How Hollywood Helicopter Camera Pilots Shoot Action Scenes

Narrator: This action-packed scene from "The Tomorrow War" was captured by this circling helicopter, outfitted with a camera on the nose and flown by what's known in Hollywood as a camera pilot.

Fred North is one of Hollywood's premier camera pilots. His main goal is to make action scenes more, well, action-packed by deciding the speed and direction in which to shoot a scene, like in these shots from "The Tomorrow War."

On its own, the action could look static.

Fred: We create the energy. The idea is not just to tell a story. The idea is to make that story a killer story. If I'm just hovering next to the helicopter, yes, I'm going to tell the story and the audience will understand, but that's it.

Narrator: So by rotating around the helicopter that's actually in the scene, the background appears blurry, adding speed and making the shot much more dynamic. But one of the main challenges is still keeping the characters in focus.

Fred: You want to make sure that when you do the rotation, you're not going to be in the back of the helicopter blocking the guy dropping down.

Narrator: Helicopter cameras work alongside camera cars, Technocranes, and Steadicams on the ground to create a variety of shots for a director to switch between during an action sequence.

But why not just use a drone for all those aerial shots?

Well, since Fred is actually in the sky with the camera, he can see beyond what the camera operator sitting behind him sees in the monitor and make split-second changes. Helicopters can also stay in the air for long periods of time.

Meanwhile, some drones need to recharge after 30 minutes in the air, and others after just five or 10 minutes.

Fred: Drones are a fantastic tool to use, but they cannot replace a helicopter. If they try, they usually fail miserably.

Narrator: While there are things helicopter cameras can capture better than drones, often the best setup is to have both on set.

On the set of "Fast 9," director Justin Lin employed camera drones along with Fred's chopper, which you can see shooting here. And then for 2022's "Ambulance," Michael Bay used drones to capture many shots the choppers physically couldn't.

Yet, here's Fred navigating the camera helicopter to capture parts of the film's trademark action moment in the Los Angeles River.

Fred's chopper was both part of the scene and a camera for it. In fact, Fred's camera is visible in the final shot. You just can't tell because it's disguised to look like a surveillance system.

Because the pilot and camera operator are actually up in the air, they need to overcome the obstacles in a given environment for the safety of those around them. By measuring the 60-foot-wide bridge arch beforehand, the pilots could fly under it without their blades hitting anything.

At the same time, Fred had to swing his chopper from side to side while piloting to keep water from spraying onto the camera. These are just some of the environmental factors Fred has to consider so the camera operator can get the right shot.

Take cities, for example. This chase in "Furious 7" was shot on a street in Atlanta. The action was focused on both the cars and this military drone chasing them from above.

Fred flew in the windy space between skyscrapers while avoiding electrical wiring. And on top of that, the sequence took place at night, meaning there would be lights shining out the building windows.

Fred: With a windshield that is Plexiglas, the lights expand, and it's very hard to see.

Narrator: Fred isn't camera-ready until he's done a lot of practice runs. Even if it's a night shoot, Fred starts out during the day so he can spot every obstacle and blind spot.

Because of the military aircraft in this chase scene, Fred needed to shoot from high above, meaning it would be hard for him to see the lines marking the middle of the road, so he knew to put down red tape as a marker.

He rehearsed again later in the day, so there was still enough natural light to see his surroundings but dark enough to see the building lights. That's on top of the production's strong lighting equipment.

The main problem is when you have a strong light in your face, you're losing the depth of field. It could be 20 feet, it could be 150 feet, you have no idea.

Narrator: He found that he could avoid beams by flying sideways. This also prevented the chopper blade from hitting any buildings.

While Fred doesn't control the camera, one wrong turn could ruin the shot, especially because the military drone would be added with CG in post. So Fred relied on storyboards and previs to pinpoint where the drone was and how it moved in relation to its surroundings.

Aerial cameras don't just need to fly high. They're also uniquely suited to make something look higher than it actually is.

Take this shot in "Fast 9." A camera needed to be situated right in front of the action to get the right angle of the cars, and a drone pilot on the ground might not have the perspective to get the camera out safely on time.

Fred: He doesn't have the depth of field, because he doesn't see the cars visually for real. He only sees them through the monitor, which is a flat screen. As soon as you have a timing and you need to do a reveal, the helicopter is usually a better candidate.

Narrator: Now, because the camera is on the ship's nose, the camera will always be lower than Fred's eyeline.

Fred: They're about 10 inches from the ground when we land. Narrator: Here, the camera was about 2 to 3 feet off the ground, while the tail of the helicopter was about 10 to 15 feet in the air, allowing Fred to see the cars coming before the camera does.

At this moment, Fred flew 60 miles per hour into the two cars, which were both coming at him at the same speed. So he also has to plan his getaway. You only have a half second to adjust.

Narrator: By flying toward the cars, Fred also gives car chases the illusion of more speed. To protect the drivers, cars frequently drive slower on set. Instead of following from behind, flying towards them means the camera picks up both the speed of the car and the speed of the chopper.

This countermove comes in handy on difficult on-location action shoots. For example, Fred flew right into this chase from "Hobbs & Shaw," as the location's dirt roads slowed down the drivers. As long as it looks 100 miles an hour, who cares what speed he was really going?

Narrator: But camera pilots have a harder time keeping up with motorcycles, as they accelerate and slow down fast.

Fred: My machine is 2.5 tons. When he's accelerating, he goes so fast away from me, I cannot keep up.

Narrator: Fred worked on the major motorcycle chase in "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," filmed in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. And by flying his helicopter as far away from the action as possible, Fred could keep up with the motorcycles while filming the lead star in frame.

But it doesn't feel far, since the camera operator used a longer lens.

Fred: Even if I'm ahead of him, the camera is still on him on the long lens. I can see a turn approaching, I can start to slow down before the motorcycle would slow down.

Narrator: Despite all the cameras on the ground, Fred still needed to make sure Tom's face was clear to show that he was actually doing his own stunts.

Because he was filming from so far away, Fred could fly lower than normal. So even if the aerial camera was 250 feet away, it could be as close as 3 feet above the actor's head.

While they could have gone parallel to the subject, that height still kept all the scenery in frame. Action elements would be simpler to get if the director just relied on the crew on the ground.

But something like explosions happen much faster in real life. And helicopter cameras can be very useful for getting the right takes.

Fred: If you shoot it at a normal speed, it's gone in two seconds.

Narrator: Meaning movies will shoot them from multiple perspectives at once and show snippets from each in the final product. While the camera team shoots at a higher frame rate to slow the moment down, Fred utilizes his height and speed to get the shot that covers the explosion and its surroundings.

Fred: When it goes off, everything in the back will be moving, you'll have light change, and then you can go to the sequence, and then it becomes an amazing shot.

Narrator: To keep himself safe, Fred conducts tests with the special effects team to see how many seconds an explosion will last and then how high it will go.

Fred: You calculate your speed to when it goes off to start to go away from the explosion and not towards it.

Narrator: These particular explosions cause a lot of dirt and rocks to fly in the air. Fred said if it was 20 feet away from him, he'd have half a second to move away. Usually, you try to stay on the upper side of the wind so you don't get stuff blowing your way.

Narrator: Being a camera pilot isn't just about safely flying in the sky while going from point A to point B. They also use their unique perspective to visualize shots from the air nobody on the ground could imagine.

That riverbed chase from "Ambulance" mentioned earlier, it wasn't even in the original script. It was Fred's idea.

Fred: It's our job to create opportunity for the director. It's not something extra you offer, because at the end of the day, we are all responsible for what's going to be ending on the screen.

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