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Days beforeHobbs & Shawis set to hit theaters, he is already working on a new project.
Thats his job in a nutshell: stretches of tedious strategizing followed by nerve-racking moments of risk.
Its more dangerous than working at the post office, he tells me of his job.
Its more dangerous than a lot of work, but we attempt to make it as safe as possible.
The reason why we get hired by the studio is because we guarantee the safety of the operation.
So we push the envelope, but in a safe way.
North glides behind them, pointed straight at the trees.
The whole thing is over in about ten seconds.
Im [sic] curious, do you check visually?
Or is there like a setting for the camera that points them out clearly?
That reply is just one of more than a dozen from him on the same post.
On the platform, hes the rarest kind of influencer: a helicopter influencer.
Theres only five guys in the world doing what Im doing, North says.
But it took me a while, he emphasizes.
He can fly the helicopters that photograph the action, called camera helicopters.
Hes become such a rare and vital source for filmmakers that they often refuse to work without him.
Bay said to North, I designed that sequence for you to do your thing.
That scene inFurious 7when the cars shoot out of a transport plane?
He was the only helicopter camera catching the action.
The sequence inThe Fate of the Furiousthat involves a car chase across a frozen lake?Same.
The race through Havana in that same movie?Ditto.
I love car chases!
I love everything that goes fast and close to the ground, North says.
Its where I can be like myself.
That is where my art comes to place.
There is no room for error, everything is maxed out.
His penchant for flying close to the ground can be seen inHobbs & Shaw.
Instead, he names a car chase through an abandoned nuclear power plant in England.
It was extremely confined, he says.
And I had to spin 360 [degrees] around that at high speed with a twin-engine helicopter.
It is not super-comfortable for me.
He captioned it, in part, @FredNorth for making the impossible possible.
it’s possible for you to get confused.
Its extremely dangerous … and on the ice, and you have no reference whatsoever on the ground.
But if one subject gets him worked up, its drones.
But North isnt ready to lose his job to a robot just yet.
Its impossible, he says.
The guys on the ground.
Theres a disconnect between the camera and the person operating the camera.
The drone will always be behind the action, because it doesnt see it.
It can only do the preplanned shots.
Theres no magic to that.
Then there are the functional setbacks.
Lenses matter, and Norths Instagram is a good reminder of this.
As it turns out, this is a gift North usually cant get for himself.
When I do the stunt I am so focused I dont … No, I dont enjoy anything.
[In between takes], then Ill enjoy the scene, he said.
I dont necessarily love before, but I love after.
