Image via Complex Original
“We wanted the camera to feel like an omniscient presence in the film. When we had the opportunity to utilize the drone shots, that look kind of came out of it. This omniscient, floating, following, presence throughout the movie,” said Spring co-director Justin Benson in an interview with We Are Movie Geeks.
At first glance, Benson and co-director Aaron Moorhead’s sci-fi romance Spring has all the makings of a simple indie: It features up-and-coming stars, its budget was miniscule, its plot is obscure, and its cinematography is naturalistic. Essentially, you don’t quite expect to have your breath taken away—until it is.
Image via Magnolia
Minutes into the film, viewers are greeted with sweeping shots of Italy, the prime locale.
Thanks to the use of affordable drones, the cameras dive off cliffs, whiz through tiny corridors, and chase the movie’s young lovers across the stunning Italian landscape.
The film may exemplify what drones can do—elevate even the smallest of films, reimagine storytelling, and shake up Hollywood conventions—but it’s just scraping the surface of how drone technology is changing the entertainment industry. Let’s take a closer look.
Hold Onto Your Seats
From higher heights to tighter spaces, drones are allowing filmmakers to explore the world in ways never before possible.
Michael Chambliss, a business rep for the International Cinematographers Guild, noted to the Los Angeles Times, "Drones are like a Steadicam that can operate 200 feet up in the air. It's an entirely new vernacular in the language of filmmaking. All of a sudden we can do shots that we couldn't do before."
A new vernacular, indeed. Whether it’s swooping up a tree canopy for Into the Woods, tracking a motorcycle chase scene in Skyfall, or zooming through the halls of King’s Landing in Game of Thrones, drones are offering filmmakers breathtaking new ways to approach a scene and access more intimate shots impossible with old techniques. With the drones, cameramen are capable of starting hundreds of feet in the air, whisking down to set, and squeezing through a narrow hallway for an extreme close-up on an actor. It’s a kind of fluidity inherently impossible for helicopters and cranes to achieve.
In a statement documented by Deadline, MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd exalted the free use of drones, saying, “It gives filmmakers yet another way to push creative boundaries and create the kinds of scenes and shots we could only imagine just a few years ago.”
No More Breaking the Bank
Forget spending your entire production budget on a high-cost helicopter rental. Drones allow for a production to reduce spending by the thousands, while simultaneously delivering high-definition aerial photography.
In a comparative chart presented by The Wrap, a day rate for a drone with a crew manning it ranges from $9,000 to $15,000, while a crew with a helicopter can go from $20,000 to $40,000.
Additionally, thanks to the FAA’s approval of commercial drone use for film and TV productions, shoots can now stay local rather than decamping to those countries that already allowed drone usage. According to the Los Angeles Times, until recently, drone crews retreated to South America, Europe, and Canada to film all their work.
Perhaps most important, drones can reduce the amount of time needed to set up a shot. This is especially good news for independent filmmakers who now have more options when working on a tight budget.
For example, as detailed in the Wall Street Journal, a rooftop chase scene in Netflix’s Narcos would normally have taken days, with 5 to 10 cameras along a route on the ground. However, the drone was set up in less than 30 minutes, and only needed three crew members to man it: a drone pilot, the aerial director of photography, and an extra person for safety.
#FOMO?
Where have drones been used thus far? As a (very) small start: ABC’s Scandal, a flying car scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a Kremlin shot in Fast and Furious 6, and even 360 shots of Mary J. Blige in her recent music video “Doubt.” Basically, a drone’s capabilities and applications are limitless, and the more studios are seeing them used, the more ubiquitous they become.
A limited number of companies have formally been approved to use drones in production placing those organizations in high demand. “Not only are our phones ringing off the hooks for jobs from potential clients, but also people wanting to work for us,” Tony Carmean, a partner and producer at Aerial MOB, one of the first companies to receive FAA approval, told The Wrap.
That is to say, drones are now a respected and coveted piece of technology, one with growing importance in the films of today and, undoubtedly, in those yet to be made.