Gym Commercial: Drone Pilot and Camera Operator in Atlanta

A few months ago, I worked on a commercial for a gym, One Life Fitness. I was brought on as a Drone Pilot and Camera Operator. I really enjoyed this job because I was able to fly my drone inside the gym and capture some really amazing shots.

The production company flew into Atlanta with a Director, Director of Photography, and their main camera package. I provided my drone, one camera and gimbal setup, and lighting gear.

We moved around the gym all day capturing different scenes with actors and personal trainers. We filmed small scenes of actors working out in different locations, then later in the day we captured some workout classes in session.

For this shoot, I was flying my DJI Mavic 4 Pro. I started the day by getting exterior drone shots of the building, then later flew the drone inside the gym as well. Once one of our scenes was set up, I would capture it with the drone, then put the drone down and switch over to my gimbal camera.

Later, when we were filming the workout classes, I was focused entirely on piloting the drone. I was capturing unique high-angle shots that only a drone or a crane could really offer. I also used the drone for shots that boomed up like we had a camera on a crane. Some of those shots looked amazing, and it was a lot of fun to shoot.

As I mentioned, I was also a Camera Operator and Gimbal Operator on this project. I filmed with my Sony FX6 on my Ronin RS3. The main camera was a locked-off tripod shot, so I was providing alternate angles and shots with cinematic movement. While the main camera was storyboarded out, they let me stay pretty free to capture whatever I could. I got some great shots that I know are going to look awesome in the final commercial. While we were filming, I had a fun idea for a shot. One of our actors was pushing a sled loaded with weights, and I thought it would be cool to take the weights off the sled, replace them with a camera, and then have the actor push the sled. It would give us a really dynamic moving shot that would feel like the viewer was in the action.

The Director loved the idea and decided to go with it. I actually don’t know how the shot turned out because we had another Camera Operator on the shoot who weighed less than me, so to make it easier on the actor, he was the one who got pushed on the sled. I did get a behind-the-scenes photo of it, which I added to the bottom of this post. I hope the shot makes it into the commercial.

I also provided lighting gear for this commercial. I brought my Aputure 700X and Aputure 400X, both with softboxes. Some other lights were used as well, but those were not mine. I actually did not spend much time working directly with the lights because I was busy focusing on filming, but they were used in every scene.

I did help move the lights around from scene to scene, which was a bit of a chore because the gym was massive. Light stands with wheels would have been a godsend here. But we were in a gym, so I guess I got my workout in.

All in all, this was an amazing shoot. The crew was great to work with, and we captured some really good-looking footage. I can’t wait to see the finished commercial, and I will be sharing it here as soon as I see it posted online.

I am looking to work on more projects like this, so if you need a Camera Operator or commercial drone services in Atlanta.

My Mavic 4 Pro ready to fly during a workout class.

The Director of Photography and Camera Operator setting up the sled POV shot.

My lights in action.