What to Look for in a Drone Videographer

The drone is the easy bit. Getting the right shot is where the difference shows.

If you're commissioning drone footage for a campaign, a venue or an event, you're not really hiring someone to fly. You're hiring someone to solve a filming problem. This is how to tell whether a supplier can.

Buyer's guide 9 minute read Updated October 2026 By AerialJohnny

01 The Brief

Start with the shot, not the drone

The first thing most people ask a commercial drone videographer is which drone they fly. It's the wrong place to start. The better question is what the shot has to do.

A property client might need one slow, smooth reveal. A stadium needs scale. A leisure venue needs the whole customer journey. Motorsport needs speed and proximity. A hotel needs calm movement through rooms. A brand campaign needs the drone to slot into a much bigger production without holding it up.

Each of those is a different job, and sometimes a different aircraft. A good operator asks what the footage is for, where it'll run and what it has to show before deciding what to fly. If the conversation starts and ends with kit, you're talking to someone thinking about the drone when you need someone thinking about the film.

Music video outdoor FPV drone filming by AerialJohnny

02 Portfolio

Look at the work, not just the showreel

A showreel is everyone's best thirty seconds, cut to music. It tells you someone can get a nice shot, not whether they can get yours.

Look for work that's close to your project. Someone who's filmed an attraction while it's open knows how to work around staff and guests. Someone who's shot campaigns knows how to work to a director, a shot list and a schedule that won't wait. They've already solved most of the problems you're about to hit.

Ask to see full pieces, and ask what the brief was. How they talk about the job tells you as much as the footage.

Stadium

Everton FC: Hill Dickinson Stadium

Brand Campaign

Havana Club: Big Lime Energy

Emir Mega Yacht FPV drone filming for Yachtllywood

Superyacht

Emir Mega Yacht: Yachtllywood

Operating Venue

The Vue Cinema: Angel, London

Hospitality

Waterside Holiday Park: Bowleaze Cove

Office

ODB

Other work includes UEFA with Vivo, Adidas, an indoor tour at Silverstone, Sunseeker yachts at sea and venues such as Oxygen Activeplay. More in the case studies.

03 Method

Make sure they can actually deliver the shot

Drone filming isn't one skill. Broadly there are three kinds of drone shot, and they ask very different things of the person flying.

Traditional Aerial

Steady and controlled

Stabilised camera drones for smooth moves, reveals and wide establishing shots. Right for scale, landscapes, property and anything that should look calm and considered.

Outdoor FPV

Fast, close and dynamic

Flown manually through goggles. Chasing cars, boats and athletes, diving down structures, linking spaces in one route. Doing it well takes a lot of hours.

Indoor FPV

Tight spaces, people around

Small guarded drones through doorways, corridors and working venues. One continuous take through a building is a specialist job in its own right.

Someone who's excellent with a conventional camera drone isn't automatically the right person for an FPV chase or an indoor one-take, and it works the other way too. Ask which approach they'd use for your shot and why. If they only offer one kind, it's worth knowing that before they recommend it.

If you want to see the three side by side, there are examples of each on the FPV drone filming page.

04 Preparation

Ask what happens before the drone arrives

Professional drone filming starts long before the aircraft comes out of the case. Ask a supplier to walk you through what they do in the week before a shoot. A good one will have a clear answer.

Guarded FPV drone filming inside Epping Leisure Centre gym

The brief

What the footage is for and where it'll run. A good supplier asks questions here, not just for a date.

The location

A recce, in person or from plans and photos. Access, take-off points, obstacles, light and where people will be.

The shot plan

Flights planned against your storyboard or shot list, so time in the air goes on the shots that matter.

Airspace and permissions

Checking restrictions for the site, and getting sign-off from the landowner, venue or event organiser.

People and risk

A risk assessment, full RAMS where the site needs one, and a plan for staff, guests and the public.

Weather

Watching the forecast, with a call agreed in advance on when to go and when to move.

The kit

Aircraft checked, batteries charged, spares packed.

If the first time your pilot thinks about the shot is when they arrive on site, you're already behind.

05 Regulation

Check they can legally fly your job

There's no single "commercial drone licence" in the UK. The useful question isn't whether someone is licensed. It's whether they can legally and competently carry out the operation you've asked for, in that location.

In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority sets the rules. Whoever is responsible for the drone generally registers as an operator, and the pilot needs the right competency for the type of flying. Lower-risk work sits in the Open category, where the limits depend on the aircraft, how close it flies to people and the pilot's certificate. Anything beyond those limits is the Specific category, which needs an Operational Authorisation from the CAA setting out what the pilot must hold. So a certificate tells you what someone can do. It doesn't mean they can do everything.

Location changes things too. Airports, restricted airspace, crowds and landowner permission can all affect what's allowed. Europe is separate again: EU countries apply EASA rules, and UK registrations and certificates aren't automatically recognised there. And if a supplier still calls a PfCO their licence, ask a few more questions. That system was replaced in 2020.

Which category will this be flown in?
Does it need an Operational Authorisation or any other permission, and who's arranging it?
What competency does the pilot hold for this type of flying?
Are there restrictions at this location, and how will you handle them?
If we're filming abroad, are you registered and certified there?

For reference, AerialJohnny is a CAA-registered operator. Johnny holds the A2 Certificate of Competency and GVC in the UK, and EASA remote pilot certification (A1, A2 and A3) issued by ENAC in Italy for work in Europe.

FPV drone filming at a Motorshow Events fireworks display

Indoor FPV drone tour of Vue Omnicenter Edinburgh by AerialJohnny

06 Insurance

Ask to see the insurance

Every drone supplier will tell you they're insured. Ask to see it. The CAA requires third party insurance as a minimum for anyone flying for anything other than recreation, sport or a hobby.

When the certificate arrives, check the level of cover, that it's in date for your shoot, and that it covers the kind of flying and the location, particularly abroad or indoors with the public around. Then check your own side. Venues, landlords and event organisers sometimes set their own minimum cover, and it's better to find that out now than the week of the shoot.

For what it's worth, AerialJohnny carries £10M public liability cover in the UK and internationally.

07 Contingency

Find out what happens when Plan A doesn't work

Every production hits something. The wind picks up. A gate's locked. The schedule slips and the light goes. A shot that looked great on paper doesn't work in the space.

None of that is unusual. What matters is whether your supplier has already thought about it.

What backup aircraft and equipment do you bring?
What happens if the weather turns on the day?
What could we shoot instead?
What if the planned route isn't possible?

Sunseeker yacht outdoor FPV drone filming by AerialJohnny

You're not paying for someone to hope the shoot works. You're paying for someone who knows what to do when it doesn't.

08 Deliverables

Find out what you're actually buying

"Drone filming" can mean very different things on a quote. One supplier's price is a pilot, an aircraft and a few hours on site. Another's covers everything from the first call to the final files. Both are called drone filming. Here's what a full job can include:

Indoor FPV drone tour of Anytime Fitness by AerialJohnny

Pre-production and planning Recce Risk assessment and permissions Pilot and aircraft Backup equipment Filming on the day Data backup and management Raw or selected footage Colour grading An edited film Social and vertical versions Delivery in your formats

Before you compare quotes from any drone filming company, line them up against the same list. Compare the finished deliverable, not just the flight rate.

Indoor FPV drone tour at Silverstone by AerialJohnny

09 Post-Production

Think about what happens after the flight

Editing is where the footage becomes something you can use: picking the strongest shots, grading them to match the rest of the film, cutting to the right aspect ratios and delivering in the formats each platform needs.

If it's going into a bigger edit, it also has to sit alongside footage from other cameras. That's much easier when the person flying knows how it'll be cut.

The best drone shot isn't always the most spectacular one. It's the one that gives the finished film what it needs.

It often makes sense for the same team to film and edit, so nothing gets lost between the shoot and the cut. That's why AerialJohnny does ground filming and photography and editing and cut-downs as well as the flying.

Indoor FPV drone tour of GLL Sutton Leisure Centre by AerialJohnny

10 Working Together

Communication matters more than people think

A commercial supplier should be easy to work with. You'll usually know within a couple of emails.

Before

Brief, questions, plan

Questions about the brief, a clear plan, and confirmation of what's happening and who's turning up.

During

Talking on set

Someone talking to your team, flagging problems early and agreeing any changes with you.

After

Backup, edit, delivery

Footage backed up, a clear edit timeline, a review round and delivery in the agreed formats.

For agency work it's worth asking whether they'll join client calls, work alongside your existing crew and, if needed, work white-label under your name. AerialJohnny does all three, with one point of contact from brief to delivery.

11 Value

Don't choose on day rate alone

A lower day rate isn't automatically worse value, and a higher one isn't automatically better. The trouble is that day rates rarely compare like for like.

One quote might leave out the recce, backup kit, a second crew member, travel or the edit. Another might include all of it. Add up what you actually need delivered and the gap can shrink, or disappear.