HorotiuDogParkFarewell

This video is my tribute to Horotiu Dog Park, which was opened on a site leased for 25 years from a local factory and has now ended so the factory can expand.

Poem

Today I spied a rainbow and sped straight through the gate,
Sprinted down the green and made a good escape.
I find my favourite place where paradise licks earth,
Here is space - I run for all my worth.
A brief breather beneath the breezy boughs,
Then off to test my confidence, just as you showed me how.
But, although this rascal must now re-depart, inside my heart I wait
With all dear frens who once graced this great estate.

Concept

The concept for this video is a dog escaping heaven to return to a favourite place, which, just like him, exists as a happy memory.

Production Notes

For safety reasons, I did not fly the drone when people or dogs were at the park, so the footage has a strange, empty feeling - which suited the concept. There was limited time before the dog park closed to the public during a week of bad weather, so it took several visits. I spent more time waiting for the park to empty than I did flying. Additionally, the wind was a problem for the drone, and so were few usable runs longer than a few seconds. On the worst day, I waited four hours for the park to empty and then the quad ripped a motor clean off when a wind gust sent it into a tree. That took a day to repair.

While shooting around and under trees presents its own colouring issues, shooting under different weather conditions is much harder to deal with in editing. So the results could be better, but I better understand what to do next time.

The drone is a BetaFPV Pavo25 carrying a Runcam Thumb Pro 4k(old version) and the footage stabilised using Gyroflow. This setup is probably too lightweight for the windy conditions, and so I become practised at regaining control. Safety is number one: if there was any concern that the drone might've left the park, I was ready to disarm it, which would cause the drone to tumble straight down.

Setting good camera angles is a complex decision incorporating the desired ratio of ground/sky, flight path and speed. Sometimes I'd have to pick a flight line, watch the footage, adjust and fly again.

While I learned much about my drone, camera and editing from this project, it's time to move on and put these lessons into a new story.

[//]:# (!pinmapple -37.69865 lat 175.19477 long Horotiu Dog Park and Exercise Area (permanently closed, 2023) d3scr)