Skyhook Media Ltd, which uses highly manoeuvrable radio-controlled helicopter cameras to achieve dramatic aerial HD videos and stills, is expanding into the world of golf club marketing.
The company was born when London-based director and camera operator Chris Bates, who has a passion for innovative camera work, saw the potential that aerial camera rigs can have for storytelling and marketing purposes.
“I was always interested in how certain movie shots were made, which involved the camera moving in unconventional ways”, Bates explains. “Now, by teaming new technology with advanced aircraft piloting skills, dynamic aerial shots – until recently only accessible to big budget film productions – have now become far more affordable.”
Among the film shoots and commercials, golf club marketing is now becoming a focus of the business. “We know our services can bring a huge amount of value to this sector,” adds Bates. “In addition to providing smooth video fly-overs of each hole, which really show off the course’s typography, we can present a slick presentation of the whole club, so that prospective members feel like they are getting a comprehensive tour – all from their computer, tablet or smart phone.
The result is a highly effective marketing tool which puts the club head and shoulders above the competition, at a time when every potential customer’s view of a product or service is strongly influenced by the quality of the content on its website.”
Bates heads up a team which complements his film set experience and eye for detail as a camera operator. Chief pilot Paul Burton’s advanced flying skills and technical know-how come from years spent building and flying acrobatic radio-controlled helicopters, in addition to a career as an Apple systems IT engineer. The team’s second pilot, and keen golfer, James Coulter, brings a lifetime’s passion for model flight and aviation, and over a decade’s ‘real plane’ experience, flying across the globe as a Gulfstream 550 private jet pilot.
Since launching in mid-2013, Skyhook Media’s work has included ski and music festivals in Austria, prime real estate promotion in the South East, film shoots across the UK, and corporate productions for Southern Water. GBN.com readers people can click through to the website to see a sample of some fly-throughs at Farnham Golf Club in Hampshire.
Skyhook is now taking golf bookings for Spring/Summer 2014.
Skyhook www.skyhook.tv