Here's the Fastest Way to Make Money with Your Drone
Want to start earning cash with your drone? Here's how to do it.
QuickAssTutorials from Alexander has been around for a while on YouTube, but the last two years, the guy has been crushing it. We love the channel because it's straight content without any unnecessary intros, wasted breath, or bullshit. He'll generally tell you what you need to know within the first few minutes and then the rest is a potpourri of useful information that you can add to your repertoire.
One of his recent videos is about how to make money with your drone, and the advice is spot on.
He says to make a town reel and then dives into how to do it, who's looking for the content, why staying local matters, and how to create a reel. It's sage advice every filmmaker should know, even production companies not in the drone game. Check it out.
Make a Town Reel
It's just that simple. If you live in a city there are going to be real estate investors, developers, and local organizations that will need stock footage of the town.
While there are plenty of sites dedicated to selling stock footage, they may not offer something as localized as you can. Take Austin, Texas, for example. It's a fairly large city of 3 million people, but if you search Austin Texas skyline on Google, not many videos appear. If you start ranking near the top of Google with your own drone footage, people will start to notice.
And it doesn't just have to be large metropolitan areas. Just outside of Austin are San Marcos and College Station, two cities with notable colleges, Texas State and Texas A&M. You could easily create a sizzle reel of the campuses (if legally permitted) that they might end up using for their own admission purposes.
Alexander points out that when creating your town reel, it's best to feature five to six of the best spots, neighborhoods, and iconic spots. And be sure to grab sunsets.
Do Your Research First
When flying a drone, it's important to make sure you are flying it legally. Don't fly it over places you know you can't or in parks where drones are not permitted.
When trying to figure out what to film in your city, Alexander suggests searching Pinterest and Google images to see what people are interested in seeing. Then take that information and go capture it with some awesome, buttery smooth shots. Then when uploading to YouTube, be sure to label it with keywords so it ranks better within search.
How to Make a Reel
Alexander says the most important thing you need to do is validate yourself as quickly as possible. So what does this mean?
Essentially it means skip the boring stuff that everyone has already seen before. Create something unique that's going to resonate with the viewer. If it's the same tired-ass beach with waves crashing, it's not going to be interesting. Use your environment, lighting, and camera angles to illustrate a fresh perspective. While Alexander suggests hyperlapses are a good way to separate your footage from the pack, you can also make quick cuts of your best stuff to draw the viewer in and then finish your edit with longer takes.
What do you think of QuickAssTutorials' advice about making money? Any experience? Let the community know in the comments below.
