Written by new-contact on Feb 18, 2015. Posted in Production News

Collider films Daniel Johns music promo using drones on location in Australia

Collider has filmed the promo for musician Daniel Johns’ first solo track at Stockton Dunes north of Sydney in Australia, using drone technology. Aerial Love features the artist wandering in the vast sandy wilderness.

“Stockton Dunes are the largest sand dunes in Australia, and located only a few hours’ drive from Sydney,” explains Collider.

“The sand is pure and a beautiful light colour which was very much in line with [director Lorin Askill’s] creative vision for the project.

“[The dunes] are quite popular as they can be framed to look like many different locations, be it beautiful coastal beach to deserted arid desert.”

Aerial production company Heliguy filmed the spot using a custom-made drone. The team had to allow a month to get flight approval from the Royal Australian Air Force as the shoot took place near Williamtown RAAF base.

Heavy rain was forecast for the middle of the shoot, but the storm ended up arriving overnight between production days. Wind was a different matter and this impacted on what they could do with the drones.

“We had 40-60kms winds which become sandstorms at that location, which meant for a big post clean-up process with the drone and camera equipment,” recalls Guy Alexander of Heliguy.

“We had to pick the best times to fly with tight co-ordination with our ground team, which provided remote stabilised heads using the Slingshot system from Walter Klassen,” he continues.

Once the wind had cleared, the shoot was even affected by bushfires, which cut off the team’s water and electricity.

“We had an incredible hardy crew that had a fantastic attitude for the duration as they were all very committed and enthusiastic about the project,” Collider adds.

Credits:
Artist: Daniel Johns
Director: Lorin Askill
Produced by Olivia Hantken for Collider
Director of Photography: Tim Tregoning
Drone Operators: Guy Alexander and Ewan Donnachie for Heliguy