‘Octocopter’ to Get Bird’s Eye Footage of UCR Campus

Two-day shoot will get scenic views for future video productions

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The Octocopter will be on campus on May 22 & 23 to shoot video for future UCR productions. Photo courtesy of Birds Eye Productions

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — It’s not a bird. It’s not a plane. It is the Octocopter, and it will be zooming through the skies — and some buildings — at UC Riverside on May 22 & 23 to record sweeping imagery for future campus video productions.

Phoenix-based Birds Eye Productions, which specializes in aerial photography and videography, is bringing the vehicle to campus for a two-day video shoot. The eight-bladed, remote controlled vehicle has the ability to fly several hundred feet in the air to as close as five feet from a subject.

“This will allow us to get a whole different perspective on this campus, views that we simply couldn’t get from the ground, from a camera crane, or from a traditional helicopter,” explained Christy Zwicke, UCR videographer and producer in the Office of Strategic Communications.

Birds Eye Productions uses the CineStar 8 Multi-Rotor Octocopter sporting a Canon 5D Mark 2 camera. The eight-bladed vehicle is computer controlled and can be programmed with GPS waypoints. It has multiple redundancies and back-up systems to ensure safe use in public areas, including an automatic “return to home” if radio connection is lost.

Scheduled shots include a flyover of the campus at dawn as well as flyovers/flythoughs of Winston Chung Hall, the Bourns courtyard, the Orbach Science Library, the Highlander Union Building, the Rivera Library exterior, Pentland Apartments and Lothian Dining Hall, and the UCR Sports Complex during the Highlanders’ baseball game with Hawaii. Signage will be posted to let pedestrians know that filming is taking place.

“We’re excited about the prospects of what we will be able to get,” Zwicke said. “Maybe starting from the top of the Bell Tower and zooming down the mall, or through the HUB walkway.”

The Birds Eye Productions crew is tentatively scheduled to return in November to take additional footage.

Birds Eye Productions 2012 Demo Reel from Birds Eye Productions on Vimeo.

Archived under: Inside UCR, Birds Eye Productions, Christy Zwicke, octocopter, strategic communications, Video Production

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