Daniel J. Harris on drones and indie filmmaking…
Film is the most exciting, dynamic and technologically advanced art form known to man. Filmmakers have a wide and varied selection of tools at their disposal to create their own little slice of cinema history. However, the latest craze in indie filmmaking has been causing a stir in the corridors of power and making the news. Are drones the way forward, or a problem that needs addressing quickly?
There’s some debate about the use of drones for filming in the UK and across the globe. It’s now become very easy to go out, buy a drone, stick a Go Pro on it and fly it wherever you see fit. It gets you an aerial perspective that only a few years ago would’ve cost a filmmaker more than their film budget! However, many don’t realise that they are in fact breaking the law in doing so.
There are laws in place to regulate the flight of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), also known as drones, quadcopters or remote helicopters. However, these laws are very difficult to regulate since most people tend to fly them in quiet open spaces where they cause no harm. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) do require all UAVs to be tested for flight safety and for the pilot to gain a licence to fly for commercial use, but stopping the man who flies his drone on a Sunday afternoon on an empty beach in West Wales would taken more man power than its worth. However, stories keep cropping up on the news about some people who haven’t made the smartest decisions when flying their drone.
In the US a few weeks ago there was a story that a suspected drone had flown into the White House, as reported by CNN. Now, that doesn’t seem like the brightest idea to me. I definitely think that drone can be written off as a loss!
Maybe the yanks are making a big thing of nothing, but flying your drone into the White House isn’t the brightest idea. If you really want the laws on flying to be clamped down, annoy the head of state with yours! Duh!
However, there have been plenty of other examples of drones causing major problems! This report from World News Today centres on a plane almost colliding with a drone as it came in to land at Heathrow. Big problem!
There’s lots of debate about whether or not laws here and in the US will become a lot tougher for drone pilots and it will become more difficult to buy one. It has been mentioned that a special licence may be required before you can even buy a drone, but… at the moment it’s a free for all and everyone and anyone can buy a drone off the shelf and be flying it 30 minutes later – no matter how stupid they are!
Drones offer indie filmmakers the opportunity to get aerial shots that they could have only dreamt of a few years ago and the skies or open for business! However, if you are going to buy a drone – be sensible, look into the legalities of flying it and don’t be a donut. Unlike the people in this video of epic drone fails!
Whether drones are the future, or a problem that will be squashed by legislation we should all take the opportunity to watch and laugh at those that get it so very, very wrong and capture it all on camera.
FOCUS SHIFT FILMS offers professional broadcast quality aerial filming to the television and film industries. More information can be found at http://www.facebook.com/FOCUSSHIFTFILMS.
Daniel J. Harris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtW2LRPtQY&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&feature=player_embedded
Originally published February 17, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
