Work · Case study
Aerial filming for Survivor South Africa
Season 9, Return of the Outcasts, produced by Afrokaans in 2022. We were head of department for aerials: every aerial in the season was ours, and our team ran the B roll for the show.
The brief
Survivor lives on scale and isolation. The camp has to feel a long way from anywhere, the challenges are built big, and the approaches to tribal council carry the drama. The aerials carry a lot of that weight: they show the audience where the players are and how far they are from everything else.
Our role
As head of department and director of photography for the aerial unit, Dimitri set the aerial look for the whole season and owned it from the first establisher to the last.
Beyond the air, the team ran the B roll for the show: the landscape and atmosphere that stitch a season together between the challenges.
How we built it
- DJI Inspire 2 for the wide, cinematic aerials of camp and challenges.
- GoPro FPV for fast, close moves through the challenge courses.
| Show | Survivor South Africa, Season 9: Return of the Outcasts |
|---|---|
| Producer | Afrokaans |
| Year | 2022 |
| Role | Head of department and director of photography, aerials; B roll unit |
| Coverage | Every aerial of the season |
| Aircraft | DJI Inspire 2, GoPro FPV |
What this means for your production
A reality format needs an aerial unit that runs like a department, not a drone that turns up on the day: one look across the whole season, a crew that works to the show's schedule, and the permits mapped before the first call time. That is how we run drone crew hire for television, and the same unit flies gimbal stabilised cinema FPV when a challenge needs speed and proximity. The approvals side is on our filming permits in South Africa guide.
Other television work includes I’m a Celebrity South Africa, The Amazing Race Australia and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi.
Planning a season?
Send the format, the location and the dates. We will come back with the unit, the aircraft and the permit route.