Preview: TEST: HOWDY Drone Video

64 Responses So Far to “TEST: HOWDY Drone Video”

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  Geoffrey Allan says:

  You can buy a bigger TV but the programs remain the same. I think this is a quote from Roger Taylor of MingMing fame. If there were a prize for substance over style his website would win it. Nothing works. The camera work makes me seasick and I’m at home in my armchair, but my goodness, the story.

  There are no shortcuts and you can’t make a poor story into a good one with camera angles.

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  ROB BLACKBURN says:

  Here is one we shot of our two boats one afternoon. We made a pile of rooky errors compared to this one. ie we are visible working the screen thingo as the shadows cast by the people driving the drone are really noticeable. We should have been up in the bushes.

  What is good about this is that the guitar music is done by the guy who built the boat (Col Peak). I think they have to be short too. One aim of this video was to use it to sell the boat and it worked.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCu5X7Et5PA

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  Suzan Wallace says:

  Yes..yes..and yES!! Lovely birds-eye-views give us a sense of boundless freedom. Innovation is key to R & D!!

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  Peter Brackenbury says:

  I’m late here. The perspectives are gorgeous. I would say for teaching purposes this is an amazing tool. However, I hear the comments that highlight the OCH style of storytelling that don’t need this viewpoint. I do worry that the perspectives given aren’t those experienced by boaters and will really change a boater’s experience if they ever get out of their armchair and stop drooling over the beautiful footage you’ve created. Like anything it can be managed and used effectively if mindful of its downsides. Good Luck!

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  Bradford Preston says:

  Yes, drone footage as part of your usual great adds an interesting perspective and motion.

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  Gary herbertson says:

  First, I applaud your courage to invite feedback on an untested initiative. Personally, I found the overhead shots intellectually interesting, and the lower-level mobile camera pans to be emotionally stirring. As you said Steve, this is one tool in your video tech toolbox to be used to elucidate a particular point of view (literally). Used judiciously, the angles you can achieve with this platform can enhance the story premise you are communicating. Thanks also to Benjamin for advocating that you explore this potential. It doesn’t surprise me that some folks in this forum who cherish wooden boats might look askance at a new technology!

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  Dustin Higdon says:

  I vote yes. 100% awesome to see things from a broader perspective. Especially when it comes to boats interacting with water and wind.

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  Bob Peterson says:

  I enjoyed the video. As a huge fan of Ben, I would be all in if he is for it. Your site is wonderful. Having limited exposure to the outdoors be made better by the great quality of videos available on line. ie:(Western Flyer, Tally Ho, and your huge offings on all subjects.)

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  Charles Irwin says:

  Up there with leaf blowers. I’ll stick with my broom!

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  Cyrus and Rita Brown says:

  Where is this? My guess is somewhere in Merchants Row.

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    Steve Stone says:

    As a practice we don’t provide geotags or specific location info for a variety of reasons.

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  KGyG says:

  As long as y’all remember that’s August. Start slow and ease up. Even with a drone. 🤔

  Ken

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  Carroll Brownlee says:

  The video quality is certainly excellent. The long shots provide a different perspective from what I’m used to in your past videos. However, this medium does make the video seem more like a professional travel advertisement. I have always enjoyed the on-the-ground perspective, as if I was the one sailing or walking the highlighted beach. In addition, I live on Massachusetts’ south coast, and really dislike the sound of a drone overhead, breaking the tranquility of nature around me. If you do drone work, make sure it is well away from residences, boats and anywhere someone may be trying to enjoy the beauty, solitude and quiet that Maine offers.

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  David Flanders says:

  Sure, keep it up. It’s like a personalized google earth. The visual quality is superb; and, it can also give you an up-to-the-minute evaluation of where you’re planning to land. A good tool.

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  Robert Harrison says:

  Late to weigh in here, but I think the drone can be a wonderful when used respectfully and responsibly. I trust the folks at OCH to do this. As to intruding on the natural world, I agree that drones are capable of doing this. At the same time, boat engines must be a nuisance to marine life.

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  Steve Stone says:

  This feedback has been very interesting and helpful. Thanks you to all who have weighed in so far. We probably should have explained better our intent and process when filming using a drone, but I’m glad we didn’t so we could see members’ unfiltered opinions on the topic, both for and against.

  Perhaps most important, we film in extremely remote locations and the uses we can imagine for a drone have no other people within sight or earshot, except when we’re filming a specific boat underway and the people on that boat we’re filming have agreed to the pluses and minuses for a half hour of filming.  Aside from the nuisance of the site and sound of a drone, there seems to be a strong negative psychological effect associated with losing privacy (to an unknown source) which we share and certainly don’t want to be on the trigger-end of that hot poker.

  Not encroaching upon the natural world is important as well, and the situation Dave Tew mentions of close-up spying on an osprey nest is something that makes us cringe too. We’ll have to take that into account each time we swipe the screen to confirm take off.

  At the core, as several of you mentioned, our thing is “story” and “filmmaking”, and especially the human aspect of what we film.  So our intent is to utilize the drone sparingly to accent our stories in ways where an aerial shot can add perspective to the story.  It can also provide an exceptional (moving) tripod located anywhere if I’m cruising/working solo. To date, there is so much that I haven’t been able to show about our cruising and boat handling.  There are things that I envision that I can show in a 20 second drone shot of, say, landing on a beach that I cannot show any other way. Filming with a drone is a distraction from getting the story, the “humanness” of the topic at hand — which is what motivates us — so it’s hard to say how much we’ll be using it.

  Actually, I’m just getting a sense for the possibilities of fitting it in to how we work.  I just spent a day on an island filming with naturalist Sarah O’Malley to continue the series that so many members loved about becoming more aware of what’s happening in the water and shoreline around us.  As we were filming, and as I’ve spent further time on that island since, creative intuition tells me that we can blend Sarah’s insights and instruction, with our “Slow August” theme, and a few drone shots, to create something new, beautiful and highly instructive.  And thus inspiring.  And if we can create something that has instruction plus inspiration, we all might become better boaters and more “woke” conservators of the natural world around us. Interesting how that might have the reverse effect of drones that we’re all concerned about.  Just a hunch so far, but I sense the drone shots might be instrumental in that mix.  And just having the potential of that kind of shot has inspired me to dive deeper into what we might be able to present.

  On that note, I’m deeply grateful for our membership model, and thus OCH members, which allow us to take these paths exploring new ways of presenting “boats” and “the water”. We know members have confidence in us to explore, and knowing this in turn helps us create much of the best stuff we create. It’s a very unique situation where we don’t have to rely solely on short term gratification or satisfy shareholders with ever-increasing quarterly earnings reports. Members provide the environment for us to provide our best work possible with no limitations.

  On a lighter note, we actually had this drone for over a year before any of us had the time, mental focus, or bravery to pull it out of the box.  We were kinda scared of it, and knew that it was potentially a big distraction from our style of filmmaking (if we let it be).  Plus, pulling it out of the box necessitated watching a dizzy-ing array of videos on “how-to-operate-this-&$%*!!-thing”, and that new knowledge would need to displace other know-how within our already very limited brain spaces.  Old guys and new tricks don’t mix too well.

  Actually, it’s Ben Mendlowitz who led the charge to get it out of the box and learn how to use it, and I’m super intrigued with what may happen with the drone in his experienced hands and his eye creating moving images of boats with this tool.

  And speaking of tools, we filmed our first 28 videos with a $99 point and shoot camera. We’re not tech-oriented and are believers that too much gadgetry gets in the way of good storytelling. So I don’t think we’re at risk of being on the edge of the slippery slope of technology, which is a viable concern and I’m glad it was voiced.

  There’s one more topic that hasn’t been mentioned but is important to us.  Since the beginning, we have had a strict practice of not geotagging (identifying) any particular islands/locations, even when we’re filming a video on island camp cruising. So we’re very careful not to “out” a private island or even highlight one particular island as being a favorite.  We do this not only to protect places from the natural response of humans to follow-their-screens-head-down to a particular place, but we find that the trial and error process of spending winter months scouting islands in the MITA book and on Google Maps, then discovering which ones are your own favorite (and not so favorite) is much of the fun.

  So, there’s no plan for OCH to move to endless drone shots that replace our deeper storytelling style.

  Hope this helps answer some of the questions and concerns in the comments below, and thanks to everyone who has weighed in.  Here’s to hoping we can keep the thing off the sea floor and learn to use it with great benefit and little harm. (end)

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    David Tew says:

    Thank you for the well considered, responsive thoughts. (And I’m very glad you don’t geotag.) Discovering the coast and islands for one’s self is one of the most inspiring and delightful aspects of cruising, camping etc. And you describe and show it SO well every time.

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  John Wujack says:

  Knowing what (I think) I know about OCH, I have every confidence they would be prudent in the use of drones. Most everyone knows they can be annoying in the natural world. I know that I would complain about a drone flying overhead, but would later love to see a recording of my Stone Horse in a beautiful setting. So the answer to the question lies somewhere between those two realities.

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  Spalding Kirkpatrick says:

  IMPRESSIVE!!! I live in Oklahoma and rarely do I get to see such beautiful footage of the Northeast. Thanks OCH for all the wonderful videography that you produce. Absolutely top notch!!

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  Patrick Daniels says:

  pretty!!

  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  https://thedroneracingleague.com/

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  peter burd says:

  Can the drones. They are intrusive and not necessary for “leisure” purposes. I understand their value in some industrial applications, but I appreciate Off Center Harbor for not playing into this kind of thing. Your video footage without the use of this technology is fantastic. If you subject the coast of Maine to the intrusive buzzing of drones, I will cancel my online subscription (that I dearly love and enjoy).

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  Marc LaFrance says:

  Wow, drone haters! I get the argument, but it didn’t look like too many people were harassed in this video.

  I thought this vid was totally unfair to those of us who have landed there but not seen this view. Gosh Dang, it was awesome! I want to make it my screen saver vid!

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  Mark Cole says:

  I agree that a drone buzzing around a beautiful, quiet anchorage I’m enjoying is extremely obnoxious, but it is obvious from the video that the OCH crew chose a time and place that didn’t impact anyone or anything. With this sensitivity, I’m all for the use of drone footage in the videos. It gives a wonderful perspective and context to a cruising video.

  BTW – which drone did you use to shoot this video?

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  John Bishop says:

  Like many others, I think drone footage would be great in moderation. It adds an interesting and different perspective – the footage taken showing the expanse of islands was amazing and makes me very jealous of your cruising grounds.
  Have you thought about using a “follow me” type drone? It might allow you to get footage of a boat on the water without needing a camera boat so much. I haven’t used one myself, but have seen some interesting footage shot using them.

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  Harry J Pedlow says:

  Really stunning footage. Reminds me how much I miss not being up there this year. Classes and sailing at wooden boat school have been retreat for the last 6 years. Hope everyone is safe! Thx for the videos.

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  Philip Myer says:

  As my Grandmother used to say ‘Everything in moderation- including moderation.’

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  Byron Van Vlack says:

  I believe that drone footage will be helpful by adding another perspective to the videos you create. It will be useful in explaining points of sail, rigging, proper setting of sails, rigs, hull shape from above, etc. I agree with others, that it should not be overused, but be treated as another tool in your tool kit. The coastline and water in the video are beautiful. The drone footage when used in moderation will enhance your videos. I enjoy OCH immensely. Keep up the great work!

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  Drew McVittie says:

  Drones have no place in my world on the water. The technology is great I’m sure, but I find them aggravating and an invasion of the peace and quiet we value so highly on the British Columbia west coast. Thanks for the chance to voice my opinion.

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  Mitchell Ross says:

  Hey, I love any videos with boats, no matter how they are filmed! It is a beautiful perspective, beautiful clear water, rugged rocky Maine coast, keep up the great work!

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  Robert Baird says:

  I put it in the same category as Slow August videos. Not bad, I’ll watch it, it spans the time when there is a lull in real videos.

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  Joel Rubinstein says:

  I think needs to be mixed with plain video so adds to it but not the whole thing.

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  Charles Howland says:

  What balm for the soul. Really enjoyed it.

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  Gordon Schimmel says:

  As the Greeks and then the Romans said: “Moderation in all things.” And, as Oscar Wilde said: “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

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  Eric J Nelson says:

  I love drone footage, there is a guy named Terry Boiven who does lobster boats, its awesome. Just don’t lose sight of the focal points of the videos. When will I see the one on yawl boats. I would also love a schooner captain videos since they are not sailing this year. Last year for John Foss and Doug/Linda Lee I believe.

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  Nick Giles says:

  Beautiful – it is so effective at providing a deeper taste of the environs, and how lovely they are. I look forward to it – obviously balancing drone and normal footage and also getting the sound to accompany it appropriately all require thought, but I have yet to see anything you have done which does not meet a pretty high bar – keep it up

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  Geoffrey Davis says:

  Beautiful and if presented in short clips intertwined with surface “”footage”, gives the setting context. Too much drone gets boring pretty fast. Just a matter of striking a balance.Overall, a definite thumbs up!

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  Harold Wheeler says:

  What comes to my mind is it’s use to monitor the Islands. Not constant surveillance but rather a visual record of condition. Also for people with disabilities who can not experience the Islands from home. Keep up the good work!

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  James Tolpin says:

  Judicious use of drones OK to establish perspective as long as coupled with full awareness of the impact its noise will have on other people in the area. That’s my two cents worth (and worth every penny as my Dad used to say).

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  Matt Clouse says:

  The results are amazing! Makes me want to be there – on that island, BUT I wouldn’t want to be there or nearby when that drone was up in the air and buzzing away.

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  Douglas Wilkin says:

  A drone is a tool. Use it wisely and with skill and it can change everything. Ever forward!

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    Michael Puryear says:

    Ditto

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  John Bukowsky says:

  Ya gotta love the drone videos! So cool. Looking forward to more.

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  Thomas Buzzi says:

  Watching this was SO relaxing I almost fell into my computer screen………..

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  James Cornwell says:

  Drone footage adds a sense of scale and context — the small craft in its vast watery environment — that’s impossible to convey in eye-level cinematography. But I agree with others that it shouldn’t be over-emphasized at the expense of the intimacy of close-quarters sequences which convey the essence of sailing as we cockpit-bound sailors experience it.

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  Stephen Cifka says:

  A few drone shots help with context. But the power of your videos is intimacy, detail and sound and drones do none of that.

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  Ian Hendrie says:

  I like a few drone shots, particularly if they clarify the story. But it can become just eye candy from a distance.
  I love the wood, water, people, motion, learning; all the things that drones can’t do that draws me to OFC.
  I think it will enhance some stories. If you go overboard, you know your gentle members will help bring you back.

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  John Owen says:

  It gives the video an unnatural quality. The focus should be on the content, and not on the technology. One of the wonderful things about wooden boats is that they are a “natural product” which in building and sailing or paddling them, connects me with the natural world. The high tech videos distract from that connection.

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  Chris Methot says:

  The ability of a drone to create an “establishing shot” is unmatched. It is hard to deny that these are stunning videos. Of course, the problem is that the sound is unusable because of the noise of the rotors. I liked it. I don’t think you can over do it and still sail and camp.

  I suggest you record some sound (using the many sound recording apps for your cell) and slip those in the videos. (Yes, I know it was almost silent that morning but there is sound.)

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  Sanders Brott says:

  That short experiment shifted my thinking from how do I camp cruise nearby to how do I camp cruise near Brooklyn, Maine. You can’t film without technology. So why limit your tools if you can acquire them? It is very similar to the arguments about would past boat builders use a modern material if they had it. If it worked and was attractive, most would. I think what you did with the drone inspired me, and was beautiful.

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    James Tolpin says:

    “Worked” is the operative term here. There are many traditional techniques in the woodworking world (and especially the boatbuilding end of it) that have proven to be far superior to any modern “innovations”. Trunnels as fastenings and crooks for going around curves (especially frames and breasthooks) immediately come to mind.

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  Duncan Hollomon says:

  Personally, I’d rather you didn’t. The images are unnatural – you can’t see from this perspective without artificial elevation.

  The magic of your films, for me anyway, is their naturalness, their celebration of the beautiful in the ordinary. Wooden boats are traditional craft, and through them we celebrate an old-fashioned delight in simple things, in natural, more intimate ways of living, closer to the land, and the water, and one another.

  These images are eerily distant, inhuman, and disquieting.

  Sometimes it’s best to refrain from using advanced technology, and keep things simple. Like using hand tools.

  Thanks for asking.

  Duncan

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  R. Bruce MacAdam says:

  Too much, way too much.

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  Peter Davis says:

  I can’t abide… Promoting drone flying in what are supposed serene and quiet places is an affront to wildlife and those of us who want to get away from this kind of activity. That being said, if you can get 1000 people to promise they will never drone and knowing you have an artists eye and are completely aware of those and them around you, well then go for it. It is a beautiful perspective. Count me as one who will never drone.(999 to go… : )

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    David Tew says:

    I trust OCH ‘droners’ wouldn’t disturb wildlife but in my opinion it’s inexcusable when people do so. We erected an osprey nesting platform six years ago. Only this spring has it been adopted by a pair. They hatched a single egg and a neighbor flew and hovered their drone right over the nest the other day. I wish I’d had a scoped rifle to knock it out of the sky. (Rant over.)

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    Richard Raymond says:

    I vote with peter — no drones. The pictures are repetitive and boring after the novelty wears off, and there is nothing that ruins a nice day outdoors than the noise of someone’s drone whether it be on the water or in a city park. I have used drones in my work and they can be invaluable, but to subject others to the noise and intrusion just to get pretty pictures is indefensible in my opinion.

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    Richard Raymond says:

    I vote with peter davis — no drones. The pictures are repetitive and boring after the novelty wears off, and there is nothing that ruins a nice day outdoors than the noise of someone’s drone whether it be on the water or in a city park. I have used drones in my work and they can be invaluable, but to subject others to the noise and intrusion just to get pretty pictures is indefensible in my opinion.

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    Mark Darley says:

    I agree with Peter. I was dogged by a drone on a quiet day on Tomales Bay last winter and it drove me crazy. I warned the owner of the drone that I would be carrying my shotgun in the future.
    Having said that, with the knowledge and agreement of those that are effected by the noise, a drone can produce spectacular results as you have shown.

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  Danny Doyle says:

  Definitely, can give a whole new perspective when done properly

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  Sean Hogben says:

  Judicious editing makes the whole work sing. Too much of anything will choke the rhythm. Hey, you guys know that. But there’s no question the image quality and stability is phenomenal. I watch a lot of surf video and drones have transformed surf film making. And what about cheap!? Remember what a chopper with a pro mount cost per hour?

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  Brian Waite says:

  Absolutely!
  The added contrast in perspective is amazingly valuable. I love the bird’s eye, or God’s eye, view. Seeing how small the boat is on the water makes sailing small craft all the more special.

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  Charles Coull says:

  If it’s you folks it is fine. You’ll produce magical films without disturbing folk. But I’m more generally cautious about drones. That said I’m on the west coast of Scotland and so you’re not likely to be my way anyway!🤣 But yes go for it!👍

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  John Stevenson says:

  Absolutely love this, Steve! Please do keep it up. Combining your skill as a filmmaker and the unique perspective of a drone already produced some very nice clips, in just these first two minutes. That shot from 40 seconds on and then lifting up and turning to reveal a seemingly endless array of islands just took my breath away. What a great way to explore the coast of Maine! Makes me want to hit the road with my Penobscot 14 and sail the Maine coast once again.

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  Bruce Brown says:

  I find drone film magical. Keep it up.

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    Rudolph Bar says:

    Drone filming is a definite yes It makes it possible to observe a boat under sail from different angles. Do it, do it!