FCHS TV Production has been using a drone to capture the most memorable moments this fall at the school. The cinematic and exaggerated shots show scale, detail, and emotion. The FCHS’s Homecoming 2025 video highlights video was filmed with drone shots, covering school events with an interesting twist.
“The more I use [drones], the more fun it becomes. One thing I enjoy about flying drones is seeing the world from a different perspective, literally,” said drone operator and senior Owen Kaider.
The drone requires work and effort to operate, and can often be a learning experience.
“Using the drone requires obvious things like replacing and charging batteries, but it also requires relative experience with not only flying drones but also with video editing and videography,” said Kaider.
The recordings from the drone are edited and made into videos and content for FCHS students.
“Editing a video takes a pretty long time, depending on the duration of the video. For the Homecoming week video, it took me about three and a half hours to edit, including music, cutting up shots and all final touches. Some take more than others, especially with transitions, effects and other additional things like that. However, ideally when I edit I like to start by chopping up the clips that I recorded or that were recorded for me, and then I go from there. After that, I add music, effects and transitions to make it a little more fancy and less original. Editing is time-consuming and takes skill and concentration, but it is fun,” shared video editor and senior Molly McCall.
Drone shots and edited videos allow students to express their creativity while showcasing the events and special moments of their school.
“There’s some very good advice I’ve heard a million times: ‘Love your work.’ That can mean finding love for it, or doing something you already love,” said Kaider.
The drone content and personalized videos will likely be used for many more FCHS related projects to come, and allow TV Production students to expand their knowledge of video production.
“Honestly when it comes to shots I just sort of go with the flow… getting all different kinds of angles from different points of view, and zooming in and out so that I can make edits with all different kinds of shots,” said McCall.
