Over the past six months or so, I have been in
pre-production for the short film Operation: Just Cause. We have finished the
script, shot the trailer and are now working on the list of gear that we will
need to shoot this film. One of the scenes of this film takes place at an
airfield in Panama. During this scene, a team of Navy SEALs infiltrates the
airfield in order to render it inoperable. During this mission, the SEAL team
gets caught in a bloody firefight with the Panamanian Defense Force. I have
been working on how to shoot this engagement and what type of gear we will need
to accomplish it. I would like to be able to get some coverage from the air
during this scene. I have looked into some options for renting a helicopter for
the day and the other equipment that would be needed to secure the camera for
these shots. It is very expensive to rent a helicopter and pay for the
insurance as well.
Lately I have been considering other options and have found
a few of them. I was recently introduced to the Omcopter. This product is
remote-controlled helicopter, which is capable of carrying a Red Epic camera on
a stedicam platform. The Omcopter is small, agile and is capable of outdoor and
indoor flight. It can maneuver through tight places that other aircraft cannot.
There are other remote-controlled helicopters that are capable of similar maneuverability,
but I have not seen one that is capable of carrying a camera that is as heavy
as the Red Epic. The Omcopter has been used in big films such as, “Prometheus”,
“The Hobbit” and “Avatar 2”. If I can raise enough money to fit this product
into the budget I would like to rent it for a day and use it in Operation: Just
Cause.
