Sometimes the drone is not the camera. It is the lamp you could not otherwise get into position.
Canyon and backcountry night exteriors in Utah have no power and often no vehicle access to where the light needs to be. An aerial lighting unit is frequently the only practical way to put a source above a subject in terrain like that.
Airborne lighting units standing in for a helicopter searchlight, moonlight over a wide exterior, a police spot, or a source that has to move with the shot. On night exteriors where a condor cannot reach or cannot get there in time, an aerial unit puts the light exactly where the DP wants it and moves it between setups in seconds.
Winter gives the most dramatic imagery and the hardest flying — cold cuts endurance, and canyon conditions change with elevation on the same day. Summer opens the backcountry but brings heat and density altitude at elevation.
Utah Film Studios in Park City anchors a market that runs on features, series and a heavy commercial slate drawn by the landscape. Sundance brings its own annual surge.
We shoot the Wasatch range, the salt flats, the canyons, and the valley — and we travel. CineDrones works nationwide, so if your production is basing in Salt Lake City and shooting somewhere else entirely, that is a normal week for us.
Lighting units sized from a moving practical to a wide-exterior source, flown on airframes built for the weight.
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 →
Enough to serve as a motivated source over a wide exterior, though a condor still wins on raw sustained output. The advantage is position and speed: light exactly where the DP wants it, moved between setups in seconds.
Night operations are part of what we are approved for. Night is also when the airspace is quieter, which sometimes makes authorization easier rather than harder.
When access beats output — a location a lift cannot reach, a source that has to move with the shot, or a schedule where rigging time you do not have is the real constraint.
AERIAL LIGHTING — OTHER MARKETS: Albuquerque Atlanta Austin Chicago Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami New Orleans New York
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!