It’s been a dream of ours for a long time to do a moody cinematic helicopter shoot. We’ve been evolving in our careers lately and doing more promo videos for brands as well as travel / tourism based work, so it was the perfect time.
We had already starting visualizing and eventually the temptation became impossible to resist, so we connected with HeliJet Costa Rica and got it all organized. The plan was to shoot a short 30 second video. The flight plan was loose, but we knew we’d be flying over Poas Volcano, so regardless, it was going to be epic.
As always, even when we shoot a montage without a script or storyline, we always create a storyboard or inspiration board with the types of shots we are looking to get. The more organization and pre-planning you do on any project always translates into the end product. So these inspo boards are a must when you’re creating.
The day of the shoot was pure excitement and adrenaline from the moment we woke up. We scrambled out of the hotel at 5am hoping to shoot some b-roll of the helicopter as the sun came up, but when we got there it was still in the hanger, so we took some shots in the hanger and got ourselves harnessed.
Side story: The day before we had shot Irazu Volcano which is around 3500 feet above sea level and a balmy 15 degrees. It must of been how cold it was, but we somehow forgot to wear sunscreen and got ourselves ridiculously burnt. I mean sizzled. We woke up absolutely fried the next day. So bad that I had to wear a t-shirt around my face the entire day which was super awkward. But I digress…
After getting harnessed and loading our gear, the chopper was taxied out to the runway at Tobias Bolano Airport, and prepped to fly. We shot a little b-roll and a few takes of our models getting into the helicopter as well as the helicopter taking off. Then they picked us up, locked in our harnesses so we could move around freely in the air, and we took off.
As we pushed beyond the city into nature, the views kept getting better and better. We mostly saw them from behind our lens, but every once and awhile we’d remember to take a brief moment to just enjoy it. It was pretty surreal.
I’ve been obsessed for awhile with the shots through the front window of the dashboard and all the instruments. So focussed on that for awhile. Then before we knew it we were approaching Poas.
A burst of adrenaline went through me the moment I saw it. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. I mean, we’ve been up in a helicopter before and flew over Niagara Falls which was pretty incredible. But seeing an active volcano, steaming and bubbling from above was an experience I can’t even begin to describe.
JP cracked open the glass door, and the wind speeds were solid. We flew one pass circling around the perimeter with JP shooting 4k at 60 fps on the ronin. Then switched positions and flew another pass for photos.
I’d been envisioning for awhile getting an epic shot of my feet dangling out over the volcano, but in my mind I pictured it being a lot easier to capture than it actually was!
It was 50 knot winds and who knows how solid those harnesses are. So picture me, camera in one hand, the other hand gripping onto the roof of the chopper as I tried to get the composition, position of my feet and focus all right, while simultaneously trying not to loose my sandals into the crater. Hence my toes gripping them in the photo. I had planned to wear sneakers, but forgot them! Ooops.
We could have done pass after pass over the volcano, but we had to move on. We flew over the crater lake beside Poas, but by that time it had completely clouded over. We headed on looking for a location to land so we could fly the drone up. On the way we flew over a very tall single spout waterfall, where we tried the feet dangling shot again.
Then eventually landed in a farmers field to get the drone shots we needed. While setting up we made friends with some curious horses, and ended up meeting the owner of the land who we had bumped into previously shooting the waterfall at Bajos del Toro.
Since we needed the field empty for the shots, he got to go up for a little spin in the chopper while they did 3 passes flying over the field and circling around a river to get the shots we needed. Must have been nice surprise for him. When checking on your land turns into a helicopter ride. Nice.
We wanted to get a top down shot of the helicopter and follow it continuously from above. The only issue was JP had to get the drone up pretty high to make sure it didn’t get sucked down into the propellers.
As the clouds pushed in, the drone ended up getting lost in the clouds before getting to the height he wanted. Luckily, the drone disappearing through the clouds ended up being an awesome shot, and we actually used it to end the video.
Since we had to lower the drone to actually see the helicopter we weren’t able to get the shot we wanted tracking from above at such a low altitude. So instead he decided to stay a little further back and chase the helicopter from behind instead.
Once we had the shots we needed, we loaded up the gear and made the return trip to the airport. We could have shot all day. It literally felt like 20 minutes, but we managed to get the essentials in an hour of flight time.
That being said, time limitations always mean sacrifices in production. For example, we didn’t have time to switch lenses since it takes time to rebalance the ronin. So the entire video was shot on our 16-35 wide angle lens. Not ideal, but it doesn’t mean you can’t produce something amazing.
I like to think we always end up capturing epic moments, even when we are shooting run and gun style. But budget, the amount of production time we have and leeway to shoot in the ideal lighting conditions will always dictate the production value.
In the end, HeliJet loved the video and will be using it to promote at Expotur. They also purchased some images to beef up their website and social media content.
Thank you HeliJet for this unforgettable experience. We loved flying with you, and can’t wait for the next adventure…
