Aerial Filming

The Village is a CAA approved drone operator with a license to operate across the UK, and globally (where local laws allow). We pride ourselves on keeping skills in-house without having to subcontract to external companies unfamiliar with our projects. We own and operate our own drones and our Directors of Photography are licensed drone pilots and drone camera-operators in their own right.

Aerial filming can be daunting; running the gamut of permissions, permits and restrictions. However it’s a fundamental tool for documentary work, and raises the production value immensely. We’re able to work with landowners, authorities and air traffic controls to ensure filming can take place as and when needed. And as we always travel with our aerial rigs, (and the qualified pilot) we’re able to be flexible and fly with very little turnaround time; ready for when the situation demands.

We work closely with Health and Safety to identify what’s possible at locations and to make it happen. Our team also has extensive H&S training and a range of permits and certifications to work in some of the most challenging environments.

The Village has conducted aerial filming in a range of high risk environments – we have flown drones at petrochemical plants, offshore oil rigs, aluminium smelters (despite ultra high magnetic interference), a bauxite mine, a mineral mine, ports, oil refineries and all manner of manufacturing facilities. We’ve even flown our drones 28km off the coast of England at one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, which involved launching and catch-landing from the deck of a very fast moving support vessel.

The Village operate a couple of drone rigs. For exterior work we fly the ultra-stable DJI Inspire 2 – with CineDNG and Apple ProRes capabilities and interchangeable lenses allowing for the capture of incredible 5K footage. We’re also able to shoot with a single operator in circumstances where space might be tight or lots of other things are happening at the same time using a DJI Mavic Pro/2. We can even fly indoors.

The Village is fully insured with £10m public liability to fly at altitudes of up to 400ft (120m) with permissions for aerial work granted by the C.A.A.