While CNN and others are working to expand the use of drones for reporting, Cirque de Soleil has presented a stunning demonstration of their accuracy.
In the USA, news publisher CNN has announced a project to test camera-equipped drones for news gathering, after gaining special permission from the FAA.
In partnership with Georgia Tech Research Institute, it will collect data about drone use, which will be analysed to help develop rules for them. CNN's legal senior vice president David Vigilante says the aim is to "get beyond hobby-grade equipment" and to establish what options are workable for high quality video journalism. Unlike some other countries, the FAA does not issue licenses for drone use which is currently restricted following reports of near encounters with aircraft.
With concerns also about the possibility of drones falling on people or property, regulations vary from country to country. A report in the Noosa News of a drone "weighing about a kilogramme" falling on a house in the Queensland suburb of Sunshine Beach last week may be only one of many. And in the USA, the FAA says 41 pilots reported seeing a drone or unmanned aircraft during flight in October.
Bangkok Post photo producer Sithikorn Wongwudthianun has spoken at two WAN-Ifra conferences about the use of drones in covering public gatherings and other events in the city, and at Digital Media Asia in Singapore last November, flew a drone across the conference hall, catching it in the air.
Professional drone technology is getting increasingly more sophisticated, with "dancing drones" presenting an even more impressive demonstration of drone control late last year. Cirque du Soleil partnered researcher ETH Zurich for a short film in which quadcopters disguised as lampshades come to life and dance around an electrician in a Disney-like fantasy.
The film was produced entirely through human interaction, and without CGI animation.
In a complementary short film, creative director Welby Altidor explains the processes that went into its production. "It's easy to start to give them personality," he says. Each drone had a name, a personality and "some element of motivation.
Like getting back to its lampstand safely, perhaps.