ive watched probably a dozen youtube tutorials on cinematic drone shots and i go out and fly and everything i bring home just looks... bland. like technically fine i guess, nothing shaky, horizon is level, but when i watch it back i just feel nothing. my friend said it looks like google maps footage lol which hurts but hes not wrong.

im flying a dji air 2s and shooting in d-log. maybe thats part of it? like maybe im not color grading it properly after. or maybe its just my movement, i dunno. i feel like i nail the location scouting but then the actual flying is just straight lines and that might be the problem. anyone been through this phase and figured out how to get past it

honestly the boring movement thing is real and took me forever to figure out. straight lines and simple orbits get old fast. try combining movements, like pulling back while also gaining altitude slowly at the same time. that kind of compound motion looks way more intentional. also if youre in d-log and not grading it properly it will absolutely look flat and grey on screen, thats normal, it needs work in post to pop

the google maps comment got me lol. i went through the exact same thing. for me the big shift was actually slowing way down, like i was always flying too fast trying to cover ground and cover up the fact that nothing interesting was happening. slower movement with a good subject just hits different. also foreground elements if you can get them, flying past a tree or through a gap in something makes the shot feel alive