Date Published
12th May 2019
Last year I had the pleasure of providing aerial footage for a documentary about bullet trains in Japan, debuting on the Discovery channel.
I was able to work with this production to suggest and plan a custom route, where I followed the Tokaido shinkansen line by car throughout the countryside to grab scenic views from a variety of locations.
Although the production team was in the country at the time, they had a lot on their plate trying to get all the ground footage they needed, so once the route was accepted this allowed me to work autonomously and provide them the footage they needed without any extra oversight or requiring them to extend their trip.
I took great care in planning the route to ensure that I was getting good shots while still flying safely and legally, keeping appropriate distance from the trains. The Inspire 2 with the X7 allows longer lenses to be fitted, which was a huge benefit in providing close up shots from a safe distance.
The full documentary requires access to their network, but you can see a sample of the program below, including some of the aerials I shot.