so ive been flying for about two years now mostly just messing around with fpv stuff but recently got a mini 4 pro and im trying to actually make decent looking videos instead of just raw footage that sits on my hard drive forever

my problem is i feel like i never really have a plan when i get to a location and i end up just kind of hovering around doing the same orbit shot over and over because i dont know what else to do. i see people posting these incredible cinematic videos with like reveals and parallax moves and perfectly timed stuff and i genuinely have no idea how they decide what shots to do or in what order

do you guys actually storyboard stuff before you go out or is it more just vibes and experience over time? i feel like im missing some fundamental way of thinking about shots that everyone else just kind of knows

honestly for me its a mix of both. i do a google earth scout the night before to see the terrain and figure out maybe 3 or 4 shots i definitely want to get, like a specific reveal around a cliff edge or whatever, but then when im actually there i leave room to just react to what looks good in the moment. the planned shots give you a spine so you dont just wander around burning your battery

the thing that really changed my footage though was just learning to slow down. like i used to move the drone way too fast and everything looked like a travel vlog from 2016. if you move slower than feels natural in the air it usually looks way better in the edit. and then in post you can speed ramp which gives you the best of both worlds

also look up the "rule of thirds in 3D space" concept, it sounds pretentious but once it clicks it actually helps you think about foreground and background while you're flying instead of just looking at the subject

same boat as you honestly, i just got into trying to make proper videos this year. what helped me a lot was just watching the videos i liked and like really watching them, pausing to figure out where the drone started, where it ended, is it rising or falling, is it rotating at the same time. once you break it down most shots are actually pretty simple its just the combination and timing that makes them feel cinematic

the orbit thing is so real lol i think every drone person goes through an orbit phase