The DJI Spark is one of the most attractive options out there for people who want to get into aerial photography and videography. However, when getting into this whole new world, it may be overwhelming to learn everything about the genre. Casey Faris created a short five minute long tutorial to help you out making your Spark’s footage look better.
The first advice given by Faris is to start by slowing down the footage. As shown in the video above, the Spark shoots at 29.97 frames per second. Bringing it down to 23.976 will your clips look more smooth and cinematic. The change is easily done with any video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
Then, you may have already noticed, but the tiny drone footage can be somewhat choppy to play back even if your PC configuration is robust. Before you throw your computer through the window, try either transcoding your files, render each clip, or use a proxy workflow. Just be sure that after trying one of these solutions, your footage is still in 23.976 fps if you changed it before.
While you’re still in your video editing software of choice, be sure to color grade your files. I know, the Spark files aren’t the best out there. They are quite saturated and contrasty, far from being a raw file or even just a sequence shot with a neutral color profile. But it doesn’t matter, you can still tweak it to make it more enjoyable to watch.
Finally, his last piece of advice is to avoid any jerky movement. This should be done while shooting but sometimes it’s hard to keep the drone stable and all the movements completely smooth. So when reviewing your footage and editing your timeline, be sure to cut out any movement that doesn’t look natural or smooth.
For more tips on how to edit your DJI Spark footage, be sure to check Casey Faris' $29 course. It may be just you've been missing to take your films to the next level.
