Secret of the impossible drone shot revealed

Scroll to the bottom of this blog post for Conor McNamara's video about how he filmed some amazing shots at the World Cup. Better still, read Marc Settle's account of what's so impressive about Conor's work and especially what he's been sending back from Russia before you watch how Conor did it. 

I’ve trained hundreds of BBC staff on how to use smartphones for news or social media but I can’t keep tabs on everything they do with the training unless I catch their output by chance or they let me know.

BBC Sport’s Conor McNamara is high-profile enough for me to see his work on the BBC News Channel or on the BBC Sport website. He’s also good at telling me when he’s done something that might interest me.

He’s become one of the best at the BBC in using a smartphone to go above and beyond his official duties, as commentator for Radio 5 Live or Match of the Day. He’s getting great value from his smartphone and giving great value to the online audience and his followers on social media.

His content ranges from the moderately simple - using an app to drain the colour apart from one element in a photo to the more advanced – a multi-frame video app, to tell a story quickly and informatively, to the very impressive – a match preview with moving graphics.

And he does it all himself! Which proves that mobile journalism is a craft that more BBC staff with high-end iPhones really ought to be doing.

But his latest is something else. As I write, he’s working hard in Russia at the World Cup. (Some might not consider commentating on football in the best seat in the house hard work, but there’s more to it than just turning up five minutes before kick-off …apparently.)

Recently Conor shared something he’d made which left me open-mouthed in wonder, confusion and respect - as I had no idea how he’d done it.

The first time I saw his latest creation, a static image that moved around him and his BBC colleagues in Russia, I wondered if he was using a drone. But then I had second thoughts: how could he use a drone inside a Russian stadium, and besides, that couldn’t capture a static image, could it?

And then Conor took it up a notch. You really need to watch this and see if you can guess how it was done (the text and graphics were added by 5 Live colleagues).

Now, the big reveal

Conor has kindly let us in on the secret in this special video he’s made for the BBC Academy – between his World Cup duties. Watch and be amazed: 

If you’d like to find out more about how Conor juggles his social media work with the other demands of his working day, then his comments at this meeting of the European Broadcasting Union in Geneva are worth watching.

While Conor’s 360 videos and “bullet-time” photos may not be right for everyone, they do show what can be done with a bit of effort, a sprinkling of expertise and a whole lot of enthusiasm.

BBC Academy’s smartphone training

For BBC staff: book at place on the smartphone for News course

For BBC staff: Marc Settle’s online course on smartphone journalism