In August, the FAA adjusted their rules and regulations for UAV operators operating their drones for commercial purposes (see our discussion of those rules here). Many have thought the FAA's existing rules for professional aerial videography were confusing and excessive, specifically the requirement than a drone operator was a certified Part 61 pilot, as in for airplanes. It seems the FAA has recognized the immense interest in and application of UAVs, so kudos to them for making some changes. In fact, CNN recently reported that they are in the works with manufactures to create a drone suitable for live new broadcasting. Between that news and Amazon's well-known interest in using drones as a delivery services, the opportunities for commercial drone operation are bound to only increase.…

In January 2013, the Chinese company DJI released an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) they called the Phantom 1 that was equipped with a GoPro camera and along with it launched a movement: For the first time filmmakers had the ability to capture aerial video for an affordable price. The production value aerial video can add to a production is massive so it is no surprise that inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles like the Phantom series have become all the rage in the last few years. Here at Z-Channel Films we have used aerial videography is a few of our productions. For the documentary feature film we produced for DirecTV, “Jobs for G.I.s,” we integrated aerial video of Los Angeles captured with a DJI Phantom…