ITV Emmerdale
Play filmDrone filming Emmerdale in the heart of Yorkshire
We have had the pleasure of drone filming on ITV’s Emmerdale many times over the years, both on the purpose-built Emmerdale village set on the Harewood Estate, between Leeds and Harrogate, and at surrounding locations across West Yorkshire and the wider Yorkshire countryside.
Shots have included hovering over a vast Yorkshire reservoir, where putting a camera crew on the water was too dangerous and simply not an option.
We have also replicated the flight of the model drone that Jacob received for his birthday, plus many more technical tracking shots through the village and the Yorkshire landscape around it, to name but a few.
This is always a two-person drone crew, with a member of the Emmerdale camera crew stepping in to handle the focus controls when needed.
As a Yorkshire-based drone company we are the ideal choice for programmes such as Emmerdale. The village set at Harewood, ITV’s studios in Leeds and locations around Harrogate, Leeds and West Yorkshire are right on our doorstep, reducing travel and the carbon footprint on the production.
Drone filming on ITV’s Emmerdale
Several years ago, ITV Emmerdale director Tim O’Mara asked if we would like to fly our drones for an episode of the popular, long-running continuing drama, made here in Yorkshire.
He had been following our business through Twitter and wanted to test the capability of the DJI Inspire 2 aircraft and the new Super 35mm X7 dedicated camera, which at that point had never been used on any major drama or film.
At the time only large heavy-lift drones had been used on the show, but with the release of the Super 35mm X7 camera and its larger codecs he thought these new systems would fit in perfectly on the Emmerdale village set near Leeds, especially when flown close to the actors, thanks to their smaller size.
We did the test flights and everything was perfect. However, there were some complications on the technical side. ITV use interlaced cameras on Emmerdale and our drones are progressive. This meant the files needed to be converted by the studio, which caused artefacts to be introduced into the image.
We quickly found a solution and ended up shooting at 50fps in 1080 with a colour profile of D-Log.
The benefits of the DJI Inspire 2 over heavy-lift drones
The benefits of the DJI Inspire 2 drone over the heavy-lift drones are numerous, and they suit a fast-moving Yorkshire drama like Emmerdale perfectly.
Slow and cinematic, or super-fast
The drone can be flown very slowly for incredible cinematic shots across the Yorkshire countryside, or super-fast to capture high-speed events such as car chases.
Airborne within 30 seconds
The aircraft is very quick to set up. Once rigged, which takes just a few minutes, we can be airborne within 30 seconds of the GPS locking on to the required number of satellites.
Its own dedicated camera
The DJI Inspire 2 has all the features of the heavy-lift drones but comes with its own built-in dedicated camera, so there is no need to hire in any other glass or cameras.
Full control while in the air
We have full remote control of the drone’s aperture, frame rate, focus, ISO, histogram, white balance and all the other major settings while we are in the air. There is no need to land the aircraft if the exposure needs adjusting, saving lots of time.
A three-person professional crew
The DJI Inspire 2 can be operated by a drone pilot, a dedicated drone camera operator and, when required, a drone camera focus operator.
Live monitoring for the ITV team
The images are all piped out to high-quality Blackmagic screens, giving the ITV production team the ability to monitor every movement of the drone.
Silent power between Yorkshire locations
Once the shot is complete, the drone and ancillary kit are quickly loaded back into our 4x4 and moved to the next location, with the batteries charging in the vehicle as we travel. No noisy petrol generators, just totally silent inverters mounted in the rear of the Land Rover.
Far longer flight times
The Inspire 2’s most beneficial asset is its ability to fly far longer than the heavy-lift drones. With a flight time of around 20 minutes, the drone can perform several rehearsals on just one battery, then fly into position and hover until the director calls action. This gives the cast and crew plenty of time to get into position and, if need be, do the scene several times while the drone stays airborne, only landing when the batteries get down to around 30%.
Since those early days filming on Emmerdale in West Yorkshire, the DJI Inspire 2 has become one of the go-to drones for filming TV dramas and major films.
Behind the scenes on ITV Emmerdale
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