American Cinematographer - August 2018 - 16

individuals is the spotter, who keeps an
eye on the drone itself and its flight
path for safety, and one is an assistant
- is that correct?
Austin: Yes, that's correct.
What is the flying time of a
drone with a high-end camera?
Austin: Technology keeps changing
and getting better, and there is some new
tech coming out that will change my
answer. But today, flying our Red Weapon
8K Monstro with a Zeiss CZ.2 28-80mm
[T2.9] zoom, we average a little over 12

Cinematographer Roham Rahmanian checks the frame for a shot
of 958 Intel Shooting Star drones forming a 328'-tall rendering of
Time magazine's cover.

Pro Perspective
Roham Rahmanian:
Lighting the Sky
Beyond carrying cameras to unique vantages, drones can also
serve as aerial-lighting platforms. Perhaps the most widely seen
demonstration of this was the opening ceremony of the 2018
Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, during which Intel
Shooting Star drones, carrying integrated LEDs, formed a massive
snowboarder in the sky.
Cinematographer Roham Rahmanian recently had the opportunity to work with this technology when he was brought onto a
special shoot for the June 11 cover of Time, for which 958 Shooting
Star drones formed the magazine's logo and red-and-white cover
border. Rahmanian is a partner, cinematographer and creative technologist at consulting firm and production company The Astronauts
Guild; as a director of photography, his credits include the short
Break the Will, for which he received an Emerging Cinematographers Award in 2017.
Rahmanian was referred to Time's multimedia producer Josh
Raab by drone-services provider Astraeus Aerial, which was already
on board to provide the drone platform from which the cover image
would be shot. He was invited to join the project as a technology
consultant, but once he arrived on location in Folsom, Calif., for the
three-day shoot, "it turned into a cinematography role," he recalls.
"I started coordinating with D.W. Pine, Time's creative director, and
16

August 2018

minutes before a quick land and battery
swap.
How often do you suggest a
different drone or camera to a cinematographer?
Austin: Quite often, actually. Everyone understands how seriously cinematographers take their craft. Sometimes,
however, aerial shots have to be looked at
differently. The cost of flying our DJI
Zenmuse X7 6K camera on an Inspire 2
drone is drastically different from flying an
Arri Alexa Mini or Red Weapon. If it is web-

figuring out what we had to do to realize his vision, and then I liaised
with the Astraeus team, deciding how we were going to do the
shot."
Rahmanian shared the cinematography credit with the
Astraeus Aerial crew, which included pilot Corey Gineris, camera
operator Zack Haskell and spotter Travis Samson. Flying an Astraeus
Aerial unmanned aircraft system, the crew worked with a Red
Weapon camera with a Helium 8K sensor, paired with a 35mm
Canon Cinema Prime (T1.5). When the lens was wide open,
Rahmanian reports, "We got this really nice blooming that made the
drone lights look a little bit bigger and gave them a bit more presence." Balancing that effect with the need to maintain a sharp
image, Rahmanian ultimately opted to shoot around T2.8 to T2.8½,
at an ISO of 800.
The Shooting Star drones were arranged in a 328'-tall formation, with the top edge approximately 400' off the ground. The fleet
of drones flew into position as a unit, having been programmed
under the supervision of Intel animation lead Tim Heath. When the
Intel team launches the drones, Rahmanian notes, "it's an aweinspiring ballet of lights.
"Once the drones went up and came down, we had about
an hour of turnaround before they could go back up, so we only had
one shot each morning and night," he adds. "All of it had to be at
sunrise or sunset to get the right gradient of light in the sky. We actually got the shot the first night; the other nights were bonus, so we
got to experiment with all the different variables."
The Shooting Star drones cascaded into position, building the
cover's borders first and then the Time logo. "We had to wait for
them to stabilize, and then they held their position up there for
about 3 to 5 minutes," Rahmanian notes.
Rahmanian predicts that it won't take long before the technology behind drone clusters becomes more readily available and its
applications evolve in new directions. In the motion-picture arena,
drone clusters could certainly be put to use for large-scale environmental lighting. Additionally, Rahmanian foresees clusters, outfitted
with cameras instead of lights, being used to create 360-degree VR
environments.
"The sky's limitless with this kind of thing," he says. Laughing,
he adds, "No pun intended."
- Jon D. Witmer

American Cinematographer

Roham Rahmanian photo by Jake Stangel.

necessary permits, and full insurance. We
can also advise on location and timing, and
we provide creative solutions to achieving a
particular shot.
How many people come out on
your team?
Austin: The crew size can vary
based on the specific project and camera
we are flying. For most TV work we are a
two-man team: pilot and camera operator.
For larger features, we might have three or
four on the crew.
In the larger team, one of those

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