Netflix Sunderland Till I Die
Drone filming of the players in training at Sunderland AFC’s training ground, from sunset, for the Netflix documentary series
Play filmDrone filming at the training ground
Halo Vue Aerial Photography did all the drone filming at the training grounds prior to match day.
Our drone filming included lots of close flying taking extra special care when near the players.
Our aircraft used was the DJI Inspire 2 Aircraft filming Cinema DNG with our X7 Camera and full prime lens setup.
The Academy of Light, from sunset
We filmed at Sunderland AFC’s training ground from sunset, following the players through their training session before match day.
Sunderland AFC train at the Academy of Light in Cleadon, on Whitburn Moor, a few miles north of the city and the Stadium of Light and close to the North East coast. It is one of the best training grounds in English football, and it was our location for the series.
We arrived to film from sunset, when the low light across the pitches is at its best. Long shadows, warm colour on the grass and a big North East sky gave the documentary makers exactly the kind of pictures that a camera on the touchline cannot get.
Our brief was to film the players training. That meant flying low and close to the session as it happened: drills, small-sided games and the squad moving between pitches, with the drone working around the coaches and the players, never the other way round.
Flying near a professional squad the day before a game takes extra special care. Every move was planned with the production team and the club, with safe distances agreed and the aircraft kept well clear of the players at all times.
One club, one city and three series on Netflix
A fly-on-the-wall documentary about Sunderland AFC and the people who live for it.
Sunderland ’Til I Die is the Netflix documentary series that follows Sunderland AFC from the inside: the players, the managers, the staff behind the scenes and, above all, the supporters. Football in Sunderland is woven into the life of the city, and the series shows what the club’s results mean to the people of Wearside.
It was made by Fulwell 73, the production company whose name is itself a tribute to Sunderland, taken from the old Fulwell End at Roker Park and the club’s FA Cup win of 1973. Executive producers Leo Pearlman and Ben Turner are both lifelong Sunderland fans.
The first series became one of the most talked-about sports documentaries on Netflix, praised by critics for showing a famous club in real difficulty instead of a team that wins every week. Its opening titles, set to “Shipyards” by Sunderland band The Lake Poets, are as well known as the series itself.
Cinema cameras in the air, close to the players
A Netflix documentary needs pictures that sit alongside cinema cameras on the ground. That decided the aircraft, the camera and the lenses.
We flew the DJI Inspire 2 with the X7, a Super 35 cinema camera, and our full set of prime lenses. Being able to change lens between flights meant we could go from a wide view of the whole training ground to a much tighter shot of a single drill without flying any closer to the players.
Everything was recorded in Cinema DNG, a RAW format that keeps all of the detail in the highlights and shadows. At sunset that matters, because the sky is bright and the pitch is falling into shade, and the colourist needs that range to match the aerials to the rest of the series.
The result is a set of aerial shots of a football club at work: the squad on the grass, the pitches laid out below, and the light going down over the North East coast.
If you are planning a sports documentary, or need a drone crew that can work safely around players and staff, we would be glad to talk it through.
The series three trailer and the opening titles
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