From Drone Flight to Final Cut: A Day in the Life of a Shoot

What Actually Happens Between Booking and Going Live

Most clients see two things: the booking confirmation and the delivery link. What happens in between is a tightly choreographed process that we've refined across dozens of Rochester properties. Here's the full picture.

The Night Before: Pre-Flight Planning

Every shoot starts the evening before. We check weather forecasts (wind speed matters more than rain for FPV work), pull NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions) for the property's airspace, and file our flight plan. Rochester sits near several controlled airspace zones — we handle all authorizations through the FAA LAANC system automatically.

We also review the property satellite view, plan our flight path, and identify the hero angles we want to hit based on the home's orientation and the time of day.

On-Site: The Shoot Itself

We arrive 15 minutes early to set up ground controls and walk the property. The exterior drone sequence comes first — typically 20–30 minutes covering the approach reveal, facade, backyard, and neighborhood context. We capture multiple angles so editing has options.

The interior 360° walkthrough follows — roughly 30–40 minutes depending on home size. We capture each room with our 360° camera on a monopod, ensuring every corner is covered and the transition flow between rooms is logical for the virtual tour viewer.

Post-Production: Where It Comes Together

Back at the edit suite, the drone footage goes through color grading in DaVinci Resolve — we match the look to the interior 360° captures so the combined experience feels unified. Stabilization passes smooth any micro-vibrations. The final cut runs 60–90 seconds, cut to music, with a vertical 9:16 version extracted for Reels and TikTok.

• Color grade: 2–3 hours
• 360° stitching and tour build: 1–2 hours
• Still extraction from 4K footage: 30 minutes
• Quality check and upload: 30 minutes

Delivery: 48 Hours Flat

You receive an email with: your branded tour link, your unbranded tour link, the video file for MLS upload, a 9:16 vertical reel file, and your step-by-step Zillow upload guide. Morning shoots often deliver the same evening. Everything is ready to post immediately.