Hello guys, welcome to a new video, and today is going to be really exciting because DJI just launched their new Mavic 3. We've been waiting for this drone for such a long time and finally it's here, and the specs are kind of insane, to be honest. It has a Hasselblad, 20 megapixels, Four Third sensor. It can shoot 5.1K up to 50 fps, 4K up to 120 fps, and 1080p in 200 fps. That's kind of crazy for a drone, to be honest. It also has 12.8 stops of dynamic range, and yeah, it is kind of a beast. But besides the normal Mavic 3, DJI also launched the Mavic 3 Cine version, which I'm going to show you. As I said, they also have the Cine version. Two drones. Why did DJI send me two drones? Maybe because I crashed so many?

What is the difference between those 2? The Cine version is basically the exact same drone, has the same camera and same specs, but it has a 1 terabyte built-in SSD, and you can record in the Apple ProRes 422 HQ codec, which is amazing for editing. Also, it comes with this nice little bag here, where you can store the drone and have all of your stuff inside. Also, it comes with 2 additional batteries, 8 different ND filters, from ND4 up to ND512, and you can actually turn that bag into a backpack as well. And one of the other things which I'm really excited about is the new Pro controller, because then you don't have to kind of like put your phone inside. It has a very good resolution, and yeah, it's just nice to pull out and fly right away. Obviously, this video is sponsored by DJI. I'm really excited to finally work together with them.

because I've been flying their drones for so many years now, so it's cool that this is actually happening. So, what is the plan for today? - First of all, we have a new face in the videos. - What's up? This is Gastón, he's an Argentinian filmmaker and he shoots amazing stuff, so he's going to join along for today. And we actually rented out this new Jeep. As you know, I just moved to Cape Town and we wanted to explore a little bit of the surrounding area, and I also want to talk with you about the storytelling aspects of drone shots. There are different movements and different factors that very much influence what the viewer feels when it comes to drone shots. I want to talk about that, and also I want to show you 12 very important drone shots that you should know. - Let's go! - I think we're just gonna hop into the car, and we'll just explore this place. Let's go.

Dude, it's actually been such a long time since I've been on an adventure like this, just driving out and exploring. I've just been sitting so much in my apartment in Munich, so this is really... I'm really hyped for this right now. - We need to enjoy life a little more. - Yeah, yeah, for sure. Less time in the editing cave, more time outside. - Nature. Yeah. - At the sunlight. Dude, this is way too much fun to drive. So, I feel like in the filmmaking industry, and especially with drones, there are a lot of people on YouTube who talk about how to make your shots look more cinematic, how to do this and that transition, how to make an epic travel montage, but I think that there are almost no people talking about the storytelling side of filmmaking, and I want to change that today. Especially drones are an incredible tool when it comes to storytelling,

because you just have a completely different perspective of the whole scene. And you can really use that in order to progress your story, to build tension, to release tension, and overall to just influence the emotions of your viewer. And before I'm going to talk about the 12 different drone shots that I always use, I'm first going to break down the 6 different key factors that build up a drone shot. So, there's the height of the drone, the speed, the movement direction, the distance to a subject, the gimbal movement, and the zoom. All of these different things go into one drone shot. Now I want to talk about how each of these factors influences what the viewer feels when he looks at the shots. Let's start with the height. So, if you fly very low with your drone, you're passing by some bushes, you're flying towards your subject, then the viewer feels very much included in the scene.

because he's just used to that high-level perspective. Also, it builds up some tension because... The viewer doesn't know yet exactly what this whole place looks like. While if you're very high up in the sky, like 100/200 meters, then the viewer has a completely new perspective, it gives an overview of the whole location where everything takes place, and also, at the same time, it is a little bit more surreal, and all of the landscapes appear very very massive. Then the speed of your drone. If you fly very slowly, then it creates a sort of epic and massive environment, or it can also be a calm environment, while if you fly quite fast with your drone, then it has this sort of hectic and frantic look to it. Also, one thing that can help you with adjusting the speed of your drone is the different speed modes that you have on your controller with C, N, and S.

That stands for Cinematic mode, Normal mode, and Sport mode. All of these have different speed adjustments for the movement of the drone and also of the gimbal. The third factor with the movement direction of your drone is so important when it comes to the progression of your story because it really influences if you're building up tension, if you're releasing tension, if you're advancing the story, or if you're going backward in the story. So when you're flying forward with your drone, then you're just kind of building up tension, you're entering a new scene, while if you fly backward with your drone, you're releasing tension, and you're closing a scene. Also, the same goes for up and down. If you move upwards with your drone, you're creating tension, and you're kind of introducing a new location, while if you go downwards, you're just closing that one scene, and you're kind of rounding up the story. Also, when it comes to left and right, that is super important.

and sometimes underestimated. We, as the viewer, have some unconscious feelings when it comes to those directions. If the character moves to the right side, then it feels like he goes to a new location, and we're moving forwards in the story. While if the character walks to the left side, then we feel like we go back to a location we've already been to, and we're moving backwards in the story. I'm just hiding behind those different rocks here because, again, it's super windy. So, the fourth factor: the distance to your subject. If you fly very close to your subject, like, for example, a person, then again, the viewer feels very drawn into the scene, and it seems quite realistic. It feels like you're right there with the person. But if you're very far away from your subject, then the whole landscape feels kind of superior to the person standing there, and also, it releases a little bit of tension because the viewer just has a bigger picture.

The gimbal movement is pretty much the same as the direction. If you move the gimbal outwards, it's opening a scene, while if you move it downwards, you're kind of closing a scene and you're releasing tension. And last but not least, the zoom. If you zoom in towards your subject, obviously it creates more and more tension because you're just more and more focused on that subject, while if you zoom out, you're just revealing more of the surroundings and it's releasing tension. Actually, a lot of consumer drones nowadays still don't have a zoom function, only the high-up price ones, like for example the DJI Inspire, but the Mavic 3 actually comes with a second tele lens on top of the main lens, and this one actually uses a half-inch sensor, which is the same one that was used in the Mavic Air 2. It is really cool to have a second tele lens on top,

which offers you more options when it comes to higher focal length shots. Someone's tired, huh? Yeah, I took a nap. Quick nap. So, the mix of all of these different factors that I talked about completely influences how the viewer feels when he looks at your shot. And in order to show you what exactly I mean, on the way to the next location, I'm going to fly the drone in 2 different styles. One is going to be calmer and more epic, while the other edit is going to be very energetic and hectic. So, let's start with the calm and epic one. Let's go. - I think you have to drive, bro. - Okay. Can you drive? Or you're going to nap? Let's do both. Good idea, bro. So, that was the epic edit, and if you paid close attention, then you know what kind of factors played into it. When I was flying, I paid close attention to keep a far distance to my subject,

which was a car. Also, I tried to fly a little bit slower, and I tried to match the movements of my drone to the subject I was filming, which was a car, because then, it just doesn't seem that hectic. You can really take the time to look at the landscapes, and everything appears very massive. A lot of times, we think that the more stuff you do with your drone, like tilting the gimbal, raising it up, flying very fast, the better it looks. But I think sometimes it even looks more epic and cinematic if you just do simple movements, just like lifting up the drone and the car passing through. So yeah, that was it for the epic edit. Now we're going to do the hectic and fast-paced edit. Let's go! As you saw, this edit was much more fast-paced and quite hectic, and that is because I flew with the drone quite close to the ground, close to different objects,

and also, I flew in the opposite direction of my subject. So, one thing that I always do when I film cars is I do one shot going towards the subject and the subject passing by, and then afterwards, I do the same shot, but just kind of going backwards and the subject going into the frame. If you cut those next to each other, then it always creates a lot of dynamic, and everything just appears 10 times faster. I think it is really interesting how you can create those 2 different kinds of moods. And now we're just going to go to the next spot. Look at that landscape here. These rock formations look super epic. It's going to be amazing to fly the drone here, but as you can hear, there's a lot of wind going on at the moment. But that's one thing I like about the big drones like the Mavic 3. They stay a lot better in strong winds, and they can handle the wind, and you can still get smooth shots.

In case you're wondering why I walk like an old grandpa, that's because I ran a marathon... 4 days ago, and my foot is still hurting like shit. Video on that coming soon. I'm feeling old! This is crazy. Oh, wow. Look at that cave here. This is like the only place where there's no wind. So now that we know the basics on how to influence our drone shots, we can talk about the 12 actual drone shots that I do almost all the time when I have my drone in the air. So, for me, there are 4 categories, and within each of these categories, we have 3 different shots, so we come to a total of 12 different shots. The first category is going to be establishing shots. So as the name says, these shots are there to establish a scene and to give the viewer an overview of the location where everything is going to take place.

So, shots like these could, for example, be a Dolly In. Just like you would have a camera on a dolly and roll forwards, you're just going to fly forwards with your camera, towards the subject or towards the location. The second one is a Rise Up. You basically just increase the height of your drone, and you rise up into the sky, and with that, you're also going to establish more and more of your location, as the viewer just gets a new perspective. The third one is going to be a Top Down shot. So for this, you basically just face your camera all the way to the ground, so that you have this bird's-eye view. And I would try to fly downwards, and maybe you can also add a little bit of a twist or a spin into it. So, the second category is reveal shots, and as the name says, you basically reveal a new part of your scene or of your location.

These shots are the ones where definitely most crashes happen because you fly close to objects, but also, that gives all of your shots a lot of depth and also a lot of opportunities when it comes to sound design, like for example flying close to rocks and you hear the sound of the crackling rocks. So, shot number 4 is going to be a Dolly In and flying past an object. Objects always work really well for reveal shots because it can cover a part of the landscape, and as soon as you fly past it, then you see something new that the viewer didn't see before. If for some reason you don't have any objects at the location you're filming, then shot number 5 comes in, which is a Dolly In with a gimbal tilt up. So for that one, you're basically just going to fly forwards with your gimbal facing the ground, and then you're going to slowly tilt that gimbal up,

in order to reveal another part of that landscape. Shot number 6 is a Fly Through, and that means that you basically fly your drone through 2 different objects, or you fly it through a hole, like for example that cave back there. These kinds of shots not only look cool, but they're actually also super immersive, and you can do a ton of things with sound design, and also you can really show what the location looks like. The third category is tracking shots, and tracking shots are great to advance your scene and to show that there's some sort of progress happening, like for example driving to the next location. And that brings us to shot number 7, which is a Slider following the subject. So for example, if you track a car, then you want to just keep it at the same point in your frame, and you just fly sidewards to the driving path, and with that, you have all of the foreground passing quite quickly,

while the subject just stays in the same position, which looks really cool. Shot number 8 is going to be a Top Down shot following the subject. So that's basically again just facing a camera all the way to the ground, and then just tracking the subject you're filming. And shot number 9, which is the last of this category, is an Orbit keeping the subject centered, so that's basically flying around the subject while still keeping it in the middle, and that also looks really cool, because you can show the subject from different sides. And one cool thing about the Mavic 3 is that it has APAS 5.0, so that means you have multiple vision sensors and also a high-performance visual computing engine, and with that, the drone can sense obstacles in all different directions and actively plan safe flight routes, so that you can focus only on your shot without worrying about all of the obstacles around your drone.

Dude, why is it so windy here? Category number 4 is closing shots, so these are basically the opposite of an establishing shot, and they're there to round up the story and in order to release the tension that has built up throughout the scene. The closing shot would be, for example, a Dolly Out, so that's basically the opposite of a Dolly In, and you move backwards with the drone, and that just releases a lot of tension. And I also use that a lot at the end of all my videos to just kind of round up the story. So, shot number 11 would be an Orbit with a backwards movement. That is basically a normal orbit, but at the same time, you're also flying a little bit backwards with the drone, and you're just kind of twisting out. And last but not least, shot number 12 would be... The subject leaving the frame. Sometimes, you don't even have to make many drone movements,

but you can also just play around with the subject itself. Like, for example, if you face top down, and the car just drives out of the frame, that would also be a cool closing shot. So, yeah, I think that covers the 12 must-know drone shots, and now I'm going to head out of this place because it is so windy! So, what are my thoughts on the DJI Mavic 3? I've now been flying this drone for the past 4 weeks, and the quality that I get out of the Four Thirds inch sensor is unmatched from any other drone that I flew before. 5.1K in 50 fps just looks super crisp, and being able to shoot in the ProRes codec on the Mavic 3 Cine version allows me to do even heavier color grading. We all know that the battery life becomes longer with every model DJI releases, but the Mavic 3 takes it to a whole new level.

with a flight time of up to 46 minutes. This allows me to capture every single shot without the need to land and switch batteries. Altogether, I feel like the DJI Mavic 3 is the Sony A7S III of drones. For me, the A7S III was the first user-friendly consumer camera which produces footage that is indistinguishable from expensive cinema cameras. The Mavic 3 is the drone that closes the gap between consumers and professionals, and allows us creators to shoot big-budget documentaries and cinema movies while still being very portable and affordable. I believe that this drone is going to take my videos to the next level, and I can't wait to show you guys more of the stunning shots that I'm going to capture with it. Alright, so I hope that you enjoyed this video. If you did so, make sure to leave a like, and also feel free to subscribe and turn on notifications if you don't want to miss out on any of the upcoming videos.

There are going to be a lot of really cool projects in the next weeks and months. And if you want to buy the Mavic 3 or the Mavic 3 Cine version, you can find the links at the top of the description. And if you buy through these links, you will definitely support me and my channel. So that's it for today, I'm going to see you next time. Peace out. Bye bye.

12 Must-Know DRONE SHOTS For Better Storytelling! | DJI Mavic 3

Scripts