AERIAL FILMWORKS: Cineflex V14 Gyro-Stabilized Aerial HD

Red Bull “Project X” and Shaun White’s Secret Half-Pipe Filmed with Cineflex V14HD

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:48:11 +0000

Aerial Filmworks provided the Cineflex V14HD and technical expertise for the filming of Shaun White’s secret half-pipe deep in the Colorado mountains. Sponsored by Red Bull USA, Project X premiered during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Cineflex V14HD from Aerial Filmworks on the cover of Transworld Snowboarding magazine.

Contracted directly by Red Bull USA, Gray Mitchell of Aerial Filmworks rigged the Cineflex V14 camera system to a Eurocopter AS355 Twinstar from Aircam Helicopters, and provided technical expertise throughout the production to Director Curt Morgan. Aerial Filmworks also provided the helicopter mount, HD LCD monitors and Sony SRW1/SRPC1 HDCAM SR record deck.

About Aerial Filmworks LLC

Aerial Filmworks provides high-definition video Cineflex camera systems and services to the international entertainment, documentary and corporate marketplace. Recent adventure film projects include Red Bull, Burton Snowboards and BBC/Human Planet. Highly regarded by award-winning clients, the Cineflex V14 HD provides the highest level of image gyro-stabilization. Aerial Filmworks is a highly responsive company with over 20 years of aerial photography and filming experience.

Aerial Filmwork is a TerraPass White Badge partner continually investing in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

For more information, contact:
http://www.aerialfilmworks.com
Ron Chapple, President
Aerial Filmworks
(808) 281-1921

Aerial Filmworks Provides Cineflex V14 Cameras for 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Film

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:24:34 +0000

Over 32 million viewers watching the 2010 Winter Olympics were treated to spectacular aerial footage shot with Cineflex gyro-stabilized aerial camera systems provided by Aerial Filmworks. Over the past year, Barbershop Films worked with AJ Vesak and Mark Hryma to produce stunning images showcasing Vancouver and British Columbia. Talon Helicopters provided the aircraft.

Knowing that the world would be tuning into the Olympics opening ceremony, Barbershop Films contracted with the excellent camera operators and experienced film pilots to ensure success. The Cineflex V14 cameras, provided by Aerial Filmworks, were integral to the project. In addition, Aerial Filmworks provided the high-end Sony SRW1 HDCAM SR digital tape recorders, monitors and mounts. “Working with Aerial Filmworks as a turn-key supplier” states Peter Murray, President of Talon Helicopters, “saves our clients time and money.”

All footage was filmed in full-resolution HD 1920 x 1080p to the Sony SRW1 using dual-link 4:4:4 HQ mode for feature film quality.

About Aerial Filmworks LLC

Aerial Filmworks provides high-definition video Cineflex camera systems and services to the international entertainment, documentary and corporate marketplace. Highly regarded by award-winning clients, the Cineflex V14 HD provides the highest level of image gyro-stabilization. Aerial Filmworks is a highly responsive company with over 20 years of aerial photography and filming experience. Dedicated to providing Cineflex HD systems and services, experienced aerial filming crews work on location over 250 days a year.

Aerial Filmwork is a TerraPass White Badge partner continually investing in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

For more information, contact:
http://www.aerialfilmworks.com
Ron Chapple, President
Aerial Filmworks
(808) 281-1921

Over Kuwait- Another World First For Aerial Filmworks

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:00:27 +0000

Aerial Filmworks just completed the first Cineflex aerial production in Kuwait. Working with Cinemagics, an innovative media company, the Aerial Filmworks team flew the Cineflex V14HD to capture the beauty of Kuwait.

“The Cineflex V14 is amazing,” states Nasser M. Al Sabah, Creative Director for Cinemagics, “and Ron easily enhanced my vision for the film.” Cinemagics is the leading media and film production company in the Middle East with complete edit suites, Red One cameras, and film equipment rentals.

One year ago, Aerial Filmworks, was the first company to bring the Cineflex to Taiwan. Working on the Raging Planet series for Discovery Channel, Aerial Filmworks revealed Taiwan from the air as never seen before.

International export of the Cineflex system requires a multitude of logistics including permits from the US State Department and US Customs, and Work Visas. In addition, Aerial Filmworks has specially constructed equipment cases to reduce the weight of each case to under 70 lbs for international flights. By flying on commercial airlines, Aerial Filmworks reduces the cost of international production, and can respond quickly to filming requests without the need to use time-consuming and expensive freight forwarders.

About Aerial Filmworks LLC

Aerial Filmwork is a TerraPass White Badge partner continually investing in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

For more information, contact:
http://www.aerialfilmworks.com
Ron Chapple, President
Aerial Filmworks
(808) 281-1921

Aerial Filmworks Upgrades Cineflex V14 with New Sony Camera. Only System Available in North America.

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:22:58 +0000

Aerial Filmworks just added the new Sony HDC1500-R camera to one of their Cineflex V14 aerial systems. According to experienced broadcast engineers, the new camera enjoys the same sensor as Sony’s F23 camera. “While all our Cineflex systems are the newest generation of gyro-stabilization,” states Ron Chapple, founder of Aerial FIlmworks, “we now go one step further to offer the only Cineflex V14HD with an F23 sensor available to the production market in North America.” The $100,000 investment is just a part of Aerial Filmwork’s continual re-investment in technology.

Clients demand the absolute best quality to complement the investment in helicopter time. Aerial Filmworks researches and invests in the latest technology. The new upgraded system delivers an HD video signal with deeper blacks, vastly improved night shooting, and overall richer color.

The camera upgrade was completed by the engineering team at Axsys Technologies, manufacturer of the Cineflex V14HD, in Grass Valley, California. Installing the new Sony camera required a complete tear-down of the system, new parts and gimbal modification.

Please contact Aerial Filmworks to check availability and pricing for the new system.

UPDATE

“We have been filming for 3 weeks with the new camera. The range and depth of the image is excellent, and the blacks are absolutely amazing!”

~ Ron Chapple, Aerial Director of Photography

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Acquires Aerial Footage for Permanent Collection

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:08:02 +0000

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired aerial footage produced by Aerial Filmworks for their permanent collection. In conjunction with the New Topographics exhibit, the Center for Land Use Interpretation worked with Ron Chapple of Aerial Filmworks to film oil refineries in Houston, Texas, and oil fields in California. The concept of a “landscan” was developed by Matthew Coolidge, Director of CLUI, to explore the relationship between between the petroleum industry and land use.

“The never-ending oilfields were mesmerizing as we filmed with the Cineflex camera. Ron and
the pilot worked together to communicate the landscan concept.”

~Matthew Coolidge, Director
Center for Land Use Interpretation

Using the Cineflex V14HD and recording to HDCAM SR tape stock on the Sony SRW1 deck delivered full-resolution 1920 x 1080p footage. The pilot, Garner Sheperd, of Corporate Helicopters mapped out a course to fly over the most dense sections of oil wells. Each take is over 12 minutes in length.

In addition, Aerial Filmworks handled the video edit. Susan Dempster captured the HDCAM SR tapes uncompressed using an AJA Kona3 card to a 7 terabyte array. After color-grading, the footage was synched to a sound track provided by CLUI. The final delivery to LACMA was on Blu-ray DVDs and hard drives.

The exhibit is on display from October 25, 2009 to January 3, 2010.

The New Topographics Exhibit

LACMA Press Release

About Aerial Filmworks

Aerial Filmworks is a TerraPass White Badge partner. Whether in the rain forest or desert, Aerial Filmworks continually invests in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

CBS Survivor Completes Cineflex V14HD Project in Samoa

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:35:41 +0000

Mark Hryma has recently completed the back-to-back “Survivor-Samoa” shoot in the South Pacific.

“We had accumulated almost 250 hours of flight and camera time over a 4 month period without a single glitch from your Cineflex package. The system just never stops working. The wide angle lens kit was a tremendous compliment when shooting over the Samoan rainforest and waterfalls. I’ll be sure to include it on my next production.”

Mark Hryma
Aerial Director of Photography
Flyboy Pictures

Gray Mitchell of Aerial Filmworks delivered the gear in specially designed cases to keep the maximum weight of any case under 70 lbs. This allows the equipment to be checked as excess baggage for immediate delivery. Upon arriving, Gray and Mark had the Eurocopter AS350B2 Astar rigged and ready to go within 2 hours.

Our hearts and thoughts go out to the people suffering loss in the recent earthquake and tsunami. If you would like to join us in helping out, please contribute through the Red Cross.

New “Raging Planet” Weather Series on Discovery Channel

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:28:35 +0000

Discovery Channel's Raging Planet

Update: Volcanoes and Avalanches programs will premiere on September 27, 2009. Sea Storms and Blizzards premiere October 4th, 2009.

Discovery Channel premieres the new “Raging Planet” series. Aerial Filmworks was contracted to produce aerial footage on all of the shows. The 15 productions involved extensive shoots in North America and Taiwan. The Aerial Filmworks team flew over wildfires, floods and volcanoes.

“Just a quick note that I’ve just watched the aerials you shot in Vermont and they were completely stunning, spectacular, awe-inspiring, amazing! You are going to love Hurricane and Floods – amazing examples of your aerials in both! Discovery are VERY pleased. We got great ratings and some very good feedback….”
~Alice Harper, Series Producer | Pioneer Productions

About Aerial Filmworks

Aerial Filmworks is a TerraPass White Badge partner. Whether in the rain forest or desert, Aerial Filmworks continually invests in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

Aerial Filmworks Travels to Costa Rica to Film “I’m a Celebrity- Get Me Out of Here”

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:24:02 +0000

Gray Mitchell, Camera Operator, operates the Cineflex V14 HD system on a Bell 407 helicopter in Costa Rica for the NBC “I’m a Celebrity- Get Me Out of Here” television series. Photo by Tyler Golden.

The ITV production team contracted with Aerial Filmworks as the Aerial Unit for the current “I’m A Celebrity- Get Me Out of Here” adventure series airing on NBC. Filmed in Costa Rica under tight deadlines and jungle conditions, Gray Mitchell hand delivered the Cineflex equipment to the location, rigged the Bell 407 helicopter, and operated the camera over the course of the production. The scenes included low level river scenes and air-to-air sequences of both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Rebecca Giblin of Aerial Filmworks arranged for the US State Department permits necessary to deliver the gyro-stabilized Cineflex V14 HD system to Central America.

“Please thank Gray for his work, he was excellent and the shots look amazing…”
~Diana Focke, Executive in Charge of Production | ITV

About Aerial Filmworks

Aerial Filmworks is a TerraPass White Badge partner. Whether in the rain forest or desert, Aerial Filmworks continually invests in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.

Clear Skies for Some HD Aerial Producers

admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:41:43 +0000

by George Winslow — Multichannel News, March 25, 2009

As a specialist in aerial photography, Ron Chapple knows a lot about bad weather and dangerous conditions, having shot footage in typhoons, volcanoes, hurricanes and wild fires for The Discovery Channel’s Raging Planet series. Yet, Aerial Filmworks’ president and aerial director of photography is reporting relatively little turbulence from the economic maelstrom that has been buffeting the TV production sector. “It is amazing how much work we have,” he said. “If this is a recession, I want more of it.”

Their experience illustrates how some companies have been able to thrive in a tough economic climate by finding low-cost ways of producing high-quality HD footage.

Aerial Filmworks specializes in aerial photography, using the Cineflex V14HD camera system from Axsys Technologies. The system has a stabilization system that was originally developed for the military that allows them to shoot extremely high-quality HD images, Chapple said. Yet it is relatively lightweight and can be easily mounted on helicopters and operated by a single camera person, thus reducing the cost of high-definition aerial photography.

Aerial Filmworks owns three of these camera systems, which it also rents out to qualified operators. It has worked on shoots for such clients as Pioneer Productions (which is producing the Raging Planet series), Disney Kids, ESPN, PBS, the Maui Chopper series on TruTV and has done work for the snowboarding film “That’s It That’s All”.

The Cineflex V14HD camera system uses a Sony HDC-1500 high-def camera that is mounted inside a round ball. An operator inside the helicopter controls the camera with a joy stick. Typically, Chapple shoots in 1080p at 23.98 or 29.97 frames per second and records the footage on Sony CineAlta SRW1/SRPC-1 HDCAM SR decks.

Rainbow through the cockpit window of a Bell 206B3 Jet Ranger on the turbulent east coast of Taiwan.

The camera has a five-axis stabilization system, that Chapple said produces clear steady pictures even in severe weather.

While in Taiwan shooting sequences in the Taroko Gorge for Raging Planet, Chapple noted that “regardless of the wind conditions you can continue to shoot because of the stabilization. The winds will come from one direction and then half a mile later you’ll get hit with winds from another direction. But the camera just stays rock-solid the whole time.”

On a number of shoots, the camera system also allowed them to get high-quality HD pictures from a considerable distance. “When we were shooting the California wildfires, you really don’t want to be hovering directly over the flames that can be 100 feet high or more,” Chapple noted. “But we were able to sit at a safe distance about a quarter of a mile away and zoom in on the flames.”

The camera is also lighter and easier to install than other aerial photographic systems on the market, Chapple said. Aerial Filmworks leases a helicopter near the location and send only one operator/tech on a shoot, which reduces costs. “We just show up with four or five cases and within an hour the operator can rig it up and we’re ready to fly,” Chapple said. “Being able to go out with just one person and work on a variety of helicopters really helps keep production costs down and that has kept us very busy.”

Jeff Nestel-Patt, director of corporate marketing at Axsys Technologies, adds that the system’s ability to produce high-quality HD images with lower production costs has kept it in high demand among documentary film makers.

Link to original article on Multichannel News.

CBS “Survivor” Contracts Aerial Filmworks to Provide Cineflex V14 HD System

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:16:15 +0000

Mark Hryma of Flyboy Pictures flies the Cineflex V14 HD system in Brazil on the set of Survivor: Tocantins.

The newest CBS season of “Survivor: Tocantins” used a Cineflex V14 HD from Aerial Filmworks. Aerial DP and camera operator Mark Hryma worked with the system for 7 weeks in the Highlands of Brazil. Footage from the integrated Sony CineAlta HDC-1500 camera was captured to a Sony XDCAM recording deck.

“All is good on our end. The system has worked flawlessly…”
~Mark Hyrma, Aerial Director of Photography

The Aerial Filmworks team arranged the international export permits from the US State Department and hand-delivered the camera to the remote location. While on-site, Gray Mitchell, installed the system and modified the Eurocopter AS350 to precisely fit the Airfilm AFSP helicopter mount.

About Aerial Filmworks

Aerial Filmworks is a TerraPass White Badge partner continually investing in Carbon Offset credits to preserve a carbon neutral footprint.