How to Edit Drone Footage

So you just went out and recorded some sweet drone footage. You may realize it looks absolutely nothing like the video posted above and resembles more of a piece of shaky handheld garbage. Well we are gonna fix that right up. First and foremost you need to realize what you are shooting when you are shooting it. You need to hold a shot for at least 10 seconds, with very slow and limited movement. Trust me you will thank yourself later that you did this as you will most likely end up trimming it to fit the actual shot you need. Longer than 10 seconds is even better but make sure you take it slow when flying. Once you have achieved the footage look you want, bring it into Premiere Pro and drop warp stabilizer on it. Below is the settings you use to achieve the proper stabilization and cropping of the footage.

This will smooth out the footage but you may have noticed the fish eye effect either from your drone camera or a GoPro. To get rid of this drop a lens distortion video effect on your footage and play with it around the -21 threshold until your footage horizon is straight. You can then rotate the video as you see fit to have it even in your composition. Finally bring the footage into after effects and add some flare in color correction. Magic Bullet looks yields great fast results if you are unsure how to color correct. Have fun with your new sexy drone footage!