The Drone Dish: Douglas Thron

On this episode of "The Drone Dish" host Ryan Hoag talks to professional cinematographer Douglas Thron. Douglas has worked with a plethora of high profile clients, such as the NFL and CBS, but his favorite was Discovery Channel because of his passion for animals and the outdoors. He also shoots aerial footage for luxury real estate developers and tells his clients that drone videography is the way of the future. "Great White Sharks to Skyscrapers Demo Reel" features aerial video of an amusement park, a great white shark, a cattle farm, and a spiraling tower Douglas shot in Panama City. Douglas shares the crazy details of what went into shooting the great white shark video. As we all know in the drone community, sometimes you only have one chance to get the "money" shot, something he experienced with the great white! Douglas says he would love to get permission from the National Park Service to shoot inside the National Parks. He'd also like to head to Africa for a drone shoot because of his love for animals and nature. Thank you for being on The Drone Dish, Douglas!

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And for more amazing aerial views, check out AirVūz.com VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Ryan Hoag: Welcome to The Drone Dish. Today, we have ariel cinematographer Douglas Thron. Douglas, good morning. Douglas Thron: Good morning. Ryan Hoag: Now Doug, I'm looking at the list of clients you've worked with. Anything from the NFL to Discovery Channel, to CBS. Was there one that stood out? Douglas Thron: I particularly like the Discovery Channel just because the fact that my passion is animals and nature, and outdoors. [00:00:30] It's just something that's close to heart. For 10 years, I worked on the preservation of the Head Waters in ancient Red Wood Forrest. And, ariel cinematography was key to showing the clerk counting of the ancient Red Woods. Ryan Hoag: And I see that you primarily use drones for your real estate photography now. Do you see that shift being kind of common place down the road, where everybody's using drones? Douglas Thron: Yeah, I pretty much tell the real estate agents that at this point it's going to shift [00:01:00] to where it's not going to be an option. Not only is it that house, but once you film that one house, you can use that video as a tool for getting your next listing. Ryan Hoag: From great whites to skyscrapers is one of the videos you've uploaded. A capitulation of all your work, do you have a favorite part of that video because I certainly have a few of my own? Douglas Thron: I'd probably have to say the favorite for me would be either filming the great [00:01:30] whites, or one of the buildings I filmed, the skyscraper down in Panama City, Panama that looks like a cork screw. It's just the most impressive building I've ever seen. Ryan Hoag: Then, one of them that caught my attention was the herding of the cattle. What's the story behind that? Douglas Thron: That one is in a cattle farm inside of California along the highway. It's being used in a film about our environment and talking about the impact of our eating habits. Ryan Hoag: Which fits in nicely to Drone AG, which is becoming one of the more [00:02:00] prevalent uses of drones. Douglas Thron: Yeah, especially, I mean California is a huge agricultural state. And, yeah, drones will be doing anything and everything you can imagine from mapping to crop dusting, to you name it, probably pretty soon. Ryan Hoag: Now, everybody wants to know, that footage of the shark almost attacking the boat. You're sitting there, calm as ever, flying a drone, catching amazing footage. What was that experience like? Were you terrified or, were you really as calm as you look? Douglas Thron: No, I was excited. [00:02:30] Well, actually, on that particular, that little clip, was kind of sentimental to me because I usually had someone helping to catch me. But, the shark, they were trying to tag the shark for doing research. There wasn't someone available to catch it. I was keeping ... of course, as things would normally go, the shark is no where to be found. Then, right when the things at about 20% battery, then the shark shows up. I'm sitting there trying to keep it up as long as I can. It's not easy to catch and try and land a drone at the same time because you're [00:03:00] dealing with the boat moving with the swells going up and down. I basically waited until the last possible second. Had, I don't know, probably 5% battery power or something. So, I had one shot to try and catch that drone when it came back in. The shark, as you can see on the clip when he comes brushing up under it, he actually ... there was a shark tooth that we found in the boat layer. So, you could feel him nudge the boat, and he had actually given a little love bite to the boat as he went by it earlier. Ryan Hoag: That's so cool. Now, you have Air [00:03:30] Views, this community that's supporting drone enthusiast and professional videographers, such as yourself. What's your favorite thing about our community? Douglas Thron: I think it's exciting to see all the different shots that people take. It's also a good way to learn from ... because sometimes you see a shot and you're like, "Whoa, that's a cool way to shoot it." Ryan Hoag: Now Douglas, you seem to be pretty well traveled. Is there someplace you haven't yet got to that you'd like to view from above? Douglas Thron: The first place that comes to mind would be Africa. Then, there are places [00:04:00] closer to home that, of course, I'd have to get special permission from the parks service. A different place is like Bryce Canyon, that if I was hired by the park service that would be cool to film in. Ryan Hoag: Now, we just need to get National Geographic to watch this Drone Dish and then, have them send you out to Africa to do your next project, right? Douglas Thron: I'd have to bring an extra high speed drone to keep up with the cheetahs. Ryan Hoag: Right, maybe a FPV style racer. [00:04:30] Well, keep the uploads coming and, for more of Doug's work, DouglasThron.com is the place to find it. Doug, thanks a lot. Douglas Thron: Yeah, thank you for having me.