Drones used in the media space continue to offer unique views and allow the audience to get closer to the action without putting the crew at risk, making them a staple tool in almost every production.
The history of media drones
As the first lower price drones, relative to others on the market, begun to be released people started equipping cameras to them, paving the way for drones as they are today.
James Bond's Skyfall movie was among one of the first to use drones back in 2012. Numerous shots in the film would not have been possible without the use of a drone, allowing the crew to get extremely close to the action without needing to risk injuring the actors or using a helicopter.
Recently, FPV drones have grown in popularity, getting even closer to the action when compared to standard drones. FPV drones are often a lot smaller, agile, and faster, allowing riskier shots to be taken.
Less common: drones are also being used to create images in the sky. This is done when 100s of drones are choreographed together to create 3D dynamic images as a way to replace fireworks.
Media drones in Australia: use cases (air, land, water)
Media drones have almost been around as long as drones and therefore have an infinite amount of use cases. The following is a list of the most popular use cases currently.
- Aerial shots
- FPV chase shots
- Ground-based tracking shots
- Light Shows
The future of media drones
Drone usage is currently seeing massive increase on the air side with FPV drones being added to many production's toolkits for the unique and close-to-the-action view they provide. Ground-based drones have been around for a lot longer and will continue to do so as they allow for fast and low-to-the-ground shots when a chase car isn't able to be used.
Photo via Unsplash
