Drone Shot List Template
Aerial filming is limited by battery, not by imagination. Three batteries is roughly 45 minutes in the air, and unplanned flying burns it fast. A shot list is what turns three flights into a usable sequence rather than a lot of similar-looking footage.
Run the pre-flight checks first. Every one of them has grounded someone.
The shot list
Pre-flight
Check all of these before you leave, not on site.
- 01Airspace and restrictions checked for the location
- 02Permissions obtained where required
- 03Batteries charged, all of them
- 04Firmware current and cards formatted
- 05Weather and wind checked for the window
- 06Home point set and RTH altitude above local obstacles
- 07Take-off and landing area cleared
Standard moves
These six cover most aerial needs. Fly each one slower than feels natural.
- 08High establishing wide of the whole location
- 09Slow orbit around the subject
- 10Reveal — rise from behind an obstacle to expose the subject
- 11Pull-back — subject centred, flying backwards to show context
- 12Top-down at altitude, static
- 13Top-down moving along a line — road, river, coast
Dynamic moves
- 14Fly-through a gap, gate, or between structures
- 15Follow a moving subject — vehicle, boat, person
- 16Low fast pass over a surface
- 17Rising tilt-down, from ground level to high angle
- 18Parallax move past a foreground object
Coverage
- 19Every hero move flown twice, at different speeds
- 20The same establishing shot at two times of day
- 21Vertical-crop-safe versions of the key moves
- 22Extra seconds at the start and end of every clip
Tips for this kind of shoot
- Fly everything slower than feels right. Aerial footage almost always looks better at half the speed you flew it.
- Every hero move twice. Batteries are cheaper than a return trip.
- Land with reserve. Chasing one more shot on a low battery is how drones get lost.
Use this list on your next shoot
Storeyz keeps your shots in story order for planning and regroups them by location for the day — then you tick them off on your phone as you get them.
Questions
How many drone shots do I need for a property or location film?
Six to ten distinct moves usually covers it — an establishing wide, an orbit, a reveal, a pull-back, a top-down and a fly-through, each flown twice. That fits comfortably in three batteries if you plan it.