Over the last couple of years the popularity of drones has soared and they have diverged and converged far from being a flight of fancy, thanks to their cost effective nature and versatility. They have gone from a cheap novelty to an excellent piece of kit that can be used by professionals across the TV and Media Industry and several other industries alike. The latest Drone’s have been adapted to carry broadcast friendly DSLR’s that have the capability of capturing beautiful images. Below I’ve had a look at five films and TV shows that you’ve definitely heard of and which have pulled out the Drones to capture the director’s vision.
- The Expendables 3
The 3rd instalment of Sylvester Stallone’s high-octane muscle-fest, features him and his mates on a military stag do and has an opening sequence with a low flying helicopter. The Drone really allowed the TV crew to get close to the helicopter, which couldn’t have been achieved with any other helicopter-mounted camera or other technology.
- Wolf of Wall Street
Drones were used to capture the pool party scene in Martin Scorsese’s debauchery fuelled story about criminal stockbroker, Jordan Belfort. Even with budgets as big as this, a film which cost an estimated £70,000,000, Drones allow intimate filming without the decibel crunching sounds of a helicopter that would no doubt be distracting for actors trying to pull off the realism of a pill popping pool party.
- Narcos
The Netflix original series has hired a drone company to come on board during production of the critically acclaimed TV show. The series features vast sweeping shots of America and Columbia that can place viewers at the heart of a location, without the huge costs associated with other methods. The crime thriller based on Drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar has opened the floodlights once again for Netflix who once again own the streaming stratosphere with their original productions.
- Planet Earth 2
Planet Earth 2 is scheduled for TV screens this year and has been shot in stunning 4k resolution and has utilised drones heavily to capture nature in its truest form. It’s now ten years since the original series wowed viewers and was a major catalyst in promoting the use of HD televisions in domestic homes. The scale of the nature show was epic and the images were incredible, encouraging everyday people to really start to admire cinematography and the allure of High Definition imagery was stripped down. The 6 part series has been in production for 3 years, which gives you a glimpse of how incredible the footage could be.
- Final Minute
Okay so this one you definitely haven’t seen, but this needed to be included as it is set to be the first feature film shot entirely with drones, that’s right, every single shot of the film. Last year there was a Kickstarter campaign to raise £28,000 towards the production budget, but unfortunately the Ecuadorian filmmakers were not successful in their campaign to bring this movie to our TV screens. Thankfully the creators persevered, and filming for the Drone flick is scheduled to begin this year and be in theatres towards the back end of 2016, so keep a look out. You can view the original Kickstarter video here or follow them on twitter for updates @FinalMinuteMov.
Following in these directors footsteps here’s some drone footage we captured in Copenhagen and Croatia.
