Watch the Trailer for the New York City Drone Film Festival

The fourth annual New York City Drone Film Festival this March will celebrate and award the best aerial short films of the year. Here’s a peek.

byMarco Margaritoff|
Watch the Trailer for the New York City Drone Film Festival
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If you’re anything like me, someone deeply passionate about film and genuinely enthused about the seemingly endless possibilities of drones, you’ve probably been paying attention to the increasingly creative use of unmanned aerial vehicles on the big screen. Hell, even a yogurt commercial these days could easily be comprised entirely of drone footage. Aerial cinematography is everywhere these days, and mostly young filmmakers are leading the charge. Next month, the Isle of Manhattan will host the fourth annual New York City Drone Film Festival, and we have a trailer to tide us over until then.

A few short years ago, consumer camera drones capable of recording 4K footage were not just exorbitantly expensive, but literally didn't exist. The extraordinary increase in affordability and the exponential growth in technology have resulted in the small, high-tech, affordable UAVs we all know and enjoy today. The fact that filmmakers realize the potential here isn’t a surprise, but it’s certainly a welcome shift in the filmmaking landscape. Helicopter shots, while lending prestige, scale and import to a film or a scene, are expensive, complicated, and dangerous. Technology has simply caught up, causing drones to have almost entirely replaced the need for helo-shots while providing the same results at a lower cost. 

Let’s take a look at some of the incredible choices made here, in this montage of aerial creativity, celebrated next month. 

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We are huge proponents of utilizing drones in film. There is an entire world of tracking shots and movements only accessible with a nimble, lightweight UAV, and we are now at a stage where demand for that is palpable in our culture. Everywhere you look, commercials, TV shows, films, sporting events, we want aerial vantage points now. We've written about various short films that either implement drones into their storylines, simply use them as filmmaking tools, or both, and hope to see even more continued ingenuity as time goes on. If you're near New York City, it may behoove you to attend the NYC Drone Film Festival, for enjoyment or inspiration, early next month. 

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