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blade diameter of around 2 meters it looked the business, but would it carry the camera and give me the shots I was looking for?" he wondered.
The helicopter chosen for the job was powered by a smokeless 2-stage jet turbine motor, which is reliable, powerful and vibration free. "What really blew me away was how quiet the chopper is compared to all the others I had heard," says Tai. "It's powered by a jet turbine engine with power output of 6 kilowatts. This allows the helicopter to lift a payload of 10Kg. The aircraft runs on illuminating paraffin, which means it can be deployed anywhere without the risk of running short on fuel."
The camera unit has a 360-degree continuous pan, tilt up, down and roll. All of this is automatically stabilized by some fancy electronics (gyro stabilized) and controlled by cameraman, Shane Hodgson, who comes long with the gear as part of the flying team. "A video downlink allowed me to see through the camera lens and Hodgson was able to control the zoom, aperture and shutter speed remotely and/or at my command."
A tremendously versatile platform
In two days, the production crew shot enough quality footage to make a music

Tai Krige is a total car nut and jumped at the opportunity to film two GT40 replicas racing along Ou Kaapse Web and over Chapman's Peak. "We shot the commercial in the early morning with adrenaline coursing through our veins," he recalls. "When we stopped for breakfast and viewed the footage there was only one word for it - unbelievable!"

video, a 'behind the scenes' documentary and a pitch for a feature film. "All in all, a very successful weekend, " says Tai. "Without the versatility of the remote helicopters, it would have taken much longer and used a lot more equipment. The budget would have been blown on the camera hire alone and we wouldn't have gotten the unique shots we did. Hell, we even followed the cars through a tunnel with our helicopter. It's simply a tremendously versatile platform."

Shooting with remote helicopters

Scene One.
Four band members gyrating on the rocks at the waters edge. Using the ground camera, we established a variety of shots. Then experimenting with the helicopter, we tried a few moves. First was the simple flyover. Flying in from 100m away, just above the water and then up and over. Simple and effective! Next was a run over the rocks, followed by a run in from the sea. We then tried a slow flyover while rotating and a few close-ups. This gave us valuable assistance in establishing technique and cooperation between pilot, camerman and me. It was stable, versatile, smoke free, quiet and it didn't fall out of the sky within 5 minutes.
Scene Two.
Sunday started with car chases around Ou Kaapse Weg and Chapman's peak. We met up with the two magnificent Ford GT40 replicas, designed and built by Jean Fourie and John Spence from Auto Futura. The plan was for them to do a little racing, with our helicopters and chase car in tow. With driver and helicopter operator up front of the chase vehicle, I was in the back with a monitor to direct the action as best I could. It was an absolute blast. We shot the footage in the early morning with the adrenaline corsing through our veins. When we stopped for breakfast and viewed the footage, there was only one word we could use to describe it - unbelievable.
Scene Three.
A second beach scene was a simple enough test, but the versatility of the helicopter really shone through. In essence this shot was a group of people on the beach having fun. One of the most striking shots was from the helicopter being directly over the group about 50m up. We gave the camera a slow rotation. This gave such a serene and quiet feel to the shot, just floating along. Other shots included fly-ins with low passes over the group and tracking shots from over the water.
Footage from our weekend is available for viewing on
http://www.wheelnuts.co.za

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