Want to Feel Like You're Flying with Jets? Watch This Stunning Air Reel

Alright, it might look like two minutes of promotional flight footage for airlines or the military -- and it is promotional footage -- but when you see how stunning the aerial cinematography is in Wolfe Air's latest reel, you might be able to overlook this.

Wolfe Air, whose work you've probably already seen before in films like "Transformers," "Iron Man," "Space Cowboys" and "Air Force One," among many others in its long list of clientele, used a Vectorvision camera system with Red Epic and Arriflex Alexa cameras on a LearJet 25 to capture the footage.

Perhaps you've never thought about how footage like this is actually filmed. (Image via Vimeo video screenshot)

In addition to the technology on board, the Wolfe Air's aircraft flies in close formation to capture the footage. (Image via Vimeo video screenshot)

A plane being refueled midair. (Image via Vimeo video screenshot)

In addition to Hollywood clients, the company has shot film for government agencies and businesses as well. (Image via Vimeo video screenshot)

FStoppers went into a lengthy discussion about the technology in these systems that allows them to capture the movie-quality footage midair, but here's just a snippet:

As most of us know, shooting out of a plane window is nigh impossible due to the double plexiglass, the fact that they’re tiny, and that they’re usually scratched and cause flaring. To overcome this, Wolfe Air has come up with a few solutions to the problem. They’ve custom built and installed camera pods that are affixed to the nose, belly, or wings of the plane as necessary. These house cameras on a gimbal and gyroscopic system. The gimbal allows the camera to rotate unimpeded, and can track objects as they pass in front, behind, or beside the plane. The gyros are one of the most critical components of this system, and are really what create professional results. They’ll fight as hard as they can to keep the camera in the same place using a system of rapidly spinning flywheels. These gyroscopic systems smooth out the insane amount of vibration and instability that a camera hanging outside of an aircraft will experience.

Watch the awesome footage:

(H/T: Digg)

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