Working with Director Todd Allan, I was Cinematographer for this short film for Dolby Laboratories, to demonstrate their very high performance PRM4200 reference monitor. The Producer was Loren Nielson of Entertainment Technology Consultants. 

 

The aircraft is a North American Aviation AT-6, beautifully restored, with a highly polished exterior. We shot the aerials from an Aérospatiale A-Star helicopter, fitted with a Wolfe Air Gyron gyro-stabilized camera mount, containing an Arri Alexa, with an Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm lens. The images were recorded in ArriRaw format to an on-board S-two recorder.

 

The aerial photography was done over the Santa Monica Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and Catalina Island, all near Los Angeles, CA. The runway is at Catalina Airport, a private strip built on the top of a mountain, 1,600 feet above sea level. With a length of 3,000 ft, and sheer drop-offs on three sides, it can be quite a challenge for a pilot, particularly on a windy day. The ground photography was done at Santa Paula Airport, a beautiful little airfield about 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.