Video Editor — FPV Drone & Real Estate | DaVinci Resolve + After Effects

Video Editor — FPV Drone & Real Estate | DaVinci Resolve + After Effects | Long-Term

Rate: $10–15 USD/hour, depending on experience
Hours: 10–20 per week to start, growing toward full-time
Schedule: Flexible. No fixed shift, no required US hours.
Software: DaVinci Resolve + After Effects (required), Gyroflow (required)
Type: Long-term. I am hiring one editor to grow with.

Before you apply

This is a specialist role, not a general editing role.

I need a colorist and motion graphics editor who understands FPV drone footage, log color pipelines, and sound design at a professional level.

If you cannot grade log footage in DaVinci Resolve and build motion-tracked graphics in After Effects, please do not apply. I would rather you save your time. If you can do those things, keep reading — the work is genuinely interesting and I pay every week, on time.

About Vantage Studio

I run a cinematography company in Northern California. I shoot FPV drone work, aerial cinematography, and real estate video for brokerages, commercial property owners, local businesses, and motorsports teams.

I am FAA-certified with waivers to fly over people and over moving vehicles. That matters for you because it means the footage you will be cutting is not typical drone work. It is close, fast, and shot inside spaces most operators are not legally allowed to fly.

Why I am hiring: I have been editing everything myself, and I no longer have the hours to do it properly at the volume my clients need. I am not looking for someone to replace my taste. I am looking for someone to execute at my standard, consistently, so I can stay behind the camera.

Because I edit all of this myself, two things are true. I know exactly how long each task takes. And my feedback will be specific and technical — you will never get "make it better" from me.

The standard I am chasing

Below are reference examples of the caliber of work I am building toward — one for each type of work you would be doing. For each, I have noted exactly what I want you to look at.

Commercial real estate — ---------- → [ what to notice, e.g. Use of FPV Drone shots and motion-tracked text, as well as a professional, constrained editing style while still being engaging ]

Trending residential reel — ---------- → [ what to notice, e.g. the pacing, and how the tracked text sits in the scene, transitions, flow, sound design]

FPV one-take — ---------- → [ what to notice, e.g. the sound design and where the hidden cuts are, smooth speed ramps and flow, motion treacked logo ]

FPV one-take, second example — ---------- → [ what to notice, e.g. the sound design and flow of the speed ramps ]

Aerial map/motion graphics — ---------- → [ what to notice, e.g. how the lot lines and street names stay locked to the ground, the level of detail in aerial and satellite maps ]

If this is the level you already work at, we should talk.

The work — four types

1. Residential real estate reels — 1 to 3 per week

Short-form vertical listing videos with modern, trend-aware editing:

Motion-tracked subtitles and text
Masking and object isolation
Smooth speed ramps
AI-assisted effects and AI home renders / visualizations
Clean grade from log footage

2. Commercial real estate videos — roughly 1 per week (not guaranteed every week)

The same craft, executed more conservatively and more corporate:

Polished, professional subtitle design
FPV drone sequences with motion graphic text integrated into the shot
Aerial map graphics built in After Effects, with motion-tracked overlays: street names, surrounding business callouts, lot lines and property boundaries, satellite map pulls
Deliverables per property vary — long-form horizontal, vertical reels, short teasers

3. FPV one-take videos — the flagship work

Single continuous drone takes for local businesses (gyms, restaurants, retail), motorsports (sprint car racing), and commercial property tours. These are the pieces that win me clients, and the edit is what makes or breaks them. Required:

Gyroflow stabilization. Not optional. I need someone who has genuinely used it.
Log color grading in Resolve, matched across the entire take
Silky, invisible speed ramps
Seamless hidden cuts — masked transitions as the drone passes behind an object
Real sound design: whooshes tied to camera movement, ambience beds, actor dialogue, layered SFX, audio that fades naturally as the drone approaches and passes a subject, and comfort with EQ, compression, and other processing when a source needs fixing

4. Short-form social and paid ads

Content for Vantage Studio itself — promotional videos, educational social content, and paid ad creative. This needs to be high-engagement and professional, with advanced motion graphics. If you have edited ads that performed well, tell me about it.

Three things matter more than anything else:

- Color grading. Everything I shoot is log. A clean, consistent, cinematic base is the foundation of all of it.
- Sound design. Good audio is half of why an FPV one-take feels good.
- Flow. Pacing, rhythm, how one shot hands off to the next. This is the part I cannot teach.

Required — please do not apply unless all of these are true:

- Fluent, natural spoken and written English. We will be on video calls together. This is not negotiable.
- Extensive DaVinci Resolve experience, specifically grading log footage — node-based grading, color management, shot matching
- Strong After Effects skills — motion graphics, motion tracking, masking
- Gyroflow experience for FPV stabilization
- Professional sound design ability. Not just adding a music track.
- Prior US real estate video experience
- Prior FPV or drone footage experience
- Able to work from a written brief and hit deadlines without being chased
- Reliable internet with solid upload speed, plus a backup connection

Strongly preferred:

- Real estate photo editing in an architectural or editorial style — HDR blending and luxury flambient work: natural warmth, sun flare on exteriors, sun rays through interior windows, sky replacement, twilight conversion
- Graphic design on aerial stills — business callouts, street name overlays, lot line and property boundary overlays, satellite maps
- Experience with motorsports, action, or automotive content

What I provide:

- Organized footage with selects marked, delivered by Google Drive or ----------
- A written brief for every project
- Brand kit — LUTs, fonts, title and lower-third templates, music library
- Fast, specific, technical feedback. Usually one or two rounds of notes per project.
- Direction on brand and style, so you are never guessing what I want

How pay works:

- Paid every Friday, for the week just finished. No waiting on invoices.
- I cover the transfer fees. The rate we agree on is exactly what lands in your account.
- Hourly for the first month, then a flat weekly rate so your income is predictable.
- Year-end bonus every December, 13th-month style, pro-rated for your first year. As a US client, I am not required to do this. I do it because I know it matters, and I budget for it from your first week.
- Raises as you take on more, and a real path to full-time hours.

I can pay through Wise, Payoneer, or OnlineJobs EasyPay — whichever is easiest for you.

About the schedule:

There is no fixed shift and you do not need to work US hours. I am in California, so I will usually send footage at the end of my day and review your work the next morning. I do need you reachable at some point during your own working day so questions do not sit for 24 hours. Otherwise, work when you work best.

Philippine holidays: I do not set deadlines on your public holidays. Take them. Once you are on the flat weekly rate, a holiday week is paid the same as any other week. Just send me your dates in advance — and tell me early if a storm is likely to knock you offline, so I can plan around it instead of wondering where you went.

How to apply — follow this exactly

Applications that skip steps will not be read. That is intentional.

Step 1. Start your message with the word VANTAGE.

Step 2. Send links to your work. Please do not send a general agency showreel. I want to see three specific things:

One FPV or drone piece you personally edited and graded — a one-take if you have one
One example of motion-tracked graphics or an aerial map overlay
One before/after of a log grade if you have it (ungraded log beside your final)

For each link, tell me in one line what you personally did on it.

Step 3. Answer these four questions. Short answers are completely fine. I am reading for whether you know the work, not for essay length.

Walk me through your node structure when you grade a log clip in Resolve. How do you get to a neutral, correct base before you start building a creative look?
What is your Gyroflow workflow? Tell me about a time the stabilization did not come out clean, and what you did about it.
I want a lot line overlay and a street name that stay locked to the ground in a moving aerial shot. How do you build that in After Effects?
A drone flies past a person who is talking. Describe what you are doing to the audio across those few seconds.

Step 4. Tell me:

Your rate expectation in USD per hour
Your current availability in hours per week
Who else you are currently working for, and how many hours you are committed to them
Your internet upload speed
The paid trial

Shortlisted candidates do two short paid test edits using real footage from my projects — one FPV one-take, and one trending-style residential reel. They test different skills, so I need to see both. Each is a flat fee, paid on delivery.

I never ask anyone to work for free.

I read every application personally, and I reply to everyone who follows the steps above.