Skift Take

For the creativity + right use of technology to create the right sense of the place, this is for now the best travel video of 2014, in our books.

We have been pretty bullish on drone videos for travel lately, and this video below will show you why.

Shot by Philip Bloom, an accomplished British filmmaker known for his DSLR filmmaking, on the tiny Thai island of Koh Yao Noi, it shows the creative possibilities of drone videos in the right hands.

As Bloom explains, “Koh Yao Noi is one of the least developed islands in Thailand despite being right in the middle of the most touristic bay there. It’s a little haven of real Thailand with just 18km of roads.”

Along with the video, it is worth reading his very detailed blog post on his site, where he goes into a lot of technical and creative details on the making of this video. And this part is particularly instructive from a creative POV:

Anyone can grab a Phantom 2 and zip it up in the air, make it zoom along really fast and then bring it back down. The skill is control and getting the composition of your shots right. After all how many of you when you get a camera stick a wide angle on it, hit record and then run around for 20 minutes without looking at what you are shooting? EXACTLY!!

Learning fine control is key. Take it out into the middle of nowhere. Learn how to land exactly where you want to. Learn how to make it circle an object. Create subtle jib like shots. Not everything has to be a big sweeping motion, although they are very cool! What makes the Phantom 2 and other multi rotor systems amazing is the freedom they give you.

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Tags: drones, thailand, videos, vimeo

Photo credit: Koh Yao Noi, from Philip Bloom. Screenshot courtesy Philip Bloom.

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