If you’ve seen some action films lately, you might have seen footage that was either taken by a really intelligent bird or a drone. My bet, is on the latter, but I’ve lost bets before. Drones might be invading Hollywood and changing the way we view films – think of Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” and the still of the obnoxiously large mansion. Is there a more effective way to show the greedy’s businessman’s opulence?
You weren’t seeing this before 2014 and that’s because regulations on drones in films were stiff, so filmmakers in the US didn’t have access to a lot of footage, and if they wanted to – they went to other countries. But now, without getting into the semantics of the decision, drones are loosely allowed to be used for films. With a multi-million dollar budget, this might be a director’s dream news. Some filmmakers although, think they’re being used to shoot footage that’s “flashy” for the sake of “flash”, as it allows you to hover over live events and give you a more first person feel, but is it helping the film? Over time creatives have looked into the way they present to the audience and how they want us to interpret what we are seeing. With a bird’s eye view, the feel is different, we’re a part of the action, not in a silly 3D/putting our arms up way, but in a way that we have a larger physical perspective of the scene. This could mean for example some different horror films, where they start with a close-up and pan to the other room where there is someone waiting. Here the tension is rising as now we actually have a view of the whole situation for us and we can see what’s to come for the main character. So producers are going to have to consider how to use this wisely.
I think we can all agree with saying – let’s not get too trite with it. This type of footage is not just good to feel like you’re in a first-person video game, it’s amazing to provide an audience with a different perspective. There are a plethora of new angles that producers now have in their arsenal. We can zoom out 25ft up and to the side and see everyone’s body language, it can magnify the collective mood of a scene without a million edits. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a good time to be going into Film Studies.
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It can only add to the industry, if used properly!