So honestly, I've had idea's of how to expand the drone footage market place and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thought of these things, but I haven't seen much in the way of posts about these area's. So here's a few thoughts for budding cinematographers.
1: Crowd Sourced Movies.
You see them all the time, young budding film makers that are trying to get their master piece put together. Donate X amount of dollars, get a t-shirt, Donate XX amount get the T-shift and coffee mug. However for those with a potential business, why not contact them and offer your drone services? You can barter the use of your time and footage for either cash or advertisements in the credits or main feature. It's a win/win. They get some awesome footage, you get some advertisement.
2: Hospitals/Assisted living facilities
Got this idea after an army vet who lost the use of his legs was overjoyed with his first drone. He said that flying it gave him a sense of freedom and mobility that he thought he'd never get again. Thinking that there could be an avenue to explore here. It's a tricky one since most hospitals and assisted living facilities are pretty much in no fly zones. BUT that's not to say you could turn up and show drone footage and bring some drones for people to inspect, give them an up close view of the drone and educate them about the uses. Not sure if you could even live-stream some drone footage from another location. This might be a great way to even get schools/students/ or army vets interested in drones. Do it as a non-profit even.
3: TV Footage:
This can be broken into many categories, for instance I've noticed a rise in local advertisers using drone footage for their businesses, news channels not wanting to pay for expensive helicopter shots for coverage (this includes stock footage of intersections, parks etc). So why not start filming stock footage that the media can use, traffic jams (and you can film from the side and not be flying over traffic), road works etc. Contact businesses that you see advertising on TV, sell them stock footage that they can insist their advertisers use (for example one of the car dealerships here now uses drone footage of their lot, the inventory they have and a quick sweep up and over their dealership sign).
4: Reviews/tips/tutorials
Don't forget, it you have a website, you can also give product reviews, tips and tutorials to drive up your traffic. This can be anything from prop guards, led lights, drone reviews to tutorials about camera settings, filters, maybe different uses for flight modes that people may not know about. When is it better to use a smart zip line shot instead of a smart cable cam shot for instance.
So just thoughts on area's that you can get into if you want to. Some will require more work than others, but it's all about diversifying, hitting the places that not everyone is getting into yet.
1: Crowd Sourced Movies.
You see them all the time, young budding film makers that are trying to get their master piece put together. Donate X amount of dollars, get a t-shirt, Donate XX amount get the T-shift and coffee mug. However for those with a potential business, why not contact them and offer your drone services? You can barter the use of your time and footage for either cash or advertisements in the credits or main feature. It's a win/win. They get some awesome footage, you get some advertisement.
2: Hospitals/Assisted living facilities
Got this idea after an army vet who lost the use of his legs was overjoyed with his first drone. He said that flying it gave him a sense of freedom and mobility that he thought he'd never get again. Thinking that there could be an avenue to explore here. It's a tricky one since most hospitals and assisted living facilities are pretty much in no fly zones. BUT that's not to say you could turn up and show drone footage and bring some drones for people to inspect, give them an up close view of the drone and educate them about the uses. Not sure if you could even live-stream some drone footage from another location. This might be a great way to even get schools/students/ or army vets interested in drones. Do it as a non-profit even.
3: TV Footage:
This can be broken into many categories, for instance I've noticed a rise in local advertisers using drone footage for their businesses, news channels not wanting to pay for expensive helicopter shots for coverage (this includes stock footage of intersections, parks etc). So why not start filming stock footage that the media can use, traffic jams (and you can film from the side and not be flying over traffic), road works etc. Contact businesses that you see advertising on TV, sell them stock footage that they can insist their advertisers use (for example one of the car dealerships here now uses drone footage of their lot, the inventory they have and a quick sweep up and over their dealership sign).
4: Reviews/tips/tutorials
Don't forget, it you have a website, you can also give product reviews, tips and tutorials to drive up your traffic. This can be anything from prop guards, led lights, drone reviews to tutorials about camera settings, filters, maybe different uses for flight modes that people may not know about. When is it better to use a smart zip line shot instead of a smart cable cam shot for instance.
So just thoughts on area's that you can get into if you want to. Some will require more work than others, but it's all about diversifying, hitting the places that not everyone is getting into yet.
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