BEHIND THE SCENES: AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

This entry was posted on 2/5/2007 11:46 AM and is filed under production

The day before, I was hanging onto the outside of a moving big rig. The next day, I was filming Tucson from the air with the door removed from a helicopter. Sure, I missed the Superbowl on TV but I've sat in front of a TV before - this was way more fun.

Because we needed to see no cars Downtown, we waited for the Superbowl when we knew as many people as possible would be off the street watching television. Superbowl Sunday was the perfect day, and the game started at 4:30PM so we knew we were going to be filming during magic hour at twilight when the lighting was set perfectly in the sky.

At 3:30PM, my Producer Gabriele Andres and I arrived at SILVER STATE HELICOPTERS where we met up with our Flight Crew: Larry Gabriel was our Pilot, we also has Jeff Wojtowicz as our Safety Pilot watching for air traffic in the back seat because we were going to be flying through the Tucson Triangle. It's not the Bermuda Triangle but a there's lot of air traffic between Tucson International Airport, Davis-Montham Air Force Base and Marana Airport to dodge. We also had the help of Lead Airframe and Powerplant Technician Michael Sutterfield to rig the chopper specifically for our flight. He installed a power inverter to power the monitor and camera if our batteries failed and also removed the flight controls up front so I wouldn't interfere with the Pilot while filming. We also had my door removed so I could have an unobstructed camera view.

By 4:45PM, we were over downtown Tucson in their four-seat ROBINSON R44 RAVEN II helicopter, the high performance model, with my Producer Gabriele Andres in the back seat taking the still photo plate shots I'll be using later to composite in the 727 flying over downtown. We flew the "triangle" and had an amazing time, filming and taking stills from a perspective you can only get from out the door of a helicopter.

Below are some behind the scenes photographs of our aerial filming day on Sperbowl Sunday:

Lead A&P Technician Michael Sutterfield and Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz installing the 115VAC power inverter onboard the R44.
Lead A&P Technician Michael Sutterfield and Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz installing the 115VAC power inverter onboard the R44.
Our Pilot. Larry Gabriel gets the flight-ready status of the R44 from Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz and Lead A&P Technician Michael Sutterfield.
James Arnett looking over his seating position up front, from where he will be filming.

James Arnett going over the plan with Pilot Larry Gabriel for the flight.
A shot of the instrument panel of the Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter.
Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz rigging the headphones.
Lead A&P Technician Michael Sutterfield double-checking function of the accessory power breakers.
James Arnett pulling the video monitor cable up front to where he will plug it into the XL-2 camera.
The transmission and tail rotor shaft of the Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter. Notice how immaculately clean the internal mechanisms are maintained.
James Arnett listening to Pilot Larry Gabriel explain how all of the components interact while doing his initial preflight check.
Pilot Larry Gabriel doing his preflight check on the power transmission to the tail rotor.
James Arnett listening to Pilot Larry Gabriel explain how all of the systems interact while doing his initial preflight check.
With everything good to go, Pilot Larry Gabriel secures the panels. This is the first of several important preflight checks.
While Pilot Larry Gabriel waits for the tow vehicle to arrive, James Arnett rigs the video signal converter for the LCD monitor.
Pilot Larry Gabriel loads his gear onto the helicopter.
The Robinson R44 Raven II getting readied for its rollout.
James Arnett assembling the Canon XL-2 for the flight.
Pilot Larry Gabriel going over the flight plan.
Pilot Larry Gabriel going over the flight plan with James Arnett.
The Robinson R44 Raven II attached to the tow vehicle.
Pilot Larry Gabriel operating the tow vehicle.
Pilot Larry Gabriel towing the Robinson R44 Raven II out of the Silver State helicopter hangar.
Pilot Larry Gabriel towing the Robinson R44 Raven II out of the Silver State helicopter hangar.
Pilot Larry Gabriel towing the Robinson R44 Raven II out of the Silver State helicopter hangar.
Producer Gabriele Andres, Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz ard James Arnett climbing onto the tow vehicle for the ride to the landing pad.
Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz ard James Arnett riding on the tow vehicle pulling the helicopter out to the landing pad.
Pilot Larry Gabriel driving with Producer Gabriele Andres riding up front of the tow vehicle.
Arriving at the helicopter landing pad at Tucson Internation Airport.
Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz detaches the helicopter from its towing apperatus.
Pilot Larry Gabriel fueling up the helicopter.
Pilot Larry Gabriel and Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz had the door removed for James Arnett to have an unobstructed view for filming.
Pilot Larry Gabriel and Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz do another preflight on the control linkages and test the fuel before flying.
James Arnett hovering over the airport, waiting for clearance to move out and go filming.
The helicopter approaching the Downtown area.
The helicopter approaching the Downtown area.
Filming over Downtown Tucson.
Filming over Marana, Arizona.
Safety Pilot Jeff Wojtowicz after the flight.
Director James Arnett after the flight.
Pilot Larry Gabriel after the flight.
Director James Arnett and Producer Gabriele Andres after the flight.

 

Getting aerial photography into our movie was a lot easier and affordable than people might think. SILVER STATE HELICOPTERS made the whole experience headache-free. They handled all of the technical aspects as well as the flying so all I had to do was focus on getting the shots I wanted.

The aerial photography loaded a ton of production value into our movie that was less expensive than buying stock footage. Plus, we got to see Tucson from the air, up close and personal. I do love my job.

 

2/8/2007 5:25 PM Petra wrote:
THANK YOU for making this movie!

I am incredibly interested...any idea on release date, and where it will be shown?


>>>>>> We expect to have the final product ready for distribution by November 2007.
 

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