Listen up film directors, producers, agency creatives and in-house brand creative teams! A new specialised drone company has launched in South Africa offering legal drone services to the film, commercials and advertising industry (amongst others). We meet with Founders, Robin Hook and Liam Johnson, to find out why you should consider these aerial experts for your next shoot.

It’s lift-off for Robot Air

Robot Air is born from the production company Robot, and while Robot has established itself as being in the business of making commercials, Robot Air now offers another camera angle with their aerial services. Meeting with Liam and Robin made us realise just how little we knew about the ins-and-outs of drones for commercial use, so here is our #DronesForDummies breakdown…

Left: Robin Hook, MD at Robot Air  / Right: Liam Johnson, Executive Producer at Robot

Make your eagles legal

When flying a drone on any sort of commercial or film shoot, or shooting any content for commercial use really, it’ll need to be operated by a certified pilot. But being a pilot isn’t enough! A drone pilot with a licence still needs to be operating under a commercial operating licence. Without the two together, it’s simply not legal and you can’t get insurance for your shoot people! All of this not only means that if your drone flies into someone’s face it’s a massive liability for your production and a massive facepalm for your client, but also film and city permits can’t be obtained. Here’s the potential kicker though, if you are caught without these licences, all your footage, including backdated footage, could then be deemed illegal or possibly even removed.

Robot Approved

Now Producers, let’s talk the pain of permits! Robot Air will arrange all of your filming and aerial permits, so no more stress about legally locking off roads in town or trying to fly your drones over city centres without ending up in a red tape disaster. Yip, they can facilitate the entire permit processing saga for you, or do it collaboratively with your production manager, so you don’t have to worry about submitting applications for commercial numbers, making your life a whole lot easier.