Threat Trajectories: Cinema, FPV Drones, and Pandemic Anxiety

Nick Jones

Threat Trajectories: Cinema, FPV Drones, and Pandemic Anxiety

Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

Many discourses on drone vision during the 2000s and 2010s focus on detached aerial views, arising from the pervasive military use of drones for surveillance of hostile territory both domestic and extraterritorial. However, a different kind of drone visuality is emerging, one fast-paced and kinaesthetic, which places the drone at street- and eye-level, sweeping through the spaces of everyday life in ways that make them strange and frenzied. Originating in footage of competitive first-person view (FPV) drone racing, this visuality has moved into commercial narrative filmmaking, where it creates heightened affective sensations of urban space. Using the case study of Ambulance (2022), a film shot during Covid-19 lockdowns in Los Angeles, this chapter explores this aesthetic and connects it to anxieties which are indebted to pandemic realities.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Drones in Society
Subtitle of host publication	New Visual Aesthetics
Editors	Elisa Serafinelli
Publisher	Palgrave Pivot
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-031-56984-5
ISBN (Print)	978-3-031-56983-8, 978-3-031-56986-9
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Embargoed Document

Threat Trajectories_ Cinema, FPV Drones, and Pandemic Anxiety_Submit Version
Accepted author manuscript, 22.1 KB
Embargo ends: 1/08/25

Cite this

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title = "Threat Trajectories: Cinema, FPV Drones, and Pandemic Anxiety",

abstract = "Many discourses on drone vision during the 2000s and 2010s focus on detached aerial views, arising from the pervasive military use of drones for surveillance of hostile territory both domestic and extraterritorial. However, a different kind of drone visuality is emerging, one fast-paced and kinaesthetic, which places the drone at street- and eye-level, sweeping through the spaces of everyday life in ways that make them strange and frenzied. Originating in footage of competitive first-person view (FPV) drone racing, this visuality has moved into commercial narrative filmmaking, where it creates heightened affective sensations of urban space. Using the case study of Ambulance (2022), a film shot during Covid-19 lockdowns in Los Angeles, this chapter explores this aesthetic and connects it to anxieties which are indebted to pandemic realities.",

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AB - Many discourses on drone vision during the 2000s and 2010s focus on detached aerial views, arising from the pervasive military use of drones for surveillance of hostile territory both domestic and extraterritorial. However, a different kind of drone visuality is emerging, one fast-paced and kinaesthetic, which places the drone at street- and eye-level, sweeping through the spaces of everyday life in ways that make them strange and frenzied. Originating in footage of competitive first-person view (FPV) drone racing, this visuality has moved into commercial narrative filmmaking, where it creates heightened affective sensations of urban space. Using the case study of Ambulance (2022), a film shot during Covid-19 lockdowns in Los Angeles, this chapter explores this aesthetic and connects it to anxieties which are indebted to pandemic realities.

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