Drift: Passenger Shoots Striking Short Film Out of Airplane Window

Filmmaker Tim Sessler got a little bored on his flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, to Philadelphia. He says: “After reading through the in-flight magazine, the Sky Mall and the airplane security details from front to back, upside down and backwards, I felt it was the right moment to pull out my camera” and start taking aerial footage of the cross-country voyage. The camera? It’s a Canon 5d mk3 with a 24-105mm and Nikon 50mm 1.2 lens (Tim tells us).  The challenge? To keep the camera stable, using his knee, the seat, the window, etc., “while avoiding any vibration that would create some nasty rolling-shutter-wobble.” A good deal more stabilization took place in post-production. When you’re done watching Drift, you can check out Sessler’s prior attempt at shooting aerial art here.

via Mefi


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Comments (8)
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  • Beautiful- Loved the whole nostalgic/haunting feel of the movie and the music. Amazing that you did this from an airplane.

  • Lorna McLearie says:

    I was a flight attendant for many years and you captured those moments of silence on a flight. You are not connected to anyone and lose yourself in the aerial view. You did an amazing job translating those emotions and as another reviewer said it was ” haunting” and the music beautiful in a meditative way.

  • Tim Sessler says:

    Thanks a lot for those great comments. It means a lot to get such a positive feedback!!

    PS: Just a side not – it wasn’t shot on the 7D but a 5d mk3 with 24-105mm and Nikon 50mm 1.2 lens. Not that it really matters, just thought I should mention it :)

  • Sebastian says:

    Wonderful – as a traveler I often drift away myself as I view the earth from the sky – it’s pretty magical and you caught it so well. As Stephanie above says, the nostalgic haunting feel so perfect, if feels almost otherworldly. It almost reminds me of the feel of many of the russian director Tarkovsky’s work.

  • JPM7791 says:

    What’s the music?

  • Dan Colman says:

    Hi Tim,

    Thanks for the info on the camera. It’s updated in the post!

    Nice work!
    Dan

  • Bruce Bethany says:

    Sebastian and Lorna’s comments read/sound like shill promos posted by a friend or publicist.

  • Jane grace says:

    Bruce Bethany- I am not a publicist or know Tim Sessler. I do know good photography and when someone has uncommon creative talent.nnIt is that simple.

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