Hi, I'm Raymond Evans. I'm senior image creator at Misheye, and today I am welcoming the person who helped kick the The drone department off for us in Misheye. And, uh, who is Noellie Sartorio? Thank you for joining. 

Thank you for having me.  It feels very official already. It is very official. It's like we need to loosen up.

All right. So, uh,  let's just dive right in. I've got a couple of, just a few questions, you know, being a podcaster and all. Uh, who is Noellie Sartorio within the drone community? 

I guess we'll start with you. From the beginning. I've been flying drones since 2013. Um, not necessarily the drone that people might think straight away about.

My first drone was actually a little toy to fly inside. Um, and it was like very, very tiny and you could only fly, um, a few meters away from you before the signal would cut.  Um, but actual drone, like people  Um, I've been flying that since 2015 as a hobby first and then, you know, I figured out that I could probably, um, start working into drones, um, 

with your mini drone? 

Um, no, um, this was, uh, this was with, um, an actual Mavic, which we still use, uh, these days, the same type of drone, but obviously not the same version anymore, because, you know, the version from 2015. Team was very Limited. 

Was that the First Mavic? 

The first Mavic, yeah. So, um, it was extremely good quality at the time in terms of video already, and the flying capabilities were not what it's at now, but it was very impressive.

So decided to get that. And that's how IF flew my first drone. But within the whole drone community, they are subsections. So to answer your question, I am mostly, um, how can I say? I, I've spent. Most of my time in the drone community as an FPV pilot, which is first person view. Um,  so that's what it stands for, FPV, first person view.

And, um, the main difference between standard drone, like the one we just talked about, and the first person view drone is that you fly them wearing goggles. 

But why did you, why didn't you stick with like FPV?  

So, um, regular drones, like I said, were already a big step to, um, in, in terms of, um, advancing in, in video in general, um, aerial footage with standard drones were already outstanding. 

FPV drone in particular, cause you fly them differently. They add a completely different point of view again, from what you get from standard drone flying. Um, it's a little more  engaging. And also these drones, I started flying, not necessarily to do any storytelling anymore, but more because at the time when it started, uh, being created, um, because the, you were flying them with goggles, it was purely for you.

Recording was optional. Sharing the footage was optional. The, the flying was what was the thing to do. That was, that was what you wanted to do it.  

Yeah. That's cool. 

Yeah. 

So  do you want to give us a rundown on how Misheye, how we got into, uh, developing a drone department and, um, what your involvement was and,  and reasons why it was worth doing?

Yeah. Okay. I think so when I arrived at Misheye, so I arrived after you. I don't know exactly how long ago.  

I, uh, I started in about, um,  uh, I was at 2017 or 18 and then you came in the middle. Yeah. 

Yeah. So when I arrived, uh, in 2020, Misheye was already providing drone footage, um, to the industry we work in. Um, the way it was done was, uh, you or Christian would be camera operator.

I was, um, yeah, so we were working with another drone operator and, uh, yeah, so he operated the drone and I was camera operator. 

Yeah, yeah. 

Jordan from Flightcraft. What's his, it's Bethune, isn't it Jordan Bethune? 

Yeah, I don't know how to pronounce it. I never knew how to, it was always a Jordan, I don't pronounce the family name because I don't know it.

Oh, he's a legend. Like he's, he's a legend. He does some really intense stuff and, um, he was really fun to work with. 

Yeah. So that's how it was also in general happening in the industry at the time, because drones were huge and you needed a two crew operators. Um, so you and Christian were on the gimbal on the camera and he was flying the drone.

Um, and so when I actually joined Misheye, um,  On my resume, there was drone pilot and like, Oh my God, now we can have the drone pilot, not just a camera operator. So that was a good thing, you know, to, to get me.  Um, so that's, that's what happened. So I joined in and shortly after that, you were also working on getting your RPL, which is your license.

So you got it, maybe, I don't know, it was during 

COVID. I remember studying for the, the, the exams and the certificates during COVID. 

Yeah. So shortly after that, Misheye had two pilots anyway. Um, and then we needed a drone and we got for the good old, um, DJI Mavic 2 zoom at the time we were still flying. I 

think it's worth mentioning that the stuff we had to learn to be, to get our our remote, um, pilots license.

Um,  There's actually a lot to learn and you basically, you do need to learn, um, basic aviation and stuff that, you know, any, any new pilot will learn. 

Were you expecting that?  

No, but it was actually a lot of fun because, uh, well, just quickly, like, uh, when I was a kid, uh, sometimes my dad, cause my dad is a pilot or was a pilot.

Um, he doesn't fly much these days, but, um, back when I was younger, he, he had a, uh, an active license and we would go into town.  To go for a joyride. He'd like hire the local, um, Cessna. 

Oh wow. 

And, um, I always thought it was his. 

I was so 

proud.  Um,  and, uh, yeah. So, go off in that. Didn't go off on it very many times, but yeah, by my obsession with Flying was, was solidified, like, to the point where the, the closest I could get to flying was, and I grew up in the country and, um, uh, motorbikes and that sort of thing.

So I would,  I would I know this story.  So I, I,  I, um, So, uh, with motorbikes, I could get a bit of air going over jumps and whatnot, but, uh, I just, I just, it was logical. It's like, if I can just attach some wings to my motorbike, I get a bit more, more air, right? Yeah. So, I think it was as simple as like a, just a wooden plank that I was sitting on that went out either side of the bike.

It didn't move, did it? No, it was ridiculous.  

So you were already interested in flying. Oh, yeah. 

Yeah. 

So, but was that a surprise? Because for me, the training course, I was like, that's actually quite,  I was almost proud to learn this stuff because, you know, there's this joke on the internet that says, I'm a drone, I'm a pilot.

And then you're like, Oh, a plane pilot. No, I'm a drone pilot. You know, it's, but the course, like jokes aside, is actually quite extensive. We learned a lot about the weather. And, um, aerodynamic as well, you know, it's, it was, yeah. So it's not like you just go out and fly with a drone show. You can do it. It's actually, it is the theory and the practical.

So we both did that. That's pretty much the start of me, shy, um, drone department. And then obviously, um, As a business, we needed our own, um, what is called reoc, which is, um,  . . It's the operator certificate, isn't that? Yes. Yes. 

Remote operators. Um, 

remote, yeah. Uh, and  yeah. Um, that's, that's also you had as a, like, as a chief pilot, you had to do a course because every business who does, um. 

Who, who does own an operator certificate needs a chief pilot in charge of pretty much the other pilots in the fleet and so many responsibilities. Um, it just happens that it was you because you were  keen to take on the role. I actually don't know. How did you decide? Well, like I'm going to be the chief pilot. 

Simply, I just really enjoyed everything to do with the drone. That, um, I just wanted to expand my knowledge and, and take on that responsibility to, um, to basically throw myself in the deep end to learn all of this stuff. Because I already loved it and I just wanted to learn more. 

Yeah. 

Um,  but I shouldn't discount that, you know,  I think we equally put in as much work into, um, even though I'm the chief pilot, um, your knowledge and expertise is invaluable.

So I'm always coming to you for certain questions because we, I think we complement each other pretty well. We can, we all know different things about 

Yeah, 

sort of stuff. So 

yeah, so I'm 

yeah, 

it's a good crew. 

Yeah. 

So that's actually this. That's it. That's how it was born you me you getting chief pilot the business being allowed to start flying officially thanks to Casa approval registering our drones and suddenly  We were doing our first drone shoot.

Do you remember your first drone shoot? I keep asking questions because  I'm used to being a podcast host.  But do you remember your first? I mean, as us. 

Oh, as Misheye? 

Yeah. 

Yeah, I do actually. 

Yeah.  

Uh, on my own, um, was at a copper and gold mine in South Australia.  Uh, and we had a brand new drone. It was like the first, uh, I went and did a test flight. 

I went and did a test flight with the drone, um,  uh, just a couple of days before, because we literally only got the drone a couple of days before. And, um, I was pretty nervous. Feeling confident, learned everything. I was, I'm one of those nerdy people that I'm happy to read the instruction manual  and I'm glad I did because there was some valuable stuff in there that's, um, really helped me out. Uh, but yeah, I just went to town when I got out to the mine and, and shot all of that and it was an unreal location. Like it was just way out in the middle of like deserty kind of, it was like ancient seabed, there was literally like shells and stuff on the ground and, and the stuff that they were, um, pulling up out of the ground, like you'd have the,  If you can picture just sort of like rolling hills. 

Uh, little, like, uh, a light orange sand and, uh, little green shrubs everywhere. Wow. And then, but the, but the, the ore that they were mining up from underground was this deep, rich maroon color. Wow. It was amazing. And just that contrast, especially from a drone's point of view, to see this  big peaked pile of deep red, deep maroon soil amongst all of the green and orange of everything.

Yeah. Yeah, it was spectacular. So. 

Nice. Nice.  But I'm gonna throw that question back to you. Like, so like what, what's, what's some of the, uh, most amazing shoots you've ever done? 

At Misheye? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Oh, 'cause we forgot to say that. Uh, uh, I've worked before, uh, Misheye as well. Oh, yeah. You know, like, but, you know, uh, so yeah.

Um, well actually just quickly, so where, uh, where did you work before and what were you doing with Yeah. Before Misheye? 

So, I, uh, my first. Job, actual paid job in drones was building the FPV one for other people. So, uh, I'll did that for a good year. And then I got the opportunity to work as a pilot. Finally.

Um, it was with, uh, the company called, uh, Aerovision and yeah, we were still, so that's back again in the day. So we were doing two person, Uh, operations like, like you did in the past before I joined.  So yeah, I was on the gimbal as well. Started still not piloting. And then finally at Misheye, I was like, yes, I'm finally the pilot. 

So that's what happened. But yeah, best memories at Misheye. Um, it's going to be not chronologically, uh, not in a chronological order.  But when we finally, you and I were able to bring FPV on top of standard drones, um, that was, that was a big achievement because I think we'll talk about it in another episode. 

I'm just throwing just little crumbs. Um, but it's, it was a big process to finally bring FPV, which was my hobby, um, to the professional world, especially for Misheye. It's a whole process. Um, but yeah, when, when Christian, uh, finally, oops, finally said, Noilly, we were approved by CASA. I was like, I thought I was going to cry. 

So that, that's a great memory and linked to that, our first FPV, um, assignment together. I was, you know, I was so excited to finally see us because it's again, we're back to dual operation for other reason now to draw people operations. But it's such a good thing to, I've always loved sharing my passion for FPV and teaching new people to fly.

I've Taught lots of my friends and you being part of it. I was just excited. And the fact that we could do that for work, the fact that we can bring this  specific vision that is so different to stand drone vision as well to our clients and partners.  I just thought this is the best thing. I was just smiling the whole time, to be honest.

That's 

great. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Um, so,  So given the knowledge that you have and all the experience, like what, what have, what have you brought to Misheye in terms of the, the drone imagery that we shoot? Like how, how do we, how are we different to any other,  um, company that you've experienced? 

Yeah. I think the good thing at Misheye is that we,  it sounds a bit cheesy cause you interviewing me, but we had you and then, and then we have me, you know?

So the good thing is. I, I had experience in flying and not just the standard drones. So I didn't really get into these details and into the details of this episode, but flying FPV, it's, it teaches you a lot about actual flying. A lot more than standard drones because standard drones are GPS assisted if you let go of, as you know, the sticks, the drone stays where it is.

Whereas when I, what I, how I learned to fly drones is completely manual. It's like if you're comparing an automatic car to a manual car. And so, I feel like, When I joined, I knew how to fly drones manually, which also made me more aware of,  um, environment input, so how the wind does affect you a lot more, how, yeah, the weather in general, what happens if things go wrong, if, you know, signal loss or vision loss, or I 

think, I think a better comparison is self driving cars.

And, yeah, and a manual car. 

Actually, yeah, and that's much, yeah, yeah, and that's true because the drone is definitely closer to like a Tesla. 

Because, yeah, and like the DJI drones, you can just pre program certain routes and it'll fly and shoot itself, shoot stuff itself. But FPV, traditional FPV, 

yeah, 

full manual, just, you got to be on your game and focused all the time, always looking ahead.

And, yeah. 

Yeah, exactly. So that's why I don't want to talk about FPV too much. Cause you know, I wanted to talk about drawings in general in this episode, but it 

was a bit of a tension. So yeah, it was like, uh, like what's,  what makes, what makes us different? Yeah. 

What makes us different is I think we, we.  I was able to give, to give you all the information you needed to, to become  a pilot like me,  because now you're flying FPV, you're flying all the, it's not just FPV, you're flying in all these tricky conditions that we are licensed to at night, um, in, in, indoors, closer to airports, that we'll get into that again in another episode, but you know, um, I've, I was able to work on procedures with you that we, we wrote that Casa approved and transfer all the knowledge I had to someone else who, and that's why I said, well, lucky we had you, who is a great, um, director in terms of imagery.

So not only thanks.  Yeah, that's what I think. So you know, you know what you want, and you know the vision you want. Whereas me when I joined, I knew how to drop to use a drone, you know, and I knew how to put a drone in a certain position. So what happens? I think what what I love at me shy together is we we sort of transferred knowledge to each other.

And you showed me which shots were epic. And And you've learned how to make them happen. And now I know that too. And we do great imagery, not only because we're good pilots, but also because, um, we, we have a good vision of what looks good and what doesn't look good. 

So what makes a good drone shot then?

Oh 

no! You asked me this the other day. I know, 

I did. Um, yes. This is, I feel like this is always personal. I know. As well, because pilots, I like thinking about any type of drone should, whether it's, you know, FPV or standard drone. It's always a little bit of a dance to me. It's art. Um, it's physical art. It's not just, you know, on the ground.

It's, you can, you can be creative with camera movement, but I feel like with a drone, you're evolving in 3d. You're not stuck to 2d anymore. So, I mean, you're still 3d on the ground, but you know what I mean? Like you have all this space. It's more of a dance and What makes a good drone shot, besides technicalities of standard video technicalities, which is, it can't be overexposed, you know, it, it can't be, um, crooked or blurry, that, that's just standard good video, um, technicalities, but, um, drone is more like you need to, to feel, that's why the person  watching the scene, um, through the drone movement  Then gets a feeling.

Um, and I know it's the basic off  camera movements in general. Um, I think it makes me think of your ends. Last time you quickly said also, it's the ability of focusing on what we're showing.  The person, um,  while forgetting that it's a drone doing the movement, but also I feel like what makes a good drone shot is, yeah, if, if while you're doing it, you're having a feeling of hope of all, like, wow.

And then people will watch it and probably, probably will think the same, you know? So, um, And again, it goes, it goes back to me to, to stand, to, to standard, uh, photography or videography rules, which is, uh,  uh, you know, putting the right things in the right spot at the right time and following lines. Um, you can also teach and learn that, but, um,  but you can feel it.

And if you feel it  while doing it, I think that that's also awesome because you're working, but you're also learning.  Loving, enjoying the moment.  

Great answer. 

All right, cool. I've got one more question for you, but just quickly, uh, I just want to thank you so much for doing this episode with me. 

It was good. It was a lot of fun. Um, uh, and for anyone that's listening, uh, just, uh, if you want to subscribe, Uh, please go ahead, uh, film the film crew ahead podcast or whatever platform you're listening to it on.

And if you, if you'd like to give us a review, that'd really help us out. This is, we're only just getting started, but, um, we've got a lot of episodes planned and, um, last question, um, where do you see, uh, uh, what's the future for drones creatively, uh, in general, uh, and with Misheye? 

Ooh, with me shy too.  Um, I'm glad he said creatively because people know that drones these days are everywhere for everything, not just imagery.

It's so helpful for so many people. Um, unfortunately I don't know enough about that bit. So, but creatively, creatively speaking, um,  I. You know, the best example that we have is cinematography in general, movies. Um, and like I said earlier, when drones first happened, people were like, wow, they are. They are cheap helicopters, you know, that's what they are.

So, uh, in the past, um, people in movies would get helicopters to do, you know, orbiting shots and very, very exciting ones, uh, as well. Like if you're thinking of action movies or even just Lord of the Rings,  um, I love Lord of the Rings. So we, I have to talk about it in this podcast,  um, but you probably remember, we 

can talk about Lord of the Rings.

Will you?  

No, but just like a quick tangent, um, I rewatched them every year, the, the trilogy and every year. Yes. Um, but 

wait, wait, wait. Is this the cinematic or the extended versions? 

Uh, I don't have the extended version. Unfortunately, maybe this year it's going to be extended version, but it only clicked.

For me a few years ago that at the time the vision of the helicopter shot that he had Were not only awesome, but also yeah, it was visionary. You know, that's what we try to do with drones now That's what I've done with my FPV drones all the time diving between valleys and things like that and mountains and  Not just standard, you know orbit orbit shots or so  All of these to say that first people so drones as replacement for helicopters, but as the cinematography evolves, and we've seen that in in with ground cameras as well.

Um, you know, before I'm  You probably know, um, when people were passing a camera, usually you track them like this. And recently, with Marvel movies, I've only seen that in Marvel movies, but surely someone else is doing it. We started flipping cameras upside down, and so, you know, people are starting to think creatively with shots like that, even with ground cameras. 

And that's great, because drones can now go hand in hand with thinking outside the box. We're not just replacing helicopters now, we can, we can do new, um, new shots that were not possible before with ground cameras or with helicopters. We can mix them. So one of the first ones that people thought about is, are we going to land a drone?

And as we land, we grab it and then we continue the shot. You know, it, it just, it's surprising in many ways. It just opens. So many possibilities. Um, and not only from a visual perspective, but also, you know, drones are revolving, uh, themselves. Um, they're getting much and much, um, better in terms of performance.

Battery time is just  so nowhere near it was before, you know, to give, to give an idea, I think my first Mavic Pro, which was already a better drone than the older drones by DJI, I think the flight time was 20 minutes. We have one drone at the moment, which is Same quality almost as well. Definitely same quality as the one I used to fly.

The fly time is 45 minutes per battery.  Imagine all the things you can plan and do. Um, as a production company, for example, not just, you know, what we do sometimes some assignments here and there, but if you're planning a whole day of drone shoots, you can be so creative because you're not limited by the flying time.

You know, you can have a shot that lasts for. For five minutes, if you want to, you can get crazy, you can do hyperlapses like we do, you know, which are beautiful in my opinion, and some of our hyperlapses, I don't know about you, but mine lasted once 15 minutes to do it, which would have drained all my battery if it was the old drone.

Yeah, I don't imagine  I actually don't know if there was a hyperlapse feature in some of the first drones because the battery life wasn't long enough. 

Yeah, this as well, and the camera wouldn't have maybe been able to do what it's doing now as well, and the  automatic flight, because you know, hyperlapses, we rely a lot on GPS and stuff.

So maybe the GPS chips was not precise enough to do, I don't know, it's just getting better and better. And so in a nutshell, to answer the question in general, drones future is just about pushing the limits of creativity. Um, like any, any time, you know, we have a new tool, but for me, shy,  um, any links back to one of the questions you asked me before, like what, what makes us a bit different?

Um, I think for me, shy, just the fact we, we having drones, we can now, it just brings more to us as a tool, um, for production work that we want to do. We, we were not. constraint anymore. We're not reduced to ground imagery. We're also air imagery. We can, we can show things in three dimension. And, and so the future of Misheye with drones lies into just expanding capabilities even more and also expanding our ideas, which that's, that's why it's exciting.

Yeah, that's great. 

Yeah. 

Nice. Well, I think, I think that's a wrap for this episode.  Um, thank you so much for joining me, Noellie, and thanks for everyone out there that's listening and watching. Um,  uh,  enough said. 

I think so.  Onto the next one. Yeah. 

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. We'll 

have another one soon. 

Yep. So, uh, yeah.

Catch you next time.