2020 was a wild year for everyone. To cap it off I decided to join some colleagues on a project I could not let pass me by. When I heard they were blowing up a 4 story high “2020” sign with HBO’s John Oliver I knew I had to be a part of it. It was a great week with friends and the crew, I never expected it would lead to an Emmy.

Although this was far from the hardest drone shot I’ve ever been a part of, but it was no walk in the park either. There was only one take to get the timing correct. The drone had to be flow manually because a GPS guided mode can cause a jerky motion when changing speeds and the shockwave from the blast was enough to make you jump which could translate to the drone controls and camera.

This clip was captured from an ipad of the camera operator of the drone I was flying, Grgo Sevo. You can here the Assistant Director calling action, Grgo then gives me a count down from 7. If you look and listen closely you can see a FPV drone flown by Jon Gram pass in front of our drone.

All this timing came down so that when the John Oliver hit the big red button, the drones were in the perfect position to capture that beautiful fire ball.

Great shot with a fantastic crew. In addition to the names mentioned above Dexter Kennedy and Mike Isler also took home a gold statue for their drone work with the team.