The Kite Runner :
Flying-Cam heading east with DreamWorks

Production : DreamWorks Pictures
Country : USA / China

While many Hollywood filmmakers are venturing into China, Flying-Cam has been anticipating their needs establishing a local Close Range Aerial Filming Team since 2005. DreamWorks The Kite Runner did used the Flying-Cam II helicopters based in Hong Kong, Cyberport, for both 35mm Motion Picture and VFX digital high resolution stills.

The Kite Runner, adapted from the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini, narrates a story commenced in the peaceful Afghanistan in 1970s, when the two childhood friends Amir and Hassan built up their unbreakable bond through kite flying. A good proportion of the movie was shot in Xinjiang Province, the Western part of China. The City of Kashgar has provided a safe solution for Kite to simulate scenes in Kabul, Afghanistan. Although this Far Eastern location is still a stranger to many people in Hollywood, Flying-Cam has already acquire a lot of experience shooting in extreme and remote location in Main Land China.

Flying kite 35mm motion picture POV with the First Unit team.
It is in Kashgar that the Flying-Cam System was drove in after air transportation to Urumqi. By souring into the sky, the aerial camera had to render the swiftness of a fighting kite. A previsualization had to be mimic with a precise timing. Directed by Marc Forster, the Flying-Cam tilted down from the sky to discover mountains in a far distance, then glided down towards a fort and a hill, and finally revealed the two friends competing in the tournament. Under the supervision of the DP, Roberto Schaefer, a rough rendering of the final effect was made visible using the video assist footage coming from the Flying-Cam.

Canon EOS-1 DS Mk II for the VFX team.
To strengthen the sense of reality, the Flying-Cam team also worked closely with the special effect team. Loaded with the Canon EOS-1 DS Mark II, the remote controlled helicopters took about 300 raw tiles for terrain texture mapping.

4.000m / 12.000 ft.
For a transition shot chasing the picture car crossing the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Flying-Cam was sent to Taxkorgan, the "Roof of the World", perched on the border between China and Tajikistan in the Himalayans mountains chain. At 4075m above sea level and + 7,5 degree Celsius, where the crew had a hard time breathing, the Flying-Cam II flew successfully braking its altitude record: with the 35mm motion picture camera fully loaded (60m of film) and a Cooke 18 mm lens, vertical climb out of ground effect was still achievable.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/thekiterunner/
 Pictures
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