Service · FPV
FPV drone filming, London
First-person-view drones fly where a gimbal drone can’t: through doorways, under bridges, inches from a car, and out the window in a single take. We’ve been flying FPV on commercials, music videos and film since it became a serious production tool.
What FPV actually gives you
A conventional camera drone is a slow, stable tripod in the sky. An FPV drone is a camera you can throw. Flown in acro mode with the pilot wearing goggles, it can accelerate to motorway speeds, stop dead, dive vertically and thread gaps barely wider than the frame itself. The result is a single continuous shot that a crane, cable-cam and Steadicam together couldn’t build — and it gets that shot in one or two passes instead of a day of rigging.
It works best when the shot needs momentum: a fly-through that links interior and exterior, a chase that stays on a runner or a car, a reveal that starts in a room and ends above the building, a tour of a venue or a set in one uninterrupted move. If the brief says “one take” or “impossible”, that’s usually an FPV job.
When it isn’t the right tool
We’ll tell you when it isn’t. FPV rigs carry a small cinema camera or action camera, so if you need a long lens, heavy glass or long hovering holds, our conventional aerial unit — DJI Inspire series and heavy-lift platforms — is the better answer. Most of our shoots use both: the Inspire for the establishing work, the FPV rig for the moments that need to move.
Interiors, close proximity and people
Flying close to people, in confined spaces and in congested areas is where experience matters more than kit. Every FPV job is planned around a risk assessment, a rehearsed flight line and a clear stop protocol with the 1st AD. For interiors we fly small, guarded “cinewhoop” rigs that are designed to work at arm’s length from talent; for exteriors and speed we fly larger freestyle and long-range frames. Our pilots are GVC qualified and operate under CAA authorisation, so the paperwork side — permissions, insurance, notifying the right people — is handled before anyone arrives on set.
How we work on the day
You’ll get a pilot and a spotter, the rigs appropriate to the shots, spare batteries and props for a full day, and a monitor feed so the director sees exactly what the goggles see. We rehearse the line low and slow, then build up speed. Turnaround is fast: FPV rigs are small, so a location move or a re-set takes minutes, not hours.
We also prep and grade FPV footage in-house if you want it delivered cut-ready, and we can handle stabilisation for shots where a slightly softer feel suits the edit better than the raw energy of the flight.
Who we’ve flown for
FPV work by Stem Studios has appeared in campaigns and films for Nike, Skepta, FKA twigs, Netflix, Sky Sports and a long list of production companies including Somesuch, Pulse Films, Partizan and Iconoclast. The full archive, sortable by year and client, is on the work page.