Firm set to scale new heights

A Bermuda-based aerial video production firm is poised to expand its operation to Canada.

EJ Burrows and Connor Burns both conceived the idea of a production company that uses drones — devices that resemble mini-helicopters — in 2011.

“We started looking online and saw some people building their own Frankenstein with Go-Pro cameras in the air,” said Mr Burrows, a 25 year-old who grew up in Pembroke and currently is a project manager for Island Engineering. 

“We started buying little remote-controlled helicopters. After a couple months, they started coming out with a ready-to-go commercial model.”

The company is now launching an affiliate in Calgary, Alberta, where they will begin filming in August. Burrows is leaving his job to move to Canada to work in video production full-time.

Here, the drone business is a part-time gig for Mr Burrows. In Calgary, however,  he has plans to blossom the business into a full time endeavour.

The need for the product, he says, is there. His group is now considering investors to help launch the Canadian affiliate, he said.

“There are investors who are interested, but we have to decide how big of a chunk of the company we want to give away. We haven’t decided that yet,” he said.

The sizable Canadian oil and gas industry can use aerial video production to scope out pipelines and powerlines as well as get extensive imaging of things like open pit mines.

“We’ve been in contact with quite a few people in Calgary and Alberta, and in general they all say it’s a great idea and they’re just waiting for someone to come up and do it,” he said.

When the duo first launched the operation here in Bermuda, they needed to secure an aerial work certificate, issued by the Department of Civil Aviation. 

It turns out any business that involves aerial machines is tightly regulated in Bermuda. There’s also a written test, a flight skills test, and drone operators are required to supply authorities with flight operations manuals. Insurance is also necessary.

They need permission from property owners in terms of where they can take off and land, but there aren’t any rules against taking photos of people’s property, although Mr Burrows said they’re not interested in capturing images of properties where they aren’t wanted.

In early 2013 they secured the necessary licence and insurance that allowed them to do commercial aerial work. Bermuda Aerial Media was off the ground.

Currently, they’re the only company on the island that uses drones for commercial video and photography production.

They’ve done 3-D photogrammetry of quarries and buildings — that’s where the drone circles an area and captures images, which are uploaded to a computer program, which then maps a 3-D model of the area.

They’ve also used drones to capture images of local real estate that’s on the market. At first, realtors did not know what to make of the technology, but now  Bermuda Aerial Media are contracted by some of the largest realtors on the island to capture images of properties that are hitting the market, according to Mr Burrows.

They’ve done videography for Island Games, May 24 and most recently, a rugby union exhibition.  They worked with a contractor who was crafting a marketing video for Apple. Currently, they’re working on Neil Burnie’s television show Ocean Vet.

The business won the award from the BEDC for the most innovative new business in Bermuda, which enabled them to travel to Moscow in March for an international entrepreneurial convention. 

Earlier this year, Mr Burrows and Mr Burns, who works locally as an engineer, expanded the operation, adding Bermudians Janos Lindsay and John Manderson as a second pilot and a second cameraman, respectively.  Now, their eyes are set on Canada.

“The drone industry is booming right now and although we are definitely not one of the biggest companies around offering drone services, with the fact that we are fully licensed and insured and expanding internationally, I definitely think we are doing something noteworthy,” said Mr Burrows.