Drone images detract from story in Netflix... ?

[terrykelly]

Lots of drone video in all sorts of Netflix . Often contributes, imo, but is probably mostly a cheap substitute for car chases etc.

 

Do you like it? Is the value mostly novelty?

[Ed_Ingold]

Drone photography is a useful cinematic tool, in the same class as booms, dollies and zoom lenses. What I've seed is generally appropriate and tastefully done.

[terrykelly]

Drone photography is a useful cinematic tool, in the same class as booms, dollies and zoom lenses. What I've seed is generally appropriate and tastefully done.

 

I don't agree with that, though I understand what you done "seed".

 

I think drone imagery in film/video is mostly filler, killing time rather than dealing with relationships or events....much like driving from place to place rather than using subtle imagery tools, like "booms, dollies, and zoom lenses." However I'd much prefer tp see someone walking or driving through a new place (eg. Tangiers or Newark, NJ or Minot, ND), rather than looking down on that place.

[Ed_Ingold]

"seen"

 

Drone photography is a tool. You may not like it but many do. If it is objectionable, don't watch or skip past the scene. I don't like car chases, considering their real world consequences, and Newark, NJ is best seen in the rear view mirror.

[samstevens]

Do you like it?

I don't "like" drone use in movies per se, just as I don't "like" handheld camera work per se or boom stuff per se or zoom lens use per se. I like each of these when they're used well and help tell the story and I dislike them when they're inappropriate or too gimmicky or self conscious.

 

As for car chases, the same. I like them when they're good and don't like them when they're not. The French Connection and Mad Max have great car chases.

I'd much prefer tp see someone walking or driving through a new place (eg. Tangiers or Newark, NJ or Minot, ND), rather than looking down on that place.

It depends on what's being expressed in the movie at the time. There might be good reason to show someone walking intimately through a place just as there might be good reason to pull back, up, and away with a drone to give a bird's-eye and distant view. There can be a real urgency to a long shot from above, and a distinct gestural effect of that vs. a more closely-felt walk through. Each has its place and time and can offer different senses of place and time.

[Ed_Ingold]

Drones are widely used for "establishment" shots, which show details of a particular place which makes it unique and relevant to the story line. They are also effective for "reveal" shots, where some scene or detail is initially concealed behind something in the foreground. A drone can deal with more real estate than similar shots made with a crane or dolly. I particularly like what I deem "disestablishment" shots at the close, which zoom away from the subject as though to illustrate how trivial our lives are with respect to the greater world.

 

Nothing, I repeat nothing is in a theatrical film by accident, Even the paper cups in the finale of a recent fantasy series were left in the scene to send some kind of message. Often you have to ignore what you see and concentrate on what feelings it generates.