Fly Me Home to BRC: 2 Amazing Aerial Tour Videos from Burning Man 2012

This first aerial tour of Burning Man is a bit on the somber side, in keeping with the tone of yesterday’s post about 9/11. It turned up yesterday on the Burning Man pilots list. You can see the airport at 4:28. To get this aerial video footage of Black Rock City, the camera is mounted to a drone.  The night shots at the end are amazing; I understand this short 5 minute vid  is a teaser for a project in the works.

Why am I on a Burning Man pilots list? In 2011, I joined the Burning Man pilots list in hopes of finding a flight so my husband could join us; my son and I left the previous Saturday. I stayed on the list because it is an interesting and different Burning Man community. I am definitely a lurker there! This year, 2012, I hoped to catch a flight for myself but I ended up staying home and doing a backyard burn. I dream about having that experience of seeing the city from the air myself. One day I’ll fly in or out or at least get up in the air! Many pilots gift flights–hundreds of Burners get up in the air every year.

In the meantime, video is as good as it gets, and it’s a great way to get a sense of the scale of the city. These two videos were posted on the pilots list yesterday and between now and then, they’ve gone from 1000 views to 10,000!

There are a multitude of sources and lists to find out all that’s going on Burning-Wise which you can check out and subscribe to. The website, of course, is jam-packed with official information and so is Jack Rabbit Speaks, which lands regularly in your email box. Then there are other less – or unofficial lists for various interest groups from pilots to Burning Moms to Burning Scouts to Kidsville–all of which I am on, and you could join too if you are interested.

Suffice to say, I hear about more galleries, videos and news than I could ever get around to reading, watching, and posting here. But I do make an effort, when something stands out as special, to post it for my readers and subscribers (yes, you can subscribe and get me in your inbox every time I post something new!)

The second video is much more upbeat and energetic. The music “Ready To Fly” by Clayton Joseph Scott is by a Burner,  who gifted the videographer “Flyer” a cd in Black Rock City this year. Flyer realized it was the perfect soundtrack and the musician agreed to its use.

One of the reasons I really like this video is because the filmmaker points out the various sites. As a long time Burner, these sights and more familiar to me. But for people who have never been, or only a few times, of not for a few years, the guidance is helpful. Click for more to see the next video and to read more about how they filmed it using drones.

According to info on youtube, he got the footage using a FPV or first person view which means “flying of a radio controlled aircraft using a video image from the plane transmitted wirelessly to a viewing station on the ground, using video goggles. This allows safe operation of a small, quiet, electric airplane while taking high-definition video while piloting the plane as if one were sitting in the cockpit.”  He flew the radio controlled aircraft at about 50kph (30mph) at an altitude of of 30m (100ft) over the playa and the city to obtain video for this production, then landed safely right on the inner playa.

He shot the video from 8-10am on August 29-31, 2012 (Weds-Friday before the Man burned) using a GoPro set to 1080p on an “Ozone” plane he made himself– he does 100% scratch built RC airplanes from Dollar Tree foamboard, tape, and glue using modular designs to allow mixing and matching of components for new airplane designs. Most of the video is actual-speed, with a few shots in slow-motion, and edited on iMovie.

Next Burning Man post: decompression!

PS Today at the Farmer’s Market I saw a guy with dusty boots and I knew those shoes had been to the playa so I asked. He said yes, this was his third Burn. I just smiled…just wait until he’s been to his 13th! I wish I’d taken a photo of them to post here.

Related articles

• Burning Man: More Relevant Than Ever (good.is)
• Heading Home? Burning Man 2012 (artpredator.wordpress.com)
• How To Do Burning Man At Home: Watch LIVE on ustream & listen to BMIR (artpredator.wordpress.com)
• Relics from Burning Man 2012 (artpredator.wordpress.com)
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go: Burning Man 2012 (artpredator.wordpress.com)
• Burning Man 2012 Videos by Mark Day (laughingsquid.com)