Some thoughts for those new to making videos.

[parkgt]

Many of the drone videos posted are way too long to hold the interest of the average viewer. 1 to possibly 3 minutes max. Unless your content and editing is very compelling most are not going to watch seven minutes of boring flights over woods or water.

Try breaking your video into scenes of 3 to 7 seconds or so. Watch broadcast video or films and count how long scenes are; seldom much longer unless a lot of dialogue is involved. This helps keep the viewer interest wondering what is next. It is better to leave them wanting more rather than have them click off after staring at trees for 30 seconds. And please keep the complicated transitions to a minimum, simple cuts or cross-fades will do.

If there is a lot of visual interest or activity, such as dynamic cityscapes then scene and video lengths may hold interest for longer periods.

Less can be more.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

We used to say the rule of thumb is 5 minutes tops. ?

 

[skipper1]

Coming from a background of broadcast radio, our attention span is much shorter than it used to be. If you want to keep me, keep it to around :60, and like Parkgt says, make me want more.

 

[sunflower]

Like cranes and dollies, drones are just a tool in the box, good for 10 second establishing shots, or longer in documentaries when content is more important. Drone shots look good in NOVA and photojournalism, 15 to 20 seconds max.

 

[Rubik3x]

Many of the drone videos posted are way too long to hold the interest of the average viewer. 1 to possibly 3 minutes max. Unless your content and editing is very compelling most are not going to watch seven minutes of boring flights over woods or water.
Try breaking your video into scenes of 3 to 7 seconds or so. Watch broadcast video or films and count how long scenes are; seldom much longer unless a lot of dialogue is involved. This helps keep the viewer interest wondering what is next. It is better to leave them wanting more rather than have them click off after staring at trees for 30 seconds. And please keep the complicated transitions to a minimum, simple cuts or cross-fades will do.
If there is a lot of visual interest or activity, such as dynamic cityscapes then scene and video lengths may hold interest for longer periods.
Less can be more.

Agree. If the scene is changing significantly during the shot, you can get away with a little longer clip.
Another common mistake is panning too fast. For pans to look good, they need to be dead slow.
Only show the parts of a pan that support the other scenes. A 360-deg pan is hard to watch.
Slider shots (flying sideways) are much more interesting than pans or flying straight ahead and give the viewer a hightened 3D feeling of depth.