Flying FPV at the Tijara Fort-Palace.

The Tijara Fort-Palace sits on top of a hill in Alwar, Rajasthan, with one winding road climbing to it through the Aravallis. For an FPV film, that road and the building at the top are the whole story: an approach, an arrival and a way through. This is how we thought about flying it.

Start with the road

The road was the first shot we wanted. From above it switchbacks up the green hillside toward the palace, and a drone can follow it the way a visitor would, getting closer to the building with every turn. FPV suits this because the camera can stay low over the slope and keep moving, so the climb feels like a journey and not a map.

Fly the building, not around it

At the top, the film moves over the terraces, domes and courtyards. Long arcaded wings, pink stone roofs and rounded towers give the camera something to pass close to, and scale only reads when the drone is near enough to compare it with something. So we flew close along the walls first, then opened out so the viewer can see how the buildings sit on the ridge.

What the place gives a camera

• The terraced pools: a pattern of rounded green basins that reads clearly from above and from a low angle.
• The courtyard gardens: trees, stepped lawns and white blossom that soften the stone.
• The farmland beyond the ridge: it keeps the palace in its landscape, and gives every wide shot a horizon.

Planning a hilltop shoot

A hilltop and a heritage building both ask for care. Before any flight we confirm that flying is allowed at the location, who has to approve it and where people will be, and we keep to the local rules. We also walk the site first, because trees, walls and rooflines decide which lines are safe as well as which look good.

Watch the film

The finished film of the Tijara Fort-Palace is in our selected work, in 4K. If you have a hotel, a heritage property or a hilltop stay and want it filmed this way, send us the place and the dates through the contact page.