For three talented drone photographers, Halloween proved to be a real treat after their tricked-out videos won the 2019 Skypixel Short Film Contest on Friday.

Sponsored by DJI and Skypixel, the sixth annual contest paid out nearly $50,000 worth of drone photography equipment. Skypixel is DJI’s social-media/sharing platform for aerial photographers, videographers and enthusiasts and has attracted more than 10 million registered users.

Launched in 2014, the film contest has drawn more than 150,000 annual submissions and this year was no exception.

Aerial artists compete in three categories, submitting a three-minute film using any gimbal or camera products – although most entries used DJI Osmo or Ronin merchandise. Including the three top categories, there are 100 winners total.

“DJI has redefined how people capture stable video for all of life’s moments. The compact size, portability and powerful imaging system of our Osmo and Ronin series have also made it possible for anyone to take their creativity and inspirations to the next level,” said Basile David, DJI Director of Brand and Content Partnerships, in a press release earlier this year.

“With this contest, we hope to encourage more people to embrace and share their own creative way of storytelling.”

The winning trio each took home a Ronin-SC Pro Combo, an Osmo Action, a WD My Passport Wireless SSD – 2TB and 800 points-SkyPixel Gold Badge.

And the winners are …

Category: Make Your Move

Excessively Cool Way to Eat Hamburgers

Winner: Crazy Okinawa (team – Japan) using DJI Osmo Action

The category is described by DJI: “Create a video showcasing the stabilized footage from your device.”

 

Category: Big Moments Start Small

Lost in Lisbon

Winner: Victor Metron (Portugal) using Osmo Pocket

“Create a video showcasing the small, lightweight design of your camera device and your best cinematic scenes.”

“Every shot in this video is filmed with the Osmo Pocket,” Victor said. “I placed the Osmo Pocket on two monopods for drone-like shots. Davinci Resolve helped a lot in removing all the noise from all those high ISO shots. I was blown away to see how clean the image turned out from such a tiny camera at night lighting.”

 

Category: Adventure Starts With You

Power of Music

Winner: Mikhail Bro (Lithuania) using Ronin series

“Create a short, cinematic narrative film to showcase your creative skills and visual effects.”

“No matter what difficulties haunt you, music is what helps you in difficult times, music is what inspires you, what makes you fly through trouble, just listen to your favorite track, and everything will pass,” Mikhail said.