One of my dad’s friends started a company that makes drones, and they reached out to us because they were shooting a commercial and wanted me to be an actor. It was a commercial for using drones to teach people about coding. I don’t really know any more specifics, but it was a really cool experience never less. I arrived by subway in the morning, went through a side door, up some stairs, and into quite a big room. There were two other actors (all older than me, probably 18 or so), a cameraman, and a director. My dad’s friend and some other people from the company were also there to help.

How it went down

First, they set up some points on the floor the drone to detect (it’s one of the few times I’ve seen a real drone), and also taped the company logo on the floor so it could be seen in the shooting. Then the director shot some scenes, one of them included walking forward with a drone following me (it was a little scary!). Sometimes the three of us had a scene together, sometimes only two or one of us. I had a lot of free time when they were shooting scenes without me or preparing, which I spent downloading and playing games on my phone. We ate lunch together, and I got back home around dinner.

What I learned

This served as some good real-world experience for me. Now I know the basics of what it takes to film something (the director is very important), maybe when I start a business someday this knowledge will come in handy! I also learned a lot about drones! How they are controlled, how they turn, how they move, and how their sensors work.