Liftoff Again
December 16
But this time, we brought the heavy cavalry. As I write this, I’m sitting in the rear-most seat of the airplane cabin with a Red Komodo 6K mounted by the window beside me, fitted with a 14mm lens. It’s a compact setup and quite an upgrade from the GoPro Hero I used last time. I’m using two suction cups this time because the air pressure at high altitudes can cause them to release during ascend and descent, and I’d rather be safe than sorry—even though I’m usually the kind of person who learns the hard way. That said, this isn’t my own camera.
Jony from Feelm Creative is seated in the cockpit again like last time, operating the Red Gemini S35 5K alongside two more Komodos to capture the pilots.
We flew from Helsinki to Stockholm earlier this morning and are now en route to Hamburg, Germany. I have a perfect shot of the wing, but I accidentally chose the sunny side of the aircraft. There’s not enough room to fit a matte box here, so I improvised by holding a strong ND filter in front of the camera for a few shots. The good thing is that the camera can remain in the same spot for our return flight, so I won’t have to remove and remount it by a different window, and I'll have a nice view from the shaded side of the aircraft.
The only challenge now is SD card storage. Even though I’m filming in medium quality (MQ), it still seems to consume storage at an alarming rate. The same issue arose when I was filming for Tinke on Halloween with the same cameras. What is it that makes MQ files so massive? Would low quality (LQ) be sufficient? I’ll need to do some research.
With the Christmas holidays approaching, this is likely my last assignment for the year. I still have some productions to plan and a few more to edit. If I find myself restless and itching to work, maybe I’ll get something done. I might even write a yearly summary like I did last year, but this time with more highlights from all the amazing productions I’ve been fortunate to be part of.
