turn into a what's legal what's not legal debate. Point is it's neither legal nor illegal. It's unregulated... by anyone. Besides having a blanket general liability insurance (That DOES include both full sized man and unmanned helicopters on a case by case basis) we have separate liability insurance for the electric heli through the AMA. There are stricter laws and regulations in other countries, but so far here in the good ol' U S of A there really isn't any.... yet. The AMA just cooperates with the FCC and FAA for now.

[Ian Holb]

Andrew,

Thanks for sharing your work. It is really fantastic. Don't mind the fear-mongers. Fear is a great motivator for not taking risks and not improving your craft. If anybody knows the risks, it is people like you. If others get annoyed, angry or pissed at what you are doing, it means you are doing something right.

BTW, what model helicopter is that you are planning of upgrading to?

[Kyle Root]

At my day job, I work with helicopters from an engienering perspective. All day. Everyday. And have been since 2004.

What I can tell you is, on real aircraft there are in depth (I'm talking literally thousands of pages) maintenance and inspection procedures. I don't know anything about RC aircraft, but I would hope that there are routine maintenance and inspection procedures that are gone over before flight (think pre-flight checks) and after flight. That would alleviate the vast majority of issues related to mechanical or system type failures.

I think the videos are pretty awesome.

My friends and I have been dicussing trying something like this off and on for about 3 or 4 years, but never got up the guts to try it.

[Andrew Waite]

Thanks Ian and Kyle!

Kyle, there is a lengthy pre-flight check list and very regular maintenance. We're working on acquiring a newer more cutting edge system that is a lot less complicated mechanically... more details on that later.

[Warren Kawamoto]

Originally Posted by Andrew Waite

Second... it just LOOKS like we are flying low, but believe me lenses have a good way of fooling the eyes!

I have liability umbrella coverage for my business. I just showed your wedding clip of Lindsey and Luke to my insurance rep, specifically 1:09 where the helicopter clearly flies over the groomsmen less than 10 feet above their heads. She cringed, then told me that there would be absolutely no way ANY insurance company would approve this.

A very wide angle lens was obviously used to get that shot, which means that the camera must be closer to the subject to be effective, making the shot even more dangerous. My insurance company sees your helicopter as a 4 ft diameter carbon fiber knife, spinning at 2000rpm. Your video proved to her that the danger to innocent bystanders is very significant. She was so alarmed by what she saw that she even suggested contacting the forum administrator to delete this thread immediately. Chris Hurd, please take a look at the "Lindsey and Luke" footage 1:09. What do you think?

[Trevor Dennis]

I hope you take more care than these people.

Quadcopter hits groom in the head. // Epic Fail - Seriously - YouTube

[Pete Bauer]

That particular video is being discussed in a dedicated thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...nto-groom.html

[Trevor Dennis]

Sorry Pete. I thought I'd searched this forum for Groom, before posting, and didn't find it.

[James Manford]

I'm not trolling but as stunning at these shots look... These RC helicopters are stunning tools for 'establishing shots' that's it.

I certainly wouldn't risk flying it during the wedding or over any people. You work so hard to build a reputation so it's not about insurance covering you. It's the negative publicity that would pursue afterwards should anything go wrong.

It's great you have a sponsored world class flyer so it might be ok for you, but any one else looking at this video and thinking of investing in a similar set up! think again!

[Chris Harding]

Hi James

I agree...they would be great to fly over the Church the day before but over the guests is a no-no! I had a quadracopter for my GoPro and they are tricky little suckers to fly plus all you need is one failure (mine had quite a few)

If you are insistent on getting aerial shots of the wedding party then the guy who tied a bunch of helium balloons to his GoPro and ran it up above them on a line worked pretty well and fairly safe too. Shucks you don't have to be too high anyway otherwise your people will look like ants so more often than not a big lighting stand behind the ceremony with a GoPro on top works great and provides a nice overview.

Chris

[Nigel Barker]

I have a 7m (23ft) lighting stand that I put a GoPro on sometimes if there s an outdoor drinks reception at he wedding but I rarely run it up to full height for as Chris points out the people will look like ants if the. Camera is too high.