- In this video, we're going
through 10 different things that's gonna make your
Mini 2 footage cinematic. (upbeat music) So flying a drone is super fun, but when it comes to getting
better looking shots, you don't wanna just put the drone up and expect to get the best results. You have to do a few things to be able to get better looking
footage out of this drone and especially with the Mini 2, because you are limited with the footage that you're able to capture out of it. However, with that said, this camera does shoot 4K in 100 megabits, so you can do some cool stuff in post when it comes to color grading. So I just got back from off-roading out in the mountains in Big Bear, a snow storm seemed to have
just hit us at the right moment. And we got some awesome footage, just exploring the mountains,
going from the desert, where it was super bright and
sunny and a little bit windy to the snow-capped mountains
and everything in between. And on this trip, I shot a vlog and used the drone to get a lot of different
cinematic looking shots. So what I wanna go through
is 10 different ways to get cinematic footage. The first few are gonna be focused on how to capture footage. Then we'll get into some
ideas around creative control and shot perspectives
and things like that. And then the last few
tips are gonna go through some things to do in post
when you're here and editing. And all of this together is gonna give you awesome looking footage. Alright, so let's get into the first one, which is use manual white balance and lock in your exposure. So when you're flying with this drone, you can go into your menu system in the upper right-hand
corner, the three dots, and there is a white balance setting and you can change your
white balance underneath the camera setting. Now you wanna lock in your white balance because when you're flying
and you have it on auto, the camera's gonna decide
your color balance. However, when you're shooting, you don't wanna have
that fluctuation happen in the middle of a shot. So you can see right here, I was shooting in snow
and it couldn't decide if the colors needed to
be more warm or more cool. And this just causes an issue
in post because now I have to go through and color grade these out. So you wanna lock in your white balance to whatever makes most sense
in the setting that you're in. Now with exposure, you have two options. You either shoot full manual, which you control your
shutter speed and your ISO, or you lock in your exposure
in the lower right-hand corner. You hit the little lock icon, and then whatever
exposure is currently set, it's gonna lock there until you unlock it. You don't want your exposure
fluctuating throughout a shot, unless you're going through a
scene that's changing light. And very rarely do I
wanna shoot in that way, but if I was circling around a car and the sun hits the lens, yeah, there might be some times where I'll just leave auto exposure on. But for the majority of
the time when I'm flying, I will lock in my exposure. Number two is control your exposure and make it a little bit darker. What I've noticed is that when
this camera exposes on auto, it's a little too bright. I always shoot at -0.3, -0.7 or -1. And I've been able to get
the best looking footage out of this drone in those settings. If I just leave it to auto at zero, this is the kind of footage that I get, it's a little bit
overexposed in certain areas. And it's not as easy to color grade. If I bring down the
exposure and lock it in, I can get a much better
look out of this camera. And also if you're flying manual and you just wanna make sure that if there is anything
bright in your image, that that's hitting at
80%, rather than 90 to 100, because once you get in that upper range, when you bring it into
your editing software, it's much harder to color grade. And you actually can't bring
those highlights back as much. You kind of lose everything. Even though you have some
exposure in those highlights, I've noticed that I've not been able to get very good color grades when I expose a little bit too bright. So error on the side of caution, bring down your exposure a little bit. Don't let your highlights
get too close to 100. But at the same time, you also don't wanna have too much dark in your image as well. So you
gotta just play it balanced. This camera has one color profile, so you really only have
this one to work with. There's no log setting. Now number three is use ND filters and ND filters are basically
sunglasses for your camera. And they allows you to bring
down your shutter speed so you can get more motion
blur in your footage. This is not as noticeable when
you're super high in the air, but when you're super close to objects, it'll become more jittery. So using ND filters will
smooth out your footage and give you more of that cinematic look. Number four, you wanna show scale, but you also wanna fly close to objects. So when you're showing scale, that's when you get further
away from the subject, whatever it is that you're shooting and you wanna show everything, you wanna show the
landscape in the distance. You wanna show the horizon. You wanna show this thing
with this giant perspective, that's the beauty of drones is you can get these awesome perspectives. Now at the same time, you also
wanna fly close to objects. You wanna get in there because a drone can give you super stable footage and it can stay in a
consistent straight line and give you these shots that you can't do with a lot of other cameras. So this kind of blends into my next point, which is perspectives. And you wanna get different perspectives when you're flying. You don't always wanna
shoot the same angle, the same direction. You wanna use your
camera in different ways to be able to capture footage. So shoot straight out the horizon but then once you're done with that shot, point the camera down and
shoot straight down the ground and then shoot at an angle. This camera also allows you
to shoot up a little bit so if you get closer to the ground, you can kind of point it up. It will look somewhat like a gimbal, but you can do these bigger sweeping moves than you would be able
to if you were running with a camera in your hand. So having varying perspectives
is super important. And that goes into my next
point, which is sequencing. When you're flying your drone, you really wanna think
about how these shots are gonna play back to
back. You wanna think story. So how can you best capture the
scene from beginning to end, show all the different perspectives and you get a full
picture of whatever it is that you're flying. So for example, it's snowing, I'm out in the middle of nowhere. So I wanna show our trucks
climbing through the mountains. I wanna show the Joshua trees
getting covered in snow. And then I wanna pull back
and get these big perspectives that really show the
landscape of where we're at. So a good rule of thumb
is go close, medium, wide. And then on top of that, once
you have a sequence of shots, think, okay, what are some
different perspectives that will really make
this situation unique? It could be top-down. A lot of times getting that top-down shot will make everything look so cool because drones are the only camera that really allows you to
get that kind of perspective. So don't forget to grab
these different perspectives and don't forget to think about how the shots play next to each other. Number seven, you wanna create
contrast with your light. So when I was shooting this scene here, you can see the truck is
being blasted with light. But if I flip to the other side, all of a sudden you
get this crazy contrast and it just looks more cinematic. This is because cinematic
looking footage generally has more contrast in the frame. You don't wanna just blast
everything with light. So when you're flying, think of, okay, where's the position
of the sun in relation to the subject of what I'm shooting? Try to put the sun off to the side, try to put it at 3/4
that way or 3/4 this way, just so you can see the bright
parts and the dark parts of the scene that you're in. And this goes right into number eight, shoot early in the morning
or late in the day. And if you could shoot at golden hour, that's gonna give you the most
cinematic looking footage. The reason is the sun is low in the sky. So you have these long
shadows and you also have this different quality of light than if the sun is right up above. Like right here, this scene, the sun is right up above and
it's just not that exciting. Just everything is being washed with light and shadows are right below. Whereas if you shoot early in
the morning or late at night, you get these cool long shadows that give you more of the cinematic feel and everything has this warm glow to it. It's just more pleasing to the eye. And then when you add some
of these other concepts to the shoot, all of a sudden you're gonna have really cinematic looking footage. Now, if you're in a scene
where there's clouds or in this situation it's snowing, and it's just kind of all white, then it comes down to
more of your perspectives and the way that you're sequencing to get cinematic looking footage. It doesn't always come
down to where the sun is because sometimes the sun is covered. But when the sun is out, bright blue sky, try to shoot early in the
morning or late at night. Now number nine is an editing technique and it gets into color grading. So what I've noticed with this footage is that the mid-tones tend
to ride a little bit hot. So when I'm color grading, what I find is that
first thing I always do with this footage is I
bring the mid-tones down and bring my shadows up a tad. And then I'll play around with my highlights depending on the shot and depending on what's in the scene. I found that just doing this tweak alone, will make any footage
coming out of the Mavic Mini a little bit more cinematic. Everything seems to be
a little bit bright. So all you have is this
one contrasted look, and you have to play within
this contrasted profile. So if you shoot it a little bit darker and then you bring it into your software and bring down your midtones, you'll see all of a sudden that your footage just feels more rich. And for me, this is where
I've really been able to get the best look out of this camera. Now, number 10 is another
editing technique. You wanna stabilize
your footage or reframe. So when you're out flying,
it's not always perfect. So look at this shot for
example, it's a pretty cool shot. I'm flying with two directionality, flying in as well as in
turning around the Jeep, but I kinda missed the mark,
so I kind of jerk a little bit. You don't want jerky footage. So what I did is I actually
stabilized this footage and centered in on the truck itself. And you can see just right here, all of a sudden the footage
looks that much better. The beauty is you're shooting 4K, you can crop in a little bit. It's not gonna be the end of the world unless you're a pixel peeper and you're really focused
on that resolution, the cropping and a little bit on your 4K is not gonna be a problem
and I do it all the time. So you can crop in, you can stabilize, you can reframe and
doing these little tweaks will help make your footage more cinematic because you can really
perfect each of the moves that you were trying to do. When you're out flying, yes, you'll get some good looking footage, but it's never perfect. So there's always times where you can go and tweak a little bit
and all of a sudden, boom, you have amazing looking footage. I'm gonna give you one more bonus tip. And that is start building
a library of clips that you think are cinematic
and that you really like. So when you're watching another creator, when you're watching a film and you see this awesome aerial shot, what
about that shot is so epic? Where's the light coming from? Which perspective is that
creator shooting from? Are they straight on,
are they straight down? How is the subject
interacting with the drone and how is the drone moving?
Is it in one directionality? Is it fast? Is it slow? And a good practices to just pull clips and keep a library of these
so you can refer to them and start practicing
them because the best way to get good at flying a drone
and get good looking footage is to practice, practice, practice. Alright, guys, next I
highly suggest you check out this video right here. It is my complete beginner's
guide to the Mini 2. So if you're new to flying, this is definitely the video
that you need to check out. And down here is another video, all about color grading and how to make your Mini 2 footage pop. Alright guys, I'll see you over there.
Really great video - as someone who just got a Mini 2 (first drone) I’ll definitely be watching the rest as well!