Drone Filmmaking Ultimate Guide

More and more frequently, some of the most iconic shots you see used in films and television shows don’t come from a person behind a camera.

Instead, it’s drones taking this footage.

Drones have redefined cinematography in short order, as they can reach places people can’t, take aerial shots that are dangerous for humans to do, and overall make filming and videoing safer, faster, and more efficient.

With such a boom in popularity, now is as good a time as ever to enter the professional drone filmmaking market. This guide will position you to start your career off on the right foot.

Join me as I share my favorite settings and drones for filming.

What is drone filmmaking?

Let’s begin with the basics. Drone cinematography or filmmaking is using a drone to record video footage.

It’s straightforward enough on the surface, but as you’ll see when I take a deep dive into drone filming settings later, it has a lot of nuance.

Rather than use a camera and boom to film, like on a set, the drone takes care of all filming duties.

As I alluded to in the intro, this is much safer than when humans do it, especially if shooting in potentially dangerous locations.

Drone videography has all sorts of uses. Here’s an overview.

» MORE: Benefits of Drone Technology in Recreation and Entertainment

Movie filming

The primary purpose of drone videography is for filming feature-length films. Drones have had an increasingly large role on movie sets, filming blockbusters such as The Wolf of Wall Street, 2012’s Skyfall, and the 2015 Jurassic World film.

From the perspectives of directors and producers, using a drone makes more sense. It may be less expensive to hire a drone pilot to film than a traditional cameraperson.

The expansive variety of shots the drone can capture also makes it the more beneficial choice.

I have a feeling we’re only beginning to see what drones can do in the movie biz!

Television filming

From the silver screen to your smartphone screen, TV shows have also jumped on the drone videography bandwagon.

Programs like Narcos, The Leftovers, The Mentalist, and Criminal Minds have embraced the use of drones for increasingly more scenes.

It’s not only sitcoms and dramas that utilize drones. Reality shows like Dual Survival also regularly showcase drone-captured footage.

» MORE: Benefits of Drone Videography (Explained for Beginners)

Documentary filming

While theoretically, any documentary could use drones, it’s unsurprising that the most prevalent usage has been for wildlife and nature documentaries.

Getting close to animals in a meaningful way is far too risky for your average human cameraperson.

Drones can do it instead, allowing you to capture footage that viewers won’t want to miss without risking your life.

News filming

Many drone videographers cut their teeth by working freelance (or on a contractual basis) for news agencies. You take five-star footage, then sell it to the highest-bidding station.

Drone-captured footage has an edge over videos taken from ground level.

» MORE: Benefits of Drone Technology in Media and Communication

Commercial filming

Although today’s average commercial might not use drones, in times when a company really wants to make a marketing impact, a videography drone is the perfect tool to use.

Super Bowl time is an excellent example of when a drone could be used to film a television commercial.

» MORE: Drone Jobs – How to Find Work as a Commercial Drone Pilot

Social media filming

Drones have excelled at social media shots for years, and they’re only improving. The DJI Mini series comes to mind right off the bat.

The newer drones in the Mini line have an adjustable gimbal that can take vertical footage that’s ready for social media filming.

Sports filming

One of the best uses of drone filmography is for shooting sports.

Although you need a permit to get a piece of the action, flying a drone lets you get closer to the field and the athletes without interrupting the high-octane drama.

» MORE: Best Online Drone Schools (Free & Paid)

How to choose a drone location to film

I don’t want to try to simplify matters, as this is one of the most challenging parts of your job! The location you use for filming sets the tone for the entire piece, so it has to be good.

These pointers will help you narrow your options.

Consider availability

If you’re flying a drone in the United States or other countries, be aware that the skies are divided into different airspace levels.

For example, there’s uncontrolled airspace, categorized as Class G, which is where most drones can fly.

As you get nearer high-traffic areas and airspace by airports, you enter restricted airspace. You can’t fly your drone in this airspace without the proper permissions.

Most drones will warn you if you enter restricted airspace to prevent you from making a costly mistake (your drone could get shot down, and you risk fines and potential imprisonment), and DJI drones will stop forward progress, making your drone hover instead.

Determine if you need a permit

Even if you know a few great places to fly a drone without a permit, the rules change once you use a UAV for videography purposes.

Parks, towns, cities, campuses, and neighborhoods may now require you to obtain a filming permit.

Here’s the thing with most permits: it can take weeks to get them, sometimes longer. The local powers that be always try to expedite the process, but even then, it may take a week or more for approval.

Make sure you research when and where you need a permit and apply for one with time to spare. This will help you stay on your filming schedule.

» MORE: Can You Fly A Drone Over Private Property?

Pick based on ambiance

Once you’ve gotten the red tape taken care of, so to speak, you’re free to select a location for the looks and feel of it.

From savannahs to abandoned buildings (not like you can legally go in many of them, but you can film around them) to forests, beaches, streets, and mountains, the world has so many places you can explore with your drone.

Use a 3D map or app

Before finalizing your decision, open an app or map with 3D modeling to determine the viability of your location. Google Maps is excellent for this.

» MORE: Best Drones for Nighttime Videography and Photography

How to plan drone filmmaking

You’re one step closer to getting your project off the ground, as you’ve got your location secured. Next, you need a roadmap to follow. Here’s how to build yours. 

1. Plan the scope of your project

What is the project going to be? Do you plan to film a feature-length film? A social media clip? A documentary?

Once you answer those questions, it’s time to determine how involved drones will be in your project.

While you can shoot an entire film or doc on a drone, since they have a battery life of 30 to 40 minutes on average (for most models, some last up to 50 minutes), you will have to film in short chunks.

That’s not to say it’s impossible. You can do it, but you’ll need to choose a site that has a lot of leeway regarding when and for how long you can film. You’ll also need plenty of spare batteries.

» MORE: Drone Photography Ultimate Guide

2. Go from mood board to storyboard

A mood board is for gathering inspiration. You could create a digital mood board using social media platform Pinterest or build a physical board.

Once you feel adequately inspired, create your storyboard, where you map out what will happen in your shoot, scene by scene.

You don’t need a storyboard for all types of drone filmography. For example, documentaries are sometimes more off-the-cuff, especially nature or wildlife documentaries, when you never know what will happen.

News filming also doesn’t require a storyboard.

3. Next, build a shot list

A shot list accompanies a storyboard, breaking down where angles, cuts, and transitions will go. Drones are capable of these tasks, so you should incorporate yours when planning the shot list.

Keep in mind that if you don’t have a storyboard for your project because of the film type, you also don’t need a shot list.

4. Obtain the required permits and permissions

Your filming project is beginning to take shape. Next, you need to obtain those aforementioned permits you need to film, as necessary.

5. Make a call sheet

You got your location and the permits to film there, so who will be your crew? The call sheet details who will do what and where.

This sheet also states when you’ll arrive for filming, how long you’ll be there, what the schedule looks like, and how many days you’ll spend filming.

6. Gather your equipment

Grab everything you need to get underway, from ND filters to spare batteries and SD cards. All other equipment pertinent to the shoot should be ready to go before you begin filming to avoid wasting time.

7. Start filming

Get those cameras rolling, as you’re officially underway.

Planning the project as you have means everything should progress more or less as anticipated, but unforeseen circumstances, like a stretch of bad weather, can delay your schedule.

» MORE: Best Weather Apps for Drones (You Need to Install)

8. Review footage and do retakes

Once you’ve gotten what you need, take the footage and comb over it. You might need to do several reshoots if time allows, so get that done. That’s a wrap!

» MORE: 3 Tips to Market Your Business with Drone Photography and Videography

What type of drone do you need for filming?

There are thousands of drones on the market, but not all are suitable for professional videography. I won’t make you go hunting for the ones that are; after all, you have a film to make.

Here are my top three recommended drones for filmmaking.

These drones are ideal for entry-level cinematographers – once you’re in the big leagues, you’ll need even bigger, more specialized equipment, but these are perfect to get you started.

DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine

If you’re a go-big-or-go-home type, the Mavic 3 Pro Cine is the drone for you, end of story.

The Mavic 3 Pro Cine broke some serious barriers in DJI drones, introducing a jaw-droppingly good triple-camera system.

Most drone filmmakers and videographers need several drones in their fleet.

However, this means the initial expense of purchasing multiple drones, then the inconvenience of registering them, maintaining their batteries, remembering what you filmed on each, amalgamating all the footage in post…you get what I mean. It’s a headache.

Is the Mavic 3 Pro Cine good enough to reduce your fleet size to just one? I think it could be. I know, those are big words, but let’s see what this drone is capable of.

One of the two tele cameras in the triple-camera system has a ½-inch CMOS lens with a 166-millimeter equivalent. It offers double the zoom, with 7x Optical Zoom and 28x Hybrid Zoom available.

Zooming is always an awesome feature to have in a drone camera, regardless, but as a videographer, it’s a must, especially if you shoot nature and wildlife documentaries.

» MORE: DJI Mavic 3 Pro vs. Mavic 3 Pro Cine (Here’s My Choice)

The second tele camera is a medium camera with a 1/1.3-inch CMOS lens and a 70-millimeter equivalent.

This camera also has a zoom function, albeit a little less impressive with 3x Optical Zoom. This camera is mostly for photography, as it promises 48 MP images.

The leading camera is a Hasselblad with a 4/3 CMOS and a 24-millimeter equivalent. This camera features a configurable aperture.

When taken altogether, you’re ready to use the Mavic 3 Pro to film wildlife, architecture, and nature, whether for a documentary, commercial, or news footage.

You’ll build your portfolio in a hurry with high-res footage that gets a client’s attention.

The Hasselblad camera includes exclusive technology called Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution to reinvigorate your videos, instilling in them gorgeous, natural, lifelike colors that create a more immersive viewing experience.

The 10-bit D-Log M has a palette of a billion colors, the most expansive DJI has yet to offer.

The 5.1K video quality, when shot at 50 fps and 4K at 120 fps, is top-notch quality from DJI. Your footage will stay clear, crisp, and concise. With Night Shots, you can film after dark with less loss of quality.

The Mavic 3 Pro Cine has more Apple ProRes support codecs across the cameras than the OG Mavic 3 Pro, hence why it’s my choice for the budding videographer.

Better yet, more default storage space, up to a terabyte.

I mean, I’m sure you’re in love already, but the Mavic 3 Pro Cine also includes a 43-minute advertised battery life, APAS 5.0, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, multidirectional awareness, and obstacle avoidance.

The automated flight modes will free up your hands so you can expand your imagination. You can send the Mavic 3 Pro Cine on nearly any path you desire with Waypoints, or let it fly in a preset direction with Cruise Control.

If disaster strikes, the Smart RTH features will return this costly drone to you unscathed.

Autel EVO II Pro V3

If you want to move away from DJI, you can’t go wrong with a superb drone like the EVO II Pro V3. This has long been my favorite Autel drone.

Despite the high price tag, the bundle available with this drone makes every last cent worth it.

I don’t know about you, but I hate when I go out on the field and run out of what I need. This bundle has everything from extra batteries to props, so you can focus on your work and not stress about the small stuff.

While the EVO II Pro only has one camera, I promise you, it’s worth your while, or I wouldn’t be discussing it here. It’s a Sony camera with a one-inch CMOS that takes 6K Ultra HD video and supports an ISO of up to 44,000.

» MORE: Autel EVO II Pro vs. DJI Mavic 3 Pro (Here’s What I Like)

Like the DJI drone, the EVO II Pro has the Moonlight Algorithm 2.0 for nighttime filming, and with HDR, your time in post might be substantially lessened.

A 10-bit color log is comparable to anything DJI’s drones can achieve, so you don’t have to feel like you’re missing out if you choose one versus the other.

The advertised 40-minute battery life (which is a bit less than that in real life) and 45-mile-per-hour flight speed make this drone awesome for filming on the field or off.

It also has some of the best obstacle avoidance I’ve ever seen, as this drone has almost 20 different sensor groups for detecting trouble wherever it arises.

The tracking the EVO II Pro offers is sure to impress. Its Dynamic Track 2.0 can track almost 65 subjects simultaneously for advanced-level filming.

DJI Mini 3 Pro

I could have selected the Mini 4 Pro, or the newer, more beginner-centric Mini 2 SE, but if you know one thing about me from reading my posts, it’s that I love the Mini 3 Pro. That’s not without its reasons.

While the Mini 4 Pro might have some advancements in technology, the Mini 3 Pro still holds up remarkably well and costs a little less when buying it new.

Unlike the above two drones, the Mini 3 Pro weighs remarkably little, under 249 grams. That makes it the perfect travel-friendly companion.

Its 4K HDR video is not the highest quality and is, in fact, the lowest ranking of the three, but that would be the case whether you chose this drone or the Mini 4 Pro.

That quality still holds up, if you ask me, mostly due to the drone’s D-Cinelike Color profile.

» MORE: DJI Mini 3 Pro vs. DJI Mavic 2 (Here’s My Choice)

The Mini 3 Pro has obstacle sensing and avoidance through the slightly older APAS 4.0. However, I’ll take it, considering how many Mini drones don’t have any form of obstacle avoidance.

The default battery on this drone isn’t astonishing at 34 advertised minutes. That’s why I recommend upgrading your battery to the Intelligent Flight Battery Plus for more than 40 minutes in the air (which was the result every time I tested this drone).

With True Vertical Shooting for social media usage, FocusTrack for subject tracking, Digital Zoom for finding your target, and MasterShots for less time editing, the Mini 3 Pro is an all-around excellent option.

What are the best settings for drone filming?

You chose a drone, and you’re so excited to dig in. As you start filming, keep these settings in mind for high-caliber footage that will impress any client.

Video format and filming resolution

What altitude are you shooting at? That will dictate the optimal video format you should select.

For example, if you’re taking low-altitude drone video between 30 and 100 meters, Full HD with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or 2K with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 suffices.

Higher-altitude video between 100 and 250 meters calls for 4K or UHD footage with a resolution of 4096 x 2160.

» MORE: Drone Cinematography- Getting Started in Drone Filmmaking

Drone filming frames per second

The filming frame rate, represented as frames per second or fps, should be 25 to 30 fps for drone cameras. If you shoot in slow-mo, increase the frame rate accordingly to at least 60 fps. You could even go as high as 120 fps.  

Drone filming aspect ratio

An aspect ratio is the width to height of an image in the frame. In simpler terms, it’s the shape of the image.

For example, most social media stories you see on Instagram or Facebook are shot in 16:9 ratio, which is taller than it is wider.

Most drones, such as those by DJI, start with a native aspect ratio of 4:3. Many have support for ratios of up to 16:9 and are usually togglable in the settings.

» MORE: 5 Essential Safety Rules You Need to Consider When Filming with a Drone

Color, exposure, and white balance

Color grading dictates how richly colored your drone footage is. The best drones for videography on the market today have amazing color grading built in, such as DJI’s D-Log M.

The effects are usually natural but attention-grabbing, and you can always adjust the color grading in post if you want something more eye-popping.

I should talk about the relationship between color and exposure. The color settings are affected by the exposure you use, which can wipe away all the hard work you poured into getting your colors just right.

That’s why exposure settings should come first, followed by color grading second. Before you begin with either, you need the correct white balance, ensuring you have true whites.

Without white balance, your colors can skew bluer or more orange, coloring the whites unnaturally and destroying the color balancing of your drone image.

Check your drone’s camera settings before you begin filming. If you set your drone to manual mode, you can toggle between several settings, including those that let you adjust the degree of whiteness.

Keep in mind that even if you set the white balance perfectly, it can still sometimes come across as less than pure when shooting. However, the degree of color saturation won’t be as high as if you ignore this setting altogether and is usually easily fixable in post.

» MORE: How To Make Your First Drone Film

Framing a drone video

Another cinematography element to familiarize yourself with as you begin shooting drone videos is framing. If you come from a photography background, this should be a very familiar concept to you, but if not, I’ll explain.

Framing is all about putting elements into the camera’s frame. Where is your main target focused? That’s framing.

Depending on the type of drone filming you do, you’ll either get heavy-duty into framing or use it less so. For example, if you’re working on movies or television shows, you need to use framing to set up the shot for the main character and secondary characters.

If you’re filming a construction site or rental property for sale, you still use framing, but your work is more cut and dried. Your subject is static rather than dynamic, which makes framing easier.

Framing a shot properly comes down to three factors: balance, relationship, and size.

Balance refers to how balanced a shot is. In other words, are the elements on the right and left of your frame balanced in relation to one another, or does your shot skew heavily toward the left or right?

In the latter scenario, your shot lacks balance.

Relationships mean how you frame characters if you do cinematic drone filming. The way you frame more than one character can tell you a lot about their relationship without them having to verbally express it. Are they acrimonious, friendly, even romantic? Framing tells you!

The last of the three elements is size. You can frame a subject at various sizes, and which you choose denotes how important the subject is.

Manual vs. auto drone videos

The next consideration is whether to use auto or manual settings for your drone videos.

As the names imply, auto means your drone’s sensors engage with their surroundings to determine the best settings based on the amount of light and the richness of the colors around you.

Manual drone settings require you to go in and configure each setting yourself.

Both have their pros and cons. Using auto mode can’t be beat if you’re pressed for time and want to get shooting ASAP, such as if you had a schedule conflict and a late start to the day.

If you’re already behind, you’ll want to get as much done that day as you can, so it’s not a lost cause.

However, auto settings might not always be necessarily what you would have chosen yourself. Perhaps the settings are a little too light on the color grading or overdo it on the exposure.

Maybe you can ignore the former, promising yourself to edit the colors in post, but you can’t ignore high exposure. It’s too egregious.

In that case, you have to stop what you’re doing and configure the settings anyway, so you’re not saving that much time in the end.

Manually adjusting your settings takes more time, and it often requires a degree of trial and error. Even if you know how some settings work from your experience with drone videography, you have to remember that each drone is different.

Even drones from the same manufacturer could give you slightly different results when using about the same settings.

Additionally, most drone videography settings are dynamic, meaning they change as your surroundings do, so it’s not like you’ll set one and never change it.

In my experience, and that of many other pilots, manual is the way to go. Yes, it takes more time to set up, and there’s a learning curve, but once you master manual, it will take you further.

You’ll get better-quality footage with fewer discrepancies in color shifting, ISO, and shutter speed.

» MORE: Best Drones to Film a Wedding

Normal vs. HDR videos

High dynamic range or HDR video produces more brightness and color than normal settings.

Standard dynamic range or SDR has a smaller color and brightness range, resulting in reduced sharpness, duller colors, and less definition between highlights and lowlights.  

Some scenarios might call for SDR videography, but HDR has higher quality overall.

» MORE: Do’s and Don’ts When Shooting Drone Videography

Best drone movements for cinematic filming

It’s time to take your drone on the move! If you aren’t already, incorporate the following techniques into your cinematic footage for jaw-dropping shots.

Fly over

The fly over technique requires you to hover your drone over your subject from a distance. As you record, get near your subject, keeping them centered.

Next, tilt the camera downward, still maintaining that center framing.  

TV shows, movies, music videos, and commercials use the fly over a lot. Next time you’re watching Netflix or YouTube, keep your eyes peeled for it!

Tilt up from low to the ground

Create dynamism in your drone videography with this move. Begin by hovering your drone near the subject, keeping the device nearer the ground, maybe a foot or two if you’re comfortable with that.

Set the camera downward, then fly toward the subject, tilting the camera upward. This creates a reveal of your subject. Reduce your gimbal pitch speed for this type of shot, keeping it at about 10.

Top-down

How about focusing the camera on your subject from above? That’s the top-down method, which has a few variations.

The first is the pull-back. Start near your subject, then gradually pull the drone camera backward to showcase more of their environment.

Rotating is when you start from a top-down shot and then rotate the drone.

Keep the camera moving steadily but slowly, as you don’t want to make anyone nauseous. It’s also critical that the subject remain in the center of the shot the whole time.

The third top-down variation is follow, where you track the subject but keep your drone ascending above them. Again, maintain them in the center of the frame.

» MORE: Best Drones for Carrying Weight

Dolly

The dolly is a type of reveal shot. Set your drone behind an object, allowing it to take up the view in the foreground, at least initially. Then, pan right or left to see the entire view, revealing the shot.

Rise

Another type of reveal shot is rise. Lower your drone near the ground, flying it toward an object. Ascend as you near the object, getting as close as you legally and safely can.

Continue ascending, providing a bird’s eye view.

Pedestal

The pedestal shot does not require you to move your drone camera. Instead, it’s dependent on drone controls only. This technique isn’t hard, requiring you to fly up, then down.

The point of a pedestal shot is to showcase above-ground views or display interesting objects in an area such as statues.

Parallax

A parallax shot sends the drone into orbit but without losing its framing position.

It’s named after the parallax effect this shot creates, and it’s especially renowned for capturing dynamic views like mountains, skyscraping buildings, and other large focal points.  

Aerial pan

An aerial pan requires you to rotate toward the right or left, showcasing a large landscape or cityscape. Try combining the panning with backward or forward movement, as it creates awesome results!

» MORE: What is a Cinelifter? (Explained by a Professional FPV Pilot)

Do you need filters for your drone filming?

When discussing filters, they’re usually equated only with photography, not videography.

Au contraire!

ND filters benefit filming as much as they do photography, as they can incorporate more details into your shots, enriching the degree of shadows and highlights.

My favorite part about ND filters is how they control overexposure especially well. It’s a much bigger pain to have to heavily edit a video than it is an image, as it takes longer.

While there’s nothing you can do to go back and save your footage after the fact, using ND filters going forward can produce dynamically rich and appealing video clips you’ll feel genuinely excited to unleash upon the world.

If this is your first foray into ND filters, let me explain. ND stands for neutral density, which refers to the filter’s ability to reduce light from entering the camera lens.

ND filters come in different levels that determine the level of light reduction. ND2 filters stop the least amount of light from getting through, while ND10000 stops the most light.

That said, in most drone applications, you’re not likely to use anything beyond ND64.

I implore you to use ND filters with your drone if you haven’t yet. You’ll significantly improve your drone videography and photography!

» MORE: Best ND Filters for DJI Avata

What are the best apps to edit drone videos?

Very rarely will you take videos that don’t require at least a few minutes in post. That’s not a knock on your work at all; every drone pilot usually edits their work at least a little before it goes live.

The great thing about today’s technology is that many drones have apps that let you edit on the go so you can post your clips while still on the field.

A few of these apps, such as DJI LightCut, are produced by the drone manufacturers themselves.

If you feel like venturing beyond the apps available with your drone, here are some of my favorites for fast, seamless editing.

» MORE: Best Photo/Video Editing Apps for DJI Drones

Windows Clipchamp

I recently went back to Windows after using Mac for a few years. In that time, Windows Movie Maker became Windows Clipchamp.

Don’t worry; despite the name change, this is still the same old program you love. If anything, Clipchamp looks more professional and is certainly intuitive.

Better yet, Clipchamp is free if you own a Windows computer. It has AI video creation, or you can upload your latest drone clip and take care of all manual editing.

Clipchamp is easy to use and doesn’t have many extraneous features. Don’t miss its social-media-ready templates.

iMovie

iMovie lets you create videos from scratch or edit preexisting videos, adding sound effects, styles, effects, titles, text, and more. I love how iMovie has storyboards, and it also includes several trailer templates. You know, like movie trailers.

Oh, and themes! iMovie has plenty of those. What I enjoy most about this app is how you can transfer your video files between iCloud Drive, Airdrop, iPad, and iPhone.

Adobe Premiere Pro

The great thing about Clipchamp is how you can use most of the features for free. That’s not the case for Adobe Premiere Pro, but it’s a video-editing tool I think most of us would agree is worthwhile.

Premiere Pro features AI modes, like Enhance Speech to eliminate background sounds. You can drag and drop video clips, then use multi-point editing for complex changes.

Of course, Premiere Pro has all the transitions and templates you could shake a stick at.

When you’re finished, send it all to the Adobe Cloud.

» MORE: 13 Apps Every Drone Pilot Needs (Must Read)

DaVinci Resolve

While Resolve is a favorite for drone pilots because it has a free version, what always makes me recommend it is the Hollywood-caliber editing you can do.

Resolve 18.5 is used in movie and television studios, which doesn’t surprise me one iota.

This pro-level tool has hundreds of features, including AI-driven modes, amazing color correction with a Node Editor and HDR Color Wheels, a suite of editing features (like face refinement, depth map, and custom mixing) in Resolve FX, Fusion for high-level effects, and Fairlight for basic editing.

I mean, what more can you ask for?

CapCut

I’m also quite partial to CapCut, a smart little video editor with templates, automatic reframing (if you didn’t quite get your drone shot right the first time), enhancements, auto adjustments, transitions, effects, and automatic captions.

If you’re into making social media shorts, the captions feature is handy.  

» MORE: Best Editing Software for the DJI Mini 2 SE 

Do you need a license to capture videos with a drone?

You most certainly do. The license I’m referring to is the Remote Pilot Certificate, a requirement for earning money with your drone in filmography or any other type of drone endeavor.

The only way to obtain that license is by studying your tailfeathers off to pass the Part 107 exam.

Fortunately, I’ve written guides for each of the 50 states on how to do it, so whether you live in Alabama or New York, you can find a guide and get your license!

Tips to improve your drone filmmaking

Take your drone filmmaking to the next level with these A+ tips.

1. Learn how your drone works

I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many pilots attempt to put the cart before the horse.

Get to know what your drone does and how it works. Practice with it and familiarize yourself with the device, then learn the camera. Prepare for lots of trial and error with your initial videos, especially as you begin adjusting features in manual mode.

That’s okay. Expect that you’ll make mistakes and learn from them.

» MORE: How to Fly a Drone: Ultimate Beginner Guide (with Drawings)

2. Take constructive criticism

Don’t be your only critic. Ask a trusted family member, friend, or mentor to look over your footage objectively. Only ask those who you know will be honest with you.

Although telling you what you want to hear might make you feel better in the moment, it won’t help you improve as a drone pilot or videographer, so you’re actually hurting yourself in the long run.

When you receive constructive criticism, take it on the chin. It’s not easy to hear negative comments about your work, but if you don’t know where or what to improve, it’s impossible for you to get any better.

3. Celebrate your successes

The road to drone cinematography should be paved with celebratory milestones. Perhaps you won a new contract you’re jazzed about.

Maybe you reviewed your latest footage and compared it against when you started, and you can really see how you’ve improved.

No matter the victories, even the small ones, usher in them, as they make the hard moments easier to bear.

» MORE: Best App to Learn to Fly A Drone