Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Chambers.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started from a career in the film industry for more than 24 years. Working on some of the biggest films over the last two decades. Add my work and love of film making with my enjoyment of flying RC helicopters, my two passions suddenly evolved into a business with the introduction of the advanced evolution of Drones (UAS’s). I first took to Drone’s as a hobby to occupy my days off filming the places I visited while overseas filming Feature Films. I posted my material on social media and shortly thereafter, I received a flood of very positive feedback on my work. I decided that I would get my FFA part 107 license so I could comply with the Drone laws that seemed to at the time daily. The FAA developed laws due to the huge growth of Drone use, started with a FFA 333 exception license of pilots in order to be compensated for Drone work. The 333 exception was flawed and the FAA created a new more difficult part 107 certification in order to become a licensed Drone pilot in mid-2016, and 333 exceptions are now phasing out. I studied the material, which was intensely more difficult than I ever expected. I would tell my friends that preparation to pass a FAA part 107 is like learning how to fly a plane without an instructor, just a 4-inch-thick packet. People do not realize that magnitude of avionic knowledge required to pass the 107 tests, essentially it is the same knowledge needed as a fixed wing manned aircraft pilot.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning a Drone videography / photography company has had its challenges. I started my business to focus mostly on real estate and find still to this day that many realtors will hire a non-licensed drone pilot. This is a problem across the country as hobbyist see an opportunity and have no knowledge or just completely disregard the FAA regulations. When drone YouTube sensation began to appear with drone flights in major cities and over areas never seen from a drone perspective, the Drone craze began. These YouTube sensations showed a disregard for following the laws, which started a chain reaction globally. The positive side is the FAA is starting to take action, even I like and subscribe to some of their channels and hope they are taking proper steps to get that the viewer does not see behind the scenes.
I have had relator clients from large real estate brokerages tell me that they are starting to get letters from their legal departments demanding them not to hire non-licensed Drone pilots as the FAA can impose large fines to the realtor and/or brokerage firm if they cannot produce the pilot information. It has been like the Wild West but it’s starting to get a little bit under control.
Other struggles are the occasional people who think I am spying on them when I shoot a property. I make a huge effort to advise neighboring properties that I am shooting the house next door for commercial purpose, however on one occasion a woman called the police stating I was flying against her window spying on her. My wife who is my co-pilot at that location reassured the police we were nowhere near her house. I showed the police the footage after landing along with my license proving her claims to be false, ended with the police officer asking if he could fly the drone and the lady having a knock on her door about calling 911 over a false statement.
The other struggle is keeping up with the latest and greatest equipment. You think iPhones ae outdated with the everlasting newest and greatest release, try buying a drone. In 5 months’ time, they are introducing a new one that has a feature you really want, so it’s an everlasting challenge to stay up to date with the technology. In addition to the tremendous amount of capital invested in drones and time we have to ensure that I have the proper gear and everything down to the editing software to best produce the ultimate end product.
Aerial Vuz – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Aerial Vuz is a one stop shop for all relators marketing needs. We offer professional exterior aerial and ground video and interior video. At clients request we also will take stills both exterior and interior with professional equipment and an amazing drone operator who is also a professional photographer. We like to work with our clients to establish what the mood of the house is and we creatively will throw out ideas of how we feel it best will look on video. Once we have the footage we require we go straight to the editing bay and edit the footage to music that is royalty free that best suites the creative concept showcase the property in the best light possible, which may include lifestyle add ins e.g. beach ocean shots for beach homes.
Photographs alone can be terrible at visualizing a space. Most listing photography does little to help with marketing. For example, say your listing has a huge 4 acre backyard, but 75% of it is obscured by trees. The photo on your listing makes it look tiny. With a drone shot, you could capture the entire yard in one picture to show them just how big a space it really is. It is suggested by many leading real estate magazines that a video with aerial shots included can increase sale time but as much as 80% and there are responsible for many international buyers purchasing listing sight unseen.
Aerial Vuz also offers Virtual Reality shoots. This enables potential buyers an opportunity to view the house room by room. The technology is amazing and growing as we stay onto of what is the best marketing tools available.
In addition to real estate, we shoot weddings, events, film, commercials, and stock footage for persons requiring it.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We recently participated in an aerial shoot for Why We Ride award winning documentary volunteering our services to shoot the journey of the charity ride from Moorpark CA to Pebble Beach Quail Motorcycle event. The charity was for Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and we had Veterans group join in on our ride. It was an amazing challenge to preplan the airspace and get ahead of the ridders to shoot them along with the ground video crew. We ended up getting shots that where just beyond spectacular and video unlike anything I have ever seen prior.
In the benefit dinner in Pebble Beach a fellow sponsor made a speech which touched our team. His words when speaking about the cause and the good that will come from funds raised, he made a profound statement “Everyone should give one of the three things every year: your talent, your time or your treasures”. We as a company felt the message knowing that we gave it our all in both time and talent.
The end product film / documentary will promote the ride and encourage more sponsors and riders for the next year. I felt so proud to be a part of this with my dear friend film maker Bryan Carrol, I committed to doing it every year to come.
Pricing:
- Roughly for full video interior & exterior with aerial shots we start at $1,000 and that would be for average $1,5MM listing
- With homes with same package in the $5MM range and up it prices can vary from $2K to $5k depending on complexity.
Contact Info:
- Address: 26500 Agoura Rd.
Suite 701, Calabasas, CA 91302 - Website: www.aerialvuz.com
- Phone: 818-512-0152
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aerialvuz/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/aerial-vuz-calabasas?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)
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