Blog | How a degree course at the School of Adventure Studies at UHI led to a career in drone production for the film and TV industry.

Many of our students go on to forget exciting careers after successfully completing their studies with us.   Let’s hear from Holly Burns and Jordan Tiernan, UHI alumni, who share their experiences of starting their own business after studying Adventure Tourism Management at The School of Adventure Studies from 2011 - 2014. 

In October 2023, Jordan and I made the exciting (..and slightly scary) leap into business together, starting our own ‘creative-first’ drone production company, Notion Aerials, with the aim to create stunning aerial visuals for some of the biggest brands in the world. So, what actually is a drone production company? Well, we use drones to film beautiful and engaging aerial content in Scotland and further afield. That can be anything from TV commercials, TV series, feature films or branded content. 

We talk about this idea of being ‘creative-first’ but what does that actually mean? Well, we’re not just skilled at flying drones, we ‘get’ the creative process, and this stems from our time after UHI. We built a life living in the mountains, always with a camera in hand and thinking about the most unique way to tell the stories of our times traversing 4,000 metre peaks, or skiing steep backcountry descents.

Jordan was flying drones back when they were pretty janky pieces of tech – filming our friends and documenting our adventures. It wasn’t until he joined the production crew as an in-house drone operator at a media agency in London, that he really honed his craft for visualising a beautiful aerial framing which only comes from years of flying and filming. This led to working with some of the biggest names in action sports like The North Face, Salomon, Fjallraven and the Swiss Tourism board. 

Fast forward one year and we’ve added Jaguar Land Rover, Porsche, Burberry and Apple to our client list, and chased after big mountain ski athletes in the snowy Andes in South America to chasing Range Rovers around race tracks in Portugal. Building a business has certainly not been easy but it’s been a pretty epic first year.

Whilst we’ve lived and worked all over the world, love to travel and explore new places. It's got to be said, one of our favourite places to film is back here in Scotland (maybe we’re biased but it’s true). We made the move back to Scotland towards the end of 2022, basing ourselves in Perth, which is close enough to the hills, giving us fantastic access to the beautifully wild rugged beauty of the Highlands and Islands whilst still being practical in that we can be in Edinburgh and Glasgow within an hour, allowing us to offer our drone filming services to clients all over the country. 

For a wee country, Scotland’s landscapes and scenery pack a big punch so it’s no wonder that Scotland is a go-to destination amongst the biggest names in fashion, blockbusters, dramas and global commercial content. Studying Adventure Tourism Management in the Outdoor Capital of the UK and spending our lives working and playing in the mountains, means Notion has acquired a pretty extensive back catalogue of filming locations that are off the beaten track. On set, schedules are super tight and often crews travelling from outside of Scotland are unfamiliar with locations and the best backdrops. This local knowledge gives us the upper hand, allowing us to be agile, to split off from the main unit and be trusted to get the shot that directors and producers need. 

Now, we couldn’t talk about drone filming in Scotland without talking about the weather, and trust me, we know all about that living on the west coast for four years. Yes it rains – a lot – in fact when I first moved to Fort William I couldn’t get over how much it rained compared to growing up on the east coast of Scotland. But when you get it right, there’s nowhere else we’d rather be thanks to its big expansive views, and wild raw unspoilt beauty. We thrive at the opportunity to show off Scotland in its best light and with our extensive experience and knowledge, has gained us the name as the specialists in aerial filming in Scotland. 

Having graduated from UH’s School of Adventure Studies ten years ago this year (which sounds like a really long time ago as I type this) we definitely didn’t know this was the route our lives would take back then but this squiggly career journey is really an accumulation of all the opportunities, experiences and adventures we’ve had along the way. So for students currently studying at UHI or the School of Adventure Studies, I’d say embrace what you’re passionate about, say yes to every opportunity and you’ll be surprised at what doors open for you and where you might end up. 

We’ll be uploading a gallery of inspiring images from Holly and Jordan to our social media channels and website soon and you can find out more about studying at the School of Adventure Studies here

You can follow @notionaerials on Instagram or visit www.notionaerials.com