Filming with drones: What you need to know

Our very own drone enthusiast Charles Miller discovers that there's plenty to think about when filming with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones as they are better known. In this podcast, Charles is joined by experienced drone pilot Mya Padget and BBC series producer Graham Cooper, who uses drones for his documentaries.

We find out why you may want to use a drone for your shoot and what you need to do before you can even get it into the air. We take questions from you, including how badly drones are affected by the weather, and cover the training you'll need, CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) accreditation, legal implications and health and safety considerations, including the need to recce your site.

Mya talks about "valuable consideration". That's the legal term that makes you a commercial operator as opposed to an amateur. As Mya says "working commercially as a drone operator doesn't just mean working on a BBC documentary. If you shoot drone footage and monetise it on YouTube, or film footage for selling a friend's house and they later buy you a drink, that may count as valuable consideration".

Will getting shots from a drone add to your story or not? We look at the editorial issues you'll need to think about before using a drone. As Graham says, the story is "first and foremost, then how will you get the shots for the story. Drones are just another tool to do this".

And finally, if you're keen on flying and filming with drones, Mya suggests you go out and buy an amateur micro-drone as "if you can fly that, you can fly anything". Graham suggests you need to think about what the shots you are after and then find a good drone flying team. And Mya tells us how you can get drone shots in a built up area such as London without having to fly it at all…

Mya Padget is a licensed commercial drone operator and co-director of Stronholt Film Productions. Her aerial film work has ranged from being an aerial director and camera and gimbal operator for a supermarket advert to filming floods in Oxfordshire as a drone pilot for BBC South Today.

Graham Cooper is a series producer and director for the BBC who has used drones in his productions, including Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week, David Dimbleby's Britain and the Sea and Royal Wives at War.