Film, television, commercials
Aerial filming and cinematography in South Africa
We are the aerial unit a producer never has to worry about: expert, safe, easy to work with and there on time. Cape Town based, flying across South Africa and beyond.
Three instruments, one unit
Aerial cinematography is not one aircraft. It is choosing the right instrument for the shot, then flying it the way a cinematographer would. We bring three, and we tell you early which one a shot belongs on.
| Instrument | Platform and camera | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Cinema drone | DJI Inspire 3 with the Zenmuse X9 8K Air. Full frame, up to 8K 25 fps CinemaDNG and 8K 75 fps ProRes RAW. | Establishers, orbits, reveals and top downs. Anything that has to hold up on a large screen and cut with the A camera. |
| Gimbal stabilised FPV | Our custom gimbal FPV rig, carrying a Red Komodo 6K (Super 35 global shutter, REDCODE RAW up to 6K 40 fps) or the Freefly Ember S5K for high speed. | Vehicle chase, proximity, dive, reveals and single take interiors. The Ember when the beat has to run slow. |
| Heavy lift | Freefly Alta X, lifting up to 15.9 kg. | Larger cinema cameras and custom payloads. The brief that sits outside what a standard drone package can do. |
For tight locations and scouting we also fly the Mavic 4 Pro. Gimbal stabilised FPV is the discipline we are best known for, and we were among the first units in South Africa to build that rig for film work. The full breakdown is on the cinema FPV page.
Two rules of thumb we give every DP. FPV runs wide, so a long lens look belongs on the Inspire 3 or a heavy lift platform. And cinema FPV flights are short, so plan the day in passes rather than hours.
Credits
Our work flies on productions for Netflix, Apple TV, National Geographic, Amazon Prime and the BBC. Credits include Gold Rush, Survivor, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, The Amazing Race Australia and Khatron Ke Khiladi.
Working with a production
We slot in under your South African production service company and work to the same call sheet as every other department. We join the recce where the location needs it, agree the flight line, and hold a safety brief with the first AD before the first flight.
The aircraft, the pilot, the permits and the airspace come from one crew, so your production has one point of contact for the aerial side. One call covers the shot, the aircraft and the airspace. The pilot who scopes the shot flies it.
- A cleared flight corridor. Nobody stands in or under the flight line who is not in the shot and briefed.
- Battery swaps planned into the schedule, so the day is built around them rather than interrupted by them.
- A dedicated spotter on visual line of sight, and a camera operator flying with the pilot where the shot needs one.
Permits and lead times
Every aerial shot in South Africa sits behind a chain of permissions: the Civil Aviation Authority, the landowner, and where the location needs it the City of Cape Town, SANParks or CapeNature. We map the chain before we quote, and we handle the aviation side ourselves. The location permission comes first and the aviation applications follow from it, so send us the sites early.
The full chain is on the permits and approvals page, with guides for Table Mountain National Park and Cape Town film permits.
Questions producers ask
Do you work with international productions?
Yes. Productions from Europe and the US book us as much for a clean, compliant, on schedule operation as for the image. We are Cape Town based, we have flown in South Africa and Namibia, and we take the airspace and permit work off the production's desk.
What do you need from us to scope a shot?
The location, the dates, and the move described as a move. A reference clip beats a paragraph. Also tell us whether the location can be closed and who controls it, and the delivery format and codec the edit is cutting in. With that we can tell you which aircraft the shot belongs on and what it needs on the day.
Can you fly the A camera package?
Yes. When the aerials are the main camera for a sequence, we build the day around them: the pilot, a camera operator flying with the pilot, the aircraft and the safety plan all come from us. We have run shoots where the aerial unit was the A and B camera and the whole delivery rested on us.
Do you handle permits?
Yes. We handle the aviation side: the flight plans, the airspace coordination and the paperwork behind them. The production lodges the location permission, such as a City of Cape Town film permit, a SANParks or CapeNature application or a landowner letter, and we build the aviation applications on top of it.
Send us the brief
Send the location, the dates and the shot. A reference clip helps. We will come back with the aircraft, the permit route and what the shot needs on the day.