Stock Company Grabs Nearly Four Hours of Footage with Red Epic

Artbeats recently received clearance to fly low in restricted airspace over Washington, D.C., capturing footage of national landmarks and government buildings with the Red Epic camera system. A law enforcement officer was on board each flight, Artbeats said, and U.S. military officers had the right to review and delete material as soon as the Twinstar helicopter landed — but the quantity of footage deleted amounted to less than 15 minutes of the four hours of footage captured, according to Artbeats CEO Phil Bates, who directed the shoot.

DP and camera operator was Doug Holgate, whose aerial résumé includes 24, Lost, Survivor, CSI, and Thor, and the helicopter pilot was Rob Marshall, a veteran of features, TV spots, and sports events. The week-long shoot also included day and night trips trhough New York and Boston plus general footage gathered elsewhere on the East Coast.

Footage was captured with an Epic mounted in a Pictorvision Eclipse at 5K (2:1) resolution and later cropped to remove any lens-vignetting. The team captured "nearly every shot" in daytime, at dusk, and during the night, allowing editors flexibility to depict different times of day.

Artbeats has started posting footage from the shoot, with more to come over the next few months, including some stereo 3D material. Individual HD clips are $599. A 4.5K version will run you $699, and the actual .R3D files can be had for $799.