To conclude the recent Drone Freestyle Filmfest, we reached out to the 3 winners to find out more about them and their experiences with the contest.
Check out their winning entries here:
1st place: Mariona Valenzuela
Winning Entry: Walk in the Park – DFF
2nd place: Sergey Belash
Winning Entry: Racestyle Freestyle Video to #DFF
3rd place: Colas Feuillie
Winning Entry: DFF Season’s Changes
Total Rotor – Congratulations on winning the inaugural Drone Freestyle Filmfest! Tell us how you feel
Marion: It was overwhelming when I saw the final results! Really thankful for all the support from friends and family.
Sergey: I’m really happy! To be honest, I was gunning for the first place but second is very good too!
Colas: Very happy with the results! It’s a big achievement for me as I’m less than 6 months into the hobby.
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Total Rotor – Is this your first time taking part in a freestyle competition
Marion: It’s my first time joining a freestyle competition. It was intimidating at first knowing there are so many great pilots around with amazing creativity. Knowing that, I packed my bag and cycled a good 50km to various spots to capture footages for the video.
Sergey: I had taken part in another freestyle competition in Russia previously and took first place in that. Later I took part in a freestyle race held by T-Motor and took home second place for that.
Colas: It is and I wish to take part in more of them. It was great fun and I spent a lot of time preparing for this contest. To be honest, I broke quite a few drones in the process of filming but thankfully I have a prized drone to replace them.
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Total Rotor – Do you race as well, or do you focus on freestyle flying?
Marion: Yes, but freestyle is still my preference. To me, racing and freestyle go hand in hand so it’s good practice to do both.
Sergey: I’m primarily a racer and have taken part in many races in Russia. I was one of the top 6 pilots in the ERSA Euro Cup in 2016.
Colas: I haven’t gone into racing. Was a professional skier and felt I had enough of racing in my life. Freestyle attracts me for there’s no boundaries to what you can do and it gives me the thrills!
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Total Rotor – Any word of advice for the aspiring pilots, or those looking to improve their skills?
Marion: Make friends, enjoy the hobby and fly at different spots to train your techniques!
Sergey: Training, training, training. To me 80% is in the flying, 20% lies in your setup
Colas: As with the rest, training consistently is really key to excel in this sport.