Somewhere in the first call, almost every client asks: can we get the drone? The honest answer is that we can, and about half the time we suggest you should not. Here is how we decide.
What an aerial actually does
Two things, and only two. It establishes scale: the size of a plant, a campus, a solar array, a crowd. And it establishes place: this company is real, it has a building, the building is in Xenia or Toledo or Cincinnati, and here is what surrounds it.
Scale and place. If your film needs neither, the aerial is a beauty shot, and beauty shots get cut in the first review because they slow the story down.
Where it earns its place
- Facilities and infrastructure. The Hybridworks pilot plant, a floating solar array, a substation, a warehouse. Three seconds from the air says what no ground camera can.
- Documentaries about a region. Our sustainability tour films for Power a Clean Future Ohio move between cities. A single aerial per city is how the viewer knows where they are now.
- Events with a crowd. The festival at golden hour, the parking lot full, the outdoor stage. The frame that ends up on next year’s poster.
- Real estate and land. Access, neighbors, acreage. This is the one category where the aerial is the point rather than the punctuation.
Where it does not
- Founder stories. The film is a face and a voice. An aerial of the office park adds nothing the viewer wanted.
- Interior businesses. A café, a clinic, a software company. The building is not the story.
- Anywhere the airspace says no. Some of Dayton sits under controlled airspace near Wright-Patterson. Parts of Cincinnati and Columbus are the same. We check every address before promising a flight, and some locations are a hard no.
What it costs
Added to a brand film or event day, aerial coverage is $750 per production day at AmeriFilms. A standalone aerial shoot with color-graded footage and stills starts at $1,500. Dual-operator work (one pilot flying FPV through a space while another flies a cinematic camera) is quoted per project.
The number is not the drone. The number is a licensed pilot, insurance on every flight, the airspace authorization when a location needs one, and the time to plan a shot that will survive the edit.
The compliance part, briefly
Every AmeriFilms pilot holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. We carry liability insurance and request LAANC authorization for controlled airspace. Your facilities manager and your legal team will ask for the paperwork; we send it before we take off. We wrote a longer piece on what Part 107 means for your project if you want the detail.
The rule we use
If we cannot say in one sentence what the aerial tells the viewer that nothing else in the film does, we do not fly it. We would rather spend that $750 on a second interview.
Questions
Can you fly indoors?
Yes, with a smaller aircraft and a plan. Indoor flights over people are the exception, not the rule, and we will tell you when a space is not safe for it.
How much notice do you need for an aerial?
A week is comfortable for most Ohio locations. Controlled airspace can take longer for authorization.
What resolution is the footage?
Up to 6K, delivered color-graded with the rest of the film, or as standalone clips and stills.
See the work on the aerial cinematography page, or send us an address and we will check the airspace.