Drones

[Roger Van Duyn]

You should have seen the look on my insurance agent's face when I asked her how getting a drone might affect my business liability premiums, or even if it would be covered by my policy at all.

And that was before the drone fell out of the sky onto the White House lawn.

Needless to say, she didn't have an answer, and I reassured her I was joking. I have enough gear to keep track of and take care of.

Seriously though. We've seen all the agonizing over some of the copyright violation lawsuits in wedding videos. Yet some guys still use unlicensed music.

Just imagine a liability lawsuit from someone getting injured. A lot of my work is corporate video, not wedding video. Some of my clients have Risk Management departments. Some of the venues are likely to be risk averse as well. Will this stop everyone from using drones? Probably not. Sooner or later, some videographer using a drone is going to get sued. Big time.

[Ross Hunter]

Totally off topic.

Hi, Ian, it's been a long time.

Ross Hunter
Orange, VA

[Ian Atkins]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I see that the known ones like Joe Simon, Ray Roman etc have one in use

How is it that high-profile wedding videographers are getting away with this type of work/footage? Joe Simon even lists a drone on his website as part of the gear that he uses. I know that FAA waivers are few and far between.

Can it be that they have some sort of successful work-around? I, personally, would have no issue at all using the drone for establishing shots of the venues I cover since most of them are vineyards in rural parts of Virginia. But I wouldn't bring it into a metropolitan area.

And I'm sure if we had greater permission to use it, we would also find it more beneficial than simply obtaining establishing shots. I'm afraid that type of permission will be years away in America. In the meantime, I'll keep practicing, using it for hobby work, and imitating other crane/jib movements that I can use without screaming "drone" shots.

For example, here's some test shots I used with the drone at a local vineyard. Some of these shots imitate other types of camera movement that wouldn't call attention to the FAA or anyone else:

Keswick Vineyards Test Footage on Vimeo

I'm not advocating to cheat the system. I'm basically just remaining optimistic that if we can eventually get more commercial permission, we as videographers will be able to achieve some really neat camera movement and angles without bring all that massive gear typically associated with these types of shots.

[Noa Put]

Can it be that they have some sort of successful work-around?

Joe Simon also seemed to have a good work-around when he used commercial music in his trailers until someone in the wrong place and time was notified about that which resulted in a large claim from the music industry. Those guys are not above the law but maybe just crossing the lines a bit hoping no-one will react.
What also could help is that they often shoot in other countries which might have strict laws as well but if they don't get caught on the spot, if no accidents happen and once they traveled back to their own country they can do what they want with it I guess.

[Dave Partington]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

What also could help is that they often shoot in other countries which might have strict laws as well but if they don't get caught on the spot, if no accidents happen and once they traveled back to their own country they can do what they want with it I guess.

Which is how drone footage of central London ended up being treated - the person had left the country and was beyond reach, yet if I'd flown there and shot that footage in those same circumstances I'd be in court as fast as I could connect my batteries.