Verena: Do you remember the video you produced with KG Media Factory for Audi Munich Trudering?

Tim: Of course!

Nikolay: What would you like to know? (laughs)

Verena: Tell me more about the project!

Nikolay: About one year ago we were contacted by KG Media Factory. They were looking for FPV drone specialists for their new project.

Tim: Basically, it was about an image film or actually two image films for the new car dealership of Audi München GmbH. The focus of the project was to present the special features of the new car dealership.

Verena: So how was the production organized?

Tim: We arrived in the morning and first prepared our equipment. Then we started shooting outside - first with the Mavic and later with the X8 Cinelifter, the Thicc. The weather was a bit of a challenge. It was very cloudy and there were small raindrops falling from the sky. Still, I think we did very well with these shots.

Nikolay: After the exterior shots were finished, we continued with the interior shots. We started in the showroom. Next we went to the basement where we filmed the car depot, the service station and the car wash. As requested by KG Media Factory, we filmed with the GoPro Hero 9. At that time, it was the best action camera on the market.

Tim: Recently, we have invested in larger indoor drones that provide higher image quality. In addition, we use a stripped Black Magic 4k that delivers images in cinema quality.

Nikolay: Color matching is much easier with the Black Magic than with the GoPro. Matching colors always works very well with cameras that have a certain color depth when shooting, i.e. a large sensor and a high bitrate.

Verena: For someone who doesn't know anything about videography or filmmaking, what is color matching?

Nikolay: On the set, you usually have different cameras that are ideally all from the same manufacturer, for example RED or Sony. If you buy all cameras from the same manufacturer, you can be sure that all sensors are calibrated in the same way. If you look at cameras from different manufacturers, you will notice that the images differ in color. Wouldn't it be annoying if the image was more bluish in one shot and more yellowish in the next, just because cameras from different manufacturers were used for filming? When you match these two images so that you no longer see a difference, it's called color matching.

Verena: How did you distribute the work on the set?

Tim: In the beginning, my job was to shoot outdoors with the Mavic and the X8. Later, when it came to the indoor shots, I assisted Nikolay while he was flying. I changed his batteries and recharged them right away, so we always had full batteries in stock. In addition, I held the monitor and "spotted" the drones.  

Verena: Insider question: What is it like to fly after drinking 5 coffees?

Nikolay: Very nice! (laughs) There was an excellent coffee machine on the set which produced delicious coffee. Tim and I couldn't resist, of course. (laughs) I don't think we drank too much coffee, though. We drank one or two coffees in the beginning and one or two more after we finished our work.

Verena: Looking back, what were your personal highlights?

Tim: My personal highlight was experiencing what it's like to work on a big production for the first time. I've never experienced that before. In the past, I was usually the only videographer on set.

Nikolay: Oh, it was just nice to be there with Tim. It's much more fun together and the results speak for themselves.