The brief...
To produce a high-energy FPV style drone video to showcase the New Jackson neighbourhood. The aim was to present New Jackson as a connected, modern place to live, linking lifestyle, convenience, and access to Manchester City Centre
Key requirements were to clearly feature:
- Manchester connectivity
- Existing Deansgate Square operators
- Upcoming commercial spaces
- Local amenities, parks, and services
- A lifestyle tone, not construction-led visuals
Operators to feature included General Store, Kouba, Kitten, Atomeca, Flourish, Chit ‘n’ Chaat, Food Sorcery, Deansgate Dental Studio, CLNQ, plus the upcoming Studio34 (The Blade) and the Medlock Canteen. Additional locations included New Jackson Park, Deansgate Square Dog Park, New Jackson Car Park, New Jackson Medical Centre, and CS Primary School
The result...
The video opens at sunrise, cutting in the same direction to a 70mm aerial looking down over Deansgate Square. This establishes the first key area and sets the scale of the neighbourhood. FPV takes over, moving through the space and introducing amenity and operator locations in a continuous flow. A wide top-down shot slides across the roadside operators. The DJI Avata 360 follows, moving through and around these spaces, orbiting and reframing to hold focus on active commercial fronts while avoiding surrounding construction
A 70mm shot moves the video from Deansgate Square towers across to the Three60, The Blade, and Crown Street Towers. The Deansgate Square skyscrapers remain in frame to anchor the connection between both sides. FPV continues, flying past the car park, gardens, residential blocks, school, and medical centre. These points are connected in a single uninterrupted route through the neighbourhood. The film closes with a half orbit at sunset matching the opening shot, all the logos are attached to the developments.
To support navigation through the neighbourhood, footage was tracked in After Effects and layered with floating 3D tags for space and operator names. These elements were positioned in perspective toward the FPV camera, so they sit naturally in space as the drone moves through the environment. As the camera passes through or past each area, the tags move off frame, reinforcing direction and location without breaking the flow
Behind the lens...
The project started with a recce and a storyboard built around flow between key residential and lifestyle zones.
A key constraint was ongoing development work across parts of the New Jackson neighbourhood. This was handled through framing, height selection, and directional movement, keeping focus on finished spaces, skyline lines, and active lifestyle zones.
The work was designed for a 4K widescreen master, with a separate 1080p vertical cut for social delivery.
Three systems were used:
- DJI Air 3S
Used for opening, closing, and key transition shots. The longer lens helped compress the skyline and keep attention on completed architecture - Custom FPV quad with DJI system
Used for fast, continuous movement between buildings and amenities, linking separate areas into a single route - DJI Avata 360 (our first shoot with this new drone)
Used for tighter operator sections where framing needed more control to avoid visible construction and keep focus on active commercial fronts
