An incredible FPV drone video recently swooped through Tesla’s new Giga Factory in Berlin – here’s how the viral short was made.
Perhaps it’s a post-lockdown yearning for bird-like freedom, but FPV (First-Person View) drones are having a moment. Over the past two years, we’ve seen several FPV-powered videos go viral, from bowling alleys fly-throughs (opens in new tab) to dives over the Angel Falls (opens in new tab) – and the latest to hit soaring social media heights was this week’s incredible swooping tour of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin. FPV drones are known for their agility, but what set the Tesla video apart from other recent hits is its genuine sense of danger. During the three-minute video (below), you squeeze through ‘Giga Press’ machines, and experience a real sense of flying through a living, breathing factory. So how exactly do you create a video like this? We caught up with its maker, Ferdinand Wolf, to find out what went into the creation of this falcon-like tour of Tesla’s sci-fi Giga Berlin facility. Naturally, you need some black-belt FPV and editing skills to pull off some of these moves, which Ferdinand Wolf has earned in his roles at aerial filmmakers Skynamic and drone king DJI. But we also quizzed him about how he earned his FPV badges and how you can start on your own FPV journey, too. The complexity of the Tesla Giga Factory video gave us visions of painstakingly-constructed replica models, like Dr Emmett Brown’s plywood town square in Back to the Future, and towers of risk assessment forms. But the reality was actually a lot simpler. “We had one scouting day, where we checked the different locations and already did some test flights,’ explains Ferdinand Wolf. “On location, we then planned the shots rather run-and-gun style, which was only possible because of the amazing support of all the Tesla Gigafactory employees. Everybody there was super supportive and tried to help us as much as possible to get our shots,” he adds. Naturally, some in-depth research was needed before attempting shots in The Terminator-style hydraulic presses. “Because some of those shots have never been done before, like flying through the Giga Press and Stamping Machine, we had to understand how the machines work and where we can fly without risking the machines and drones,” he explains. So which drones risked their lives in the name of incredible FPV footage? Ferdinand Wolf used two types of drone; one for the indoor videos and another for the external shots of the facility.
