How to fly a drone through a bunch of bears

Let's face it, if you want a visual invite to a party at a mansion filled with teddy bears, you're going to want to see the whole thing.

Thankfully, director Jay Christensen and his trusty drone were on hand to capture the collected caniformia in this striking and endlessly impressive promo for Picard Brothers track, Best Of Me.

After making a splash with his incredible Right Up Our Alley one-shot - the breakneck tour of a bowling alley that went seriously viral back in March, catching the eye of James Gunn - Christensen used his new found fame to focus on interesting and demanding jobs, most recently releasing this visual feast.

We were wowed by the incredible camerawork, audacious moves and carefree cuddlies, so caught up with Christensen to hear him drone on.

How did you get involved in the project?

After all the success from the Right Up Our Alley one-shot video back in March, there was a huge influx of requests for collaborations. One of them was from the Picard Brothers. 

We actually went through a bunch of different producers and iterations of the project before we landed on this one in August. We went from a team of producers to just myself and Bryce Wandling with a couple of weeks to go before the due date.

Whose concept was the 'massive house party filled with bears'? What were they drinking?

Our previous concept actually had to get scrapped because of COVID concerns and we got to the point that the video was due in two weeks and there weren’t any concrete concepts. So I called in a duo that are some of my favorite producers/gurus: Noah Ferche and GH Ridpath.

Noah [Ferche] came up with a kernel of an idea that we have a bear walking through a house party looking for his boo bear, and then GH said why not have all the people be bears? 

They joined the project and we met for a happy hour. Noah came up with a kernel of an idea that we have a bear walking through a house party looking for his boo bear, and then GH said why not have all the people be bears? 

2 weeks, an amazing local and 41 bear costumes later, we had our shoot. 

They were all drinking honey by the way :)

What is the prep for a shoot like this? What's the most important aspect to nail?

We called in every favor we had on short notice, and it paid off. The prep was mainly costumes and location, then logically getting all of our friends out to the location which meant we had to have them all get on a bus and take a 45-minute ride. I think they had one hell of a day!

Storyboarding is an important part of the process, but you really don’t know what your flight pattern will look like until you get into the space and all the people are there. 

We were on a time crunch, so we just knew things had to be incredibly organized and we only had a two-hour window of sunlight to shoot. 

Bryce, Noah, and GH killed it with their onsite logistical work.

Can you explain to us, like we're children/idiots, the intricacies of the drone flight? It seems like witchcraft to us.

It’s honestly kind of tough to describe. It’s simple yet complicated at the same time? 

You need to have some awareness of how drones actually work, which is essentially a remote control car that can fly. If you can run a remote control car, you can fly a drone. The big difference maker is how well you can visualize your flight path. 

Storyboarding is an important part of the process, but you really don’t know what your flight pattern will look like until you get into the space and all the people are there. 

I always try to get into that flow state and challenge myself each time to try something new. I imagine if I were the wind or a bird, what would I want to see? How would I fly around these obstacles? 

It’s all about being fearless.

How was the shoot itself? Any issues?

The shoot went amazingly, and all our bears did such an awesome job being at their locations at the right time. 

We had five total takes over a two-hour period. Three successful runs and then two crashes (the crashes are very anti-climactic, not like a car crash or whatever).

Are there any aspects of the film that might not be noticed on first glance, but that you're particularly proud of?

I mean, it’s all one take. We’ve had a lot of people ask where all the cuts are and they are shocked to hear it’s one singular take. 

I think the second most commented thing is the Honey Bartender serving up some fresh honey. I actually had one of my good friends who owns a honey farm come down and be in the shoot, so that was a really fun experience.