Recording Areoplanes flypast
 

I have been asked to record an evening with World war 2 Veterans.
During this evening there will be a flypast of old WW2 Areoplanes and a fireworks display.
This flypast will happen at 19:30 ( September) so the sun will be fairly low.
Has anyone got any tips regarding the recording of these planes.
I will be using XL1i and XM2 Camcorders.

Cheers,
David

Make sure the Fokkers don't come out of the sun.

Good one Jack. I like it.

David, if you have two cams, hopefully both are operated. Of the aeroplanes have one cam on a wide shot of the formation. The other with your best camera operator on a close shot zoomed in, and vary it with the occasional mid shot.

Alternativly you will need cutaway shots of the crowd. Plenty of them. Try to get interesting shots of officials, crowd, pretty girls and kids. Some good closeups. Try to capture as many cutaways early as you can before the flypast. Then edit the whole lot together in post production.

The tricky bit is matching the shots re exposure. This is where your experience will help. As a suggestion try both your cameras out at the same time of the day a few days prior. If you have a field monitor even better.

Have fun. That's the main thing!!

Hi David,

Just alittle aside to the already excellent suggestions. Add some shutter to slow down the image of the props. Pretty cool effect when shooting anything in motion.

Use the lowest of your ND filters and use the outdoor preset to get the true colors of the setting sun.

Have fun,

Steph

Thanks to all for your help,( I think the fokkers are spitfires Jack.)

I think the main problem will be exposure, knowing how much gain to add to get proper exposure of the aircraft.

Do you have an operator for the second camera? If so, I would make every effort to get a ride in a chase plane and shoot the flyby air-to-air from a good distance (at least 500 feet...okay, about 150 meters), of course with the permission and cooperation of the group. I'd shoot from slightly above and from the opposite side of the crowd, so that you can get the people on the ground in the background.
Whatever shots you decide upon, don't forget about sound. You may want to have an attenuator handy, else when the aircraft are passing close by, your audio will be pegged and clipped.

Interview with an old Danish pilot: "Yah, in WW2, a Fokker almost shot me down."
Interviewer: "A Fokker is a type of airplane, right?"
Pilot: "Yah, dat's right. But this Fokker was flying a Messerschmitt."

Thanks Owen, I wait a few years to say that.
David , try to find out the direction they will fly in from.That may determine whether you want to concentrate on ingressing aircraft or eggressing.
If they are coming out of the sun try setting up on the entry side of the field to show a scene of the aircraft pulling up and away from the crowd.
Also ask a few questions . Will the vets be in formation and salute ? If so set up another cam shooting down the row of vets at the salute include many with focus on fist vet then focus forward as the aircraft pass.
Boy wouldnt you hate me as a director.
Just a few thought to get things going .This could be a very exciting shoot for you and I'm sure you'll have a bunch of approaches in mind when the day arrives.Good luck and let us know how it goes.