Building your cinematic FPV Drone
Drones are increasingly common in the field of film and cinematography today. If you have not flown a drone yourself, you must have at least seen a video shot using one. The consumer drones like the DJIs have democratized aerial photography and filmmaking, making it accessible to almost everyone.
These drones are usually build with photography or filmmaking in mind (than leisure or flying for sports) enabling operators to focus on the filming aspect than flying the drone itself. It gives filmmakers the freedom to place their camera anywhere in the 3D space, up close to the action without ever needing complicated gear setups and rigs.
Given this freedom, Indie filmmakers and cinematographers are adding drones to their toolbelt. These commercial drones however can not fly through tight corners or are not as agile as racing drones. This is where the Cinematic FPV drones, or a Cinewhoop comes in.
So what is a Cinewhoop drone?
A Cinewhoop is usually a 3 inch micro quad First-Person-View (FPV) drone designed to carry a GoPro. It is optimized for capturing cinematic drone shots, and are usually flown slower and is more stable compared to a Freestyle or FPV Racing Drones.
Cinewhoops usually have a duct or prop guard which makes it safer to fly around people or small gaps and holes. These ducts may also help provide more thrust helping it carry the additional weight of a GoPro.
Robert McIntosh operated the drone for Spike Jonze’s 2012 film, Pretty Sweet, one of the earliest movies made with a Panasonic G5 attached on a full size drone. Robert later ended up co-founding ReelSteady, a popular GoPro stabilization software. In 2020, we see the likes of Apple WWDC, known for its high quality production, leveraging aerial drone shots to drive their narrative.
From the DJI Inspire, to the Alta 8 used in Hollywood, drones have become more sophisticated and are helping filmmakers create a new visual vocabulary in the Cinematography world.
The other end of the spectrum is an active FPV drone racing community who is key in innovating and building DIY custom drones. Team BigWhoop came up with a small palm-size drone call the TinyWhoop. It’s a little quad you can fly real fast, make abrupt turns and go through small openings and gaps. TinyWhoops are fun to fly however are too small to carry a GoPro if you want to film with it. Paul Nurkkala & Andy Shen changed that by creating, what we know as, the CineWhoop.
Since then, you may have seen some of the breathtaking shots from Johny FPV and Sam Kolder.
Essential components of a Cinewhoop
Building your own Cinewhoop for the first time can be overwhelming. Choosing the components itself could become quite technical once you start going through the details. If your interest is primarily in filming than making your own drone, you can consider buying a pre-build Cinewhoop. Unless you are an expert Pilot, you most likely will end up crashing your drone (It’s not the same as flying a Mavic). When that happens, repairing it yourself becomes easier if you know how to build it at the first place!
To start building, you’ll need these 5 major units:
1. The Drone
First, you’ll need a drone frame to hold the Flight Controller (FC) and an Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) stack. The flight controller is the brain of the drone, while the ESC coordinates the motors with the FC. You’ll then need 4 motors and the propellors (props) to make it fly. Finally, you’ll need some batteries (and a battery charger) to power your drone.
2. Radio Controller
A radio controller will help you fly and control the drone. You can consider choosing from a wide variety of controllers.
3. FPV Video Feed
This is a small camera and a transmitter system that you fix on the drone. The video feed from this camera is the one you’ll be monitoring from your FPV Goggle. This helps you control where your drone is going precisely. The flight precision comes since you do not have to fly through a visual line of sight.
Analog Video Feed Systems are common to the FPV racing community however Digital Video Systems are becoming more popular. This video feed however, is not the primary footage you use for your production work.
4. FPV Goggle
To control the drone with precision, you will need an FPV Goggle. It enables you to see the live video feed transmitted from the drone. Oscar Liang’s FPV Goggles purchase guide will help you understand the nuances of different types of Goggles.
5. Video Recorder
The whole point of building a Cinewhoop is to mount a Video Recorder, usually a GoPro. You can mount other devices like a 360 Camera as well.
A GoPro does add to the overall weight of the Cinewhoop. It’s common to see cinewhoopers using a naked GoPro to keep the weight below 250g (the legal limit beyond which you need to register your drone in the US) as well as increase the flight time with a given battery.
Buying the components & tools
Unless you are getting the pre-build Cinewhoop, you are probably buying several small components from multiple online stores. It is easy to overlook one small component that may later bite you back when you realize it is missing and you have to wait one more week to get it delivered!
I bought all the components from Amazon, GetFPV and Rotor Riot. Later, I figured some of the items were cheaper on AliExpress (takes longer shipping though). Here is the full list of the components I used to build my Cinewhoop. Beyond the components, the list also includes all the tools I used.
Building the Cinewhoop
This is probably the most rewarding part of the whole process. There are a few step by step tutorials available on Youtube that you can follow. I build mine referring to the Rotor Riot’s build, and the guide from Paul Nurkkalla & Joshua Bardwell.
Flying and Filming using the Cinewhoop
Cinewhoops are a very different genre than the DJI drones so there will be a learning curve (read ‘you are going to crash it at some point’). I’m not an expert pilot yet but playing with the simulators helps ramp up.
There are a few simulators to consider but my favorites have been LiftOff and Drone Racing League (DRL). Getting your Radio Controller sooner and practicing while doing your research can save time building your muscle memory.
Once you have your build ready, you should check out Joshua Bardwell’s Youtube channel for PID setting guides and several other tips on flying, taking care of your batteries and so on. Alex Vanober has some neat tricks I bet you would love to try out. From the filmmaking angle, Becky & Chris’s FPV video is something I enjoy watching.
Final Production
Once you have the GoPro footage from your Cinewhoop, like any post processing workflow, you’ll likely need to stabilize it. ReelSteady leverages GoPro’s gyro information to stabilize the footage (rather than just using pixel based stabilization) and is perhaps the most popular software in the community.
Finally, the Community
The FPV community is a huge active group of innovators, tinkerers, and advocates keeping the FPV drones safe and alive.
The Cinewhoopers Facebook group is one of the best place if you need any help through your journey. Some of the names I mentioned earlier are members of the group. NakedCinewhoop group can be helpful if you are making your own NakedGoPro. For flying and filming inspirations, #cinewhoopers on Instagram is a great place to be. And finally, the best place to find tutorials, other people’s works, or share your own — Youtube!
