An aerial shot either tells the audience something the ground cannot, or it is a postcard the editor eventually cuts.
The Strip at night is one of the few establishing shots left that still earns its place in a cut, and Sphere reset what producers expect an aerial over Vegas to look like. Getting there legally is the differentiator. So is knowing the desert half an hour out, where the airspace opens and the landscape does the work.
We work with directors and DPs the way any other camera department does — in prep, on the shot list, and on set as part of the plan rather than a novelty parked to one side. That means matching the look of your A camera, hitting the same marks take after take, and knowing which moves read on screen and which just show off the aircraft.
The Strip is roughly a mile from Harry Reid International, which puts the most photographed corridor in Nevada directly under Class B with LAANC grids that frequently read zero. Getting a legal aerial over the Strip is not a matter of opening an app on the day. It is coordination done in advance, and it is the single thing that separates crews who can shoot Vegas from crews who say they can.
Vegas runs on residencies, fights, conventions and stadium events, which means the calendar and the airspace move together. Allegiant Stadium draws a temporary flight restriction on game days. Sphere changed what producers expect an establishing shot to look like. The work here rewards a unit that reads the event calendar as carefully as the call sheet.
We shoot the Strip, Fremont Street, Sphere, Allegiant Stadium, and the desert an hour in any direction — and we travel. CineDrones works nationwide, so if your production is basing in Las Vegas and shooting somewhere else entirely, that is a normal week for us.
Cinema payloads carrying the sensor your show is already shooting, so the aerial cuts against the ground unit without a fight.
Our aerial units have worked on Ozark, Jack Ryan, Bosch, Mayans M.C., SEAL Team, NCIS: New Orleans, Fear the Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Modern Family, 9-1-1, Goliath, The Resident, Raising Dion, Castle Rock, Doctor Sleep and Chef's Table, for Netflix, Amazon, Apple, HBO, Hulu, Showtime, Sony, CBS, AMC, MTV and Bravo. See the work →
That is most of the job. We shoot to match your capture format and color pipeline so the aerial cuts in without a grade fight. If your show is on a specific body, tell us in prep and we will build around it.
Fly low, fly close, fly inside, and cost a fraction. A helicopter still wins on altitude, endurance and long lens work over open ground. Any vendor who tells you drones replaced helicopters entirely is selling you something.
Yes, and it matters. An aerial unit parked to one side as a novelty produces novelty shots. One that sits inside the camera department produces coverage the editor can actually cut with.
AERIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY — OTHER MARKETS: Albuquerque Atlanta Austin Chicago Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York Salt Lake City
Get ready to elevate your production to new heights with CineDrones! Operating in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Albuquerque, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Salt Lake City, and New Orleans, we bring the power of cutting-edge drone technology to every project. Whether you're capturing breathtaking aerial footage, thrilling FPV shots, or immersive drone-based virtual reality, our expert teams of FAA-certified pilots, aerial camera pros, and drone techs have you covered. Fully compliant with Part 107 regulations and protected by a $5M aviation liability policy, we guarantee precision, safety, and creativity. Plus, with Local 600 union and non-union crews available, we’re ready to deliver jaw-dropping results wherever you need them!