About Ellie McCutcheon

Ellie is a multi-faceted drone pilot (Part 107 FAA-certified) working in several industries:

Film
In the film world, Ellie specializes in in aerial storytelling techniques for filmmakers and journalists. Based in Nevada City, California, she is also a lecturer in drone cinematography at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Brand Ambassador with Women Who Drone. Past cinematography clients have included Netflix, The Washington Post, NPR, UC Berkeley, KQED, Blue Shield of California, and a former White House Calligrapher. She also does regular ground-based cinematography for documentary, and that work has been featured at festivals like Sundance, Telluride, and on HBO.

Ellie’s newest project is Sweet Harmony Sessions, a youtube channel featuring forest field recordings of acoustic songs in Sierra Nevada landscapes.

Utilities
In the utilities world, Ellie has extensive experience inspecting electrical transmission lines to ensure equipment integrity in the face of natural disaster. She is nimble on two-person teams as either the Pilot or Sensor Operator using the Inspire 2 or the M300. To go with this work, she also has the skills to drive trucks through forests and ranches on rugged terrain.

Mapping & Land Use Applications
Ellie works with surveyors and land managers to meet their land-use needs, whether that’s making highly accurate maps using photogrammetry and LiDAR data, or using geolocated video to monitor land that’s hard to access.

Cinematography Testimonials