Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s a drizzly Saturday night and I’m ushered down to the basement of the Directors Guild Theater, crammed between fellow reporters, bulky camera lenses, and a red rope barrier. I’m at the first annual New York City Drone Film Festival, and there are a ton of people here. After briefly chatting on the phone with festival founder Randy Scott Slavin a couple of months ago, here I am, unexpectedly overwhelmed by buzzing press, filmmakers, and fans who are obsessively supporting the budding art of making short films with aerodynamic, unmanned cameras. The energy is ecstatic, with CNBC and Fox News teams prepping their weekend reporters with red carpet questions like, “What are you flying?”
Needless to say, I expected a more low-key event where I would go and watch some flicks filmed on drones, write about where you can stream them, and call it a day. But since Saturday evening, it’s been a struggle to classify the vibe I felt at the festival, which felt more like a really cool party to which I shouldn’t have been invited. If you’re a seasoned drone expert, an outgoing techie, or in Slavin’s inner circle, this event is surely for you. If not, here’s what I learned as a film nerd and digital reporter that you might be able to utilize in the future when drones take over the art world.
Apparently, boxed water is the future.
After snapping a few pictures, I was a little faint from the heat in the theater hallway and looked around for a refreshments table. What I got was a very #hip box of water. And though I was reluctant to chug from a milk carton like I had been told not to do by family members and later, roommates, at NYCDFF it’s more than socially acceptable. But is it more eco-friendly than plastic? According to Boxed Water’s website, “about 76% of every boxed water box is made from renewable resources, trees.” It’s okay to chop down trees now? I’m so eco-torn! What does this have to do with drones, you ask? Absolutely nothing. Moving on…
Drone regulations are super strict.
I spoke with Jon Ollwerther, the VP of Marketing and Operations for AeroCine (pronounced “air-oh-sin-ee”), who clued me in on some of the nitty gritty legal details involved in flying drones. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued exemptions to a select few companies in the United States, and AeroCine is one of those companies. “It’s the only company in New York City or in the state of New York as far as we know who has an exemption,” Ollwerther told me. I was skeptical at first (who could forget all that hype about Amazon and drones?), but I did some digging and discovered that only 43 companies have permission from the FAA to fly drones , with the most widely recognizable company on that list being State Farm. The list even gives reasons for exemption, which mostly include closed-set filming, aerial photography, and, for State Farm’s purposes, insurance surveillance. AeroCine falls into the “aerial filming” exemption, which gives them the upper hand in working with studios who can afford to adopt this new technology. The NYCDFF Audience Award-winner you see above was created with the help of the Mexico City International Airport, who has different regulations.
Film lovers first, techies second.
Ollwerther then introduced me to AeroCine co-founders Jeff Brink and Brian Streem, who are like the Mark Zuckerbergs of the drone world: young, incredibly tech savvy, and focused on the future. Before their film, The Fallout (above), went on to win in the architecture category, Jeff and Brian shed light on their film backgrounds, which include Tisch degrees and numerous production credits. “We both graduated from NYU film school a couple of years ago,” Brian explained. “I produced movies and Jeff worked as a cinematographer and camera technician, so we know the camera systems that Hollywood professionals want to fly… We’re talking about a camera that’s like $400,000.” That’s right, these guys are manufacturing drones in-house to fly Arri Alexas, RED Epics, and more. Would you put almost half a million dollars up in the air? I asked how such heavy-lifting is possible (the body of an Alexa can weight up to 25 pounds). “That’s a secret,” Jeff said. “The key is really smart engineering. We have mechanical engineers, we have electrical engineers, we have people with doctorates in robotics on our team who are all trying to tackle this one problem.”
Filmmakers: Beware of the cost.
“There are two sides to this UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) world,” Ollweather explains. “There’s the hobbyist side, and right now, because of regulation in the United States, that’s really the biggest side. The other side is the commercial side.” Right now, commercial production teams with roomy budgets can go all out and send major equipment up in the air to film videos like OK Go’s “I Won’t Let You Down,” which won in the “X-Factor” category of the evening. In some cases, filming on a drone is almost as costly as renting a helicopter for your production — especially if you want to take advantage of the utmost technology. Though you don’t have to pay for the licensed pilot, the fuel, or the insurance, having a remote controlled RED Epic up in the air looks like it might be just as pricey for a gimmicky shoot — and the average movie-goer eye might not notice.
In the end, Superman wins.
Like a Hollywood blockbuster, the superhero film of the night won in the Narrative category as well as Best in Show. Corridor Digital’s “Superman with a Go Pro“ is pure wow-factor and reflects all technical feats one can achieve through making films with drones. Clocking in at just three minutes and 17 seconds, it feels like the teeniest action movie you’ve ever seen, but it packs some serious punch.
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