Drone operator/drone pilot in Vietnam for hire

Many filming crews/production companies from abroad want to hire drone/fly cam operator/pilot in Vietnam for their shoot. It’s just easier than bringing drone op from their country/outside of Vietnam to Vietnam.

Pros of hiring drone pilot in Vietnam:

You don’t need to pay for plane tickets for drone pilot to come to Vietnam

If local/Vietnamese drone op lives in the same city/place where the shoot happens, you don’t need to pay for accommodation.

Vietnamese drone op is already familiar with the locations so it’s easier to fly.

Applying for drone permit under Vietnamese drone op’s name is easier than applying under a foreign company/drone pilot’s name.

Also, at certain locations in Vietnam, a drone with foreign IP address may not be able to fly, but a drone with Vietnamese IP address would be able to fly.

Cons of hiring drone operator in Vietnam:

The biggest issue with Vietnamese drone pilot could be:

+ Language barrier: not all Vietnamese drone pilot speaks English or a foreign language.

=> Solution: Vietnamese drone pilots who can speak English, or we can arrange a foreign drone pilot living in Vietnam who can speak English, or we can arrange a translator/fixer to translate between you and the drone op.

+ You never worked with the drone operator in Vietnam before and don’t know what to expect.
=> Solution: we only work with the best and hard-working drone op. We will send you their show reel so you know the quality of work.

Cost to hire drone pilot in Vietnam depends on many factors:

type of the drone to use: Mavic 2, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic Air, Mavic Air 2s, Phantom, Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic 3 cine, Inspire 2, FPV, etc.
Many drone ops don’t own all kinds of drone, and they are more familiar with few kind of drones than the other. When drone op doesn’t own certain drone, then they need to rent that drone which would increase cost. But if the type of drone you need is what drone pilot has, the cost will be lower.
aerial shots only or orthoimage

script and requirements: depends on the requirements of the project, if it’s easy and difficult that it would require different skill set of drone op and would cost different price.

timing and location: Depend on the requirements, drone op may need to wake up earlier and work later to catch sunrise/sunset. And sometimes drone op needs to fly the drone at some places with high risks such as river, ocean, water surface, mountainous area, crowded cities, factory with a lot of metal. There would be more risks flying the drone in those area.

how many days that Client need the service: the more number of days that Client need the service, the better price that we can give.

demand and availability: though it’s not a big factor, demand and availability can affect the cost.

Tasks of Vietnamese drone operator:

Read the script to understand what director wants to film by the drone.

Setting camera’s resolution as requirements from director/producer. For example:

Camera	Preferred resolution	Timebase	Recording format	Image pipeline colour space/ Gamma curve
Mavic 2	3840 x 2160 Preferrably in HQ mode (although this does crop the sensor)	25p/30p	HEVC/H265	D-Log M
Phantom 4 Pro	3840 x 2160	25p/30p	H265	D-Log

Take as many shots as possible according to director’s instruction and their own creativity: going slowly to enjoy the view, get as many details as possible, or going really fast; turn a circle around the object, going up and down, etc