Aerial Filming in Wakatipu

Spring has turned to summer in the Wakatipu and everyone seems to be busy with a steady stream of TVC’s rolling through. I’m pleased to report that there has been a few very large ads shot here recently, a momentary reversal of the trend of jobs generally becoming smaller and with shorter lead times. Aside from TVC’s, we have the NZ Feature Film Human Traces shooting in the Catlin’s and we wish the team a good shoot.

The main strength of our region is our diverse locations and the dramatic opportunities they provide. To capture these vast visual opportunities we often rely on aerial shots and there are currently two main ways to achieve this.

The more traditional way is shooting from a helicopter with a specially designed mount.

The other way of shooting aerials is with drones also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or remoted piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). Whatever you call them they are a game changer, providing stunning footage without the expense of a helicopter. The capabilities of the machines are developing faster than the speed of a whirring blade. Moving almost as fast as the technical developments is the management and regulation of using these machines. Airshare has done some great work here and is a good first point of call. CAA now requires consent from the property owners of the land you are flying above; there are also different guidelines depending on whether machines are above or below 25kg. How local regulatory bodies (Councils, DoC, etc) interpret this is currently not uniform around the country and likely to be in a state of flux in the foreseeable future. It’s the producer and operator’s responsibility to ensure they are complying with the current local regulations. As an example should you want to shoot for commercial purposes over land administered by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, you will need to hold a 102 operator certificate issued by the CAA. While this may seem onerous it is much more enabling than the total ban previously introduced. My advice is that if you envisage yourself as a commercial operator you should get your 102 operator certificate.

Stay safe out there.

Kevin Jennings, Queenstown branch member