Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Fortin.
Mike began flying and racing custom RC Helicopters in the late ’90s. Over the years, his hobby turned into a profession when he began building custom drones in Florida. In 2012, he began flying remote aircraft with cameras and immediately found success in aerial cinematography. That year he founded the company CineDrones and began devoting more time to film production.
A few years later, he had the opportunity to start working on larger scale productions, and the demand for his work began to grow. He moved from Florida to Los Angeles, and the team began to grow. We now operate multiple offices and crews across the country and have become a recognized leader in the drone industry and the film industry as a whole.
When we began drone work eight years ago in Hollywood, we knew Directors and DPs were excited to take their cameras and storytelling to the skies. Since then, we’ve earned a reputation for delivering above and beyond what they expect. We love hearing video village gasp during our flights and watching our clients jaw drop after reviewing our aerial shots, and we get fired up after delivering cinema gold.
Now we are closer to our clients and able to respond quickly to meetings and last minute shoot requests our teams are ready to fly at a moments notice in and around Southern California.
Has it been a smooth road?
Some of the main obstacles have been with the exponential growth of the drone industry. In 2018, more than 50,000 individuals passed their part 107 FAA license to be a commercial drone pilot. Educating the community on safety and protocol has been paramount in making drones a larger part of the film industry.
The thing we hate to hear more than anything is when production has had a bad experience with a drone team or pilot. As veterans of the industry, we want to help form and shape the process to be as production friendly as possible.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our teams work hand in hand with directors and directors of photography while on set in order to provide a specialty tool that enhances their ability to tell a story and increase production value with each and every flight. Our teams have years of experience on sets and understand that safety and the ability to get the shot are the most important thing!
While we specialize in high-end cinematography, we have had opportunities to explore technology in innovative ways. Aerial lighting, virtual reality, FPV drones are just some of the other applications for UAV”s. We’ve been lucky enough to participate in productions that allow us to do research and development to make ideas a reality.
We assembled a team of pilots to carry a golf net over the Hudson River in NYC while professional golfers took their best swing at it. We are constantly finding new and exciting ways to use drones.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The amount of airspace restrictions in Los Angeles is definitely a hurdle. The FAA is slowly refining their process for approving and regulating commercial drone operations, but there is a bit of dissonance in their internal procedures compared to the exponential growth in the UAV industry.
For someone starting out it may be best to target a less competitive market whether that is by location or industry. Real Estate and other forms of production offer one the opportunity to gain experience and refine their skill set so that they are fully prepared to enter the demanding world of film and television production.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cinedrones.com
- Phone: 844-359-3766
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinedrones/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CineDrones/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CineDrones
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cinedrones-los-angeles-2
Image Credit:
Mike Fortin, Michael Solomon, David Zoeller, Bruno Wu, Carlos Seminario
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
