AGL Aerials

What aircraft does AGL fly?

Three aircraft, chosen per shot rather than per habit.Heavy LiftMax payload35 lbFreefly Alta X. 35 lb payload budget, 13 minutes typical with a full cinema build. For productions that need the same cinema camera in the air that the ground unit is shooting on.Heavy LiftInspire 3Recording8K CinemaDNG8K RAW, dual operator, nothing to build.

What makes one aerial unit better than another?

The crew. The aircraft is the part anyone can buy.Every rig we fly is on the open market to whoever has the credit limit. What is not on the market is a team that has spent years on professional sets absorbing how one runs. That is the company. The rest is equipment we happen to own.04Question

How does a drone crew save a production time?

By reading the day before the day asks anything of them.Sets are like water. Everyone has to be fluid. A scene gets cancelled, the AD calls an audible, and suddenly drones are up next. You do not want production looking for the drone crew at crafty.We work ahead of the AD instead of behind them. In position before the call, ready when it comes, and clear of the floor when the day moves on.

Can a drone carry a lighting package?

Yes, and almost nobody offers it.AGL owns a 2x2 Stratus array: four 150W emitters, roughly the output of a 10kW HMI, placed anywhere in the frame without a condor, a lift, or a street closure. On night exteriors that changes what a schedule can hold. On locations where conventional rigging is impractical, it changes what is possible at all.Drone lighting07Question

How does an aerial unit work with the camera department?

On the camera department's side of the line, taking direction from the DP the same as any other operator.Frame language comes from the DP, not from what happens to look good in the air. Setups get rehearsed before they get flown. When the honest answer is that the shot wants a crane or a Steadicam, that is the answer we give, and we would rather give it in prep than on the day.08Selected work