FPV
Drone
There is a specific feeling of moving through a city at speed - threading between buildings, diving off rooftops, sweeping through corridors of glass and steel with the agility of a body unbound by gravity. FPV drone cinematography is the closest approximation to that experience. Every frame here was captured from custom-built aircraft I designed, assembled, and piloted through New York City in full manual flight.
Behind The Scenes
Every flight starts at the bench. Diagnosing motor issues, replacing burned ESCs, reflashing firmware, and soldering new components between sessions. Flying analog and digital systems side by side — DJI O4 video transmitters paired with ELRS control links for the lowest possible latency on both ends.
The fleet is primarily Tinywhoops — light, small, and designed for tight proximity work where a 5-inch quad would be too aggressive. Sub-250g builds that can thread indoor corridors and fly inches from surfaces without the risk profile of a heavier aircraft.
Featured Flights
Soho Swing
A daytime proximity run through Soho's cast-iron district - threading between fire escapes and facades at street level, demonstrating the spatial awareness required for sub-building-gap navigation.
Night Run
A nighttime street-level flight through Queens - navigating fireworks, crowd density, and variable urban lighting at 60fps, where reaction windows compress to fractions of a second.
Open Air
A wide-open flight pushing speed and altitude over open terrain - trading tight urban corridors for unobstructed acceleration and sweeping maneuvers at full throttle.
Why FPV
Traditional drone cinematography produces beautiful overhead compositions, but it maintains distance. FPV eliminates that gap entirely. The camera becomes a body - one that can dive, roll, accelerate through a 10-foot corridor between two buildings, and emerge on the other side without cutting. It is the closest visual language we have to the fantasy of swinging between skyscrapers.
That Spider-Man instinct - the desire to experience a city at velocity, from within its geometry rather than above it - is what drives this work. Every flight is an attempt to translate that kinetic, gravitational feeling into a shareable cinematic moment.
The discipline demands convergence of mechanical engineering, split-second piloting, and cinematic intent. There is no autopilot, no GPS hold, no obstacle avoidance. The pilot is the only system preventing a collision. That constraint is also the creative advantage: it forces an intimate, reactive relationship with the environment that produces footage no stabilized gimbal platform can replicate.
The result is perspective that feels human in its imperfection and superhuman in its capability - a tension that gives FPV cinematography its distinctive, visceral quality.
Production Pipeline
Build & Tune
Every aircraft is hand-assembled from raw components: carbon fiber frames, brushless motors, electronic speed controllers, and flight computers. PID rates are tuned iteratively to achieve smooth, cinematic response curves specific to each rig's weight and camera payload.
Scout & Plan
Location scouting identifies architectural gaps, sight lines, and optimal lighting windows. Flight paths are mentally rehearsed for obstacle clearance, wind corridors, and compositional framing before the aircraft leaves the ground.
Fly Manual
All flights are executed in full Acro mode through low-latency VR goggles. The aircraft will not self-level or hold position. Every axis of movement is under direct, continuous stick control, enabling the aggressive proximity and fluid motion that defines the aesthetic.
Stabilize & Grade
Raw onboard gyroscope telemetry is processed through Gyroflow to mathematically negate vibration and micro-jitter. The footage is then color graded and edited to deliver cinematic, buttery-smooth final output.
Technical Architecture
Custom Hardware Engineering
Each drone is purpose-built for its mission profile. Motors, flight controllers, and video transmitters are hand-soldered to create hyper-specialized rigs - from 5-inch heavy-lift platforms carrying full action cameras to sub-250g "cinewhoops" designed for safe indoor proximity work. Component selection, prop pitch, and motor KV are matched to the specific flight characteristics required for each shoot.
Zero-Latency Video Link
Digital transmission protocols like DJI O3 deliver ultra-low latency 1080p video directly to the pilot's goggles in real time. At 85mph, a 50-millisecond delay can mean the difference between threading a gap and losing an aircraft. The entire telemetry chain is engineered to keep visual feedback under the threshold of perceptible lag.
Full Manual Flight Dynamics
Acro mode removes every automated safety net: no auto-level, no altitude hold, no return-to-home. The pilot maintains constant input across all axes simultaneously. This unlocks the full kinematic vocabulary - building dives, inverted passes, power loops, and the aggressive proximity lines that are impossible on any stabilized platform.
Gyroscopic Post-Stabilization
Rather than relying on optical or mechanical stabilization that limits the camera's field of movement, raw gyroscope data is recorded alongside the video file at high sample rates. Gyroflow then uses this mathematical telemetry to precisely counteract vibration in post-production - preserving the organic flight path while eliminating mechanical noise.
