drones

Event report: Drones - The ultimate camera platform

The Belfast-based production services and post-production outfit has three drones with different camera systems. A show reel of aerial images shot over the past few years demonstrated the ability of drones to capture images of production quality.

Post-production producer Willis said that no post-production trickery had been required in the edit –the rock-steady images were obtained by cameras on board drones.

The future of media in an age of transformative technologies

September’s International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) will mark the transition from hype to reality for a wide range of transformative new technologies. Attendees of the week-long broadcasting conference and exhibition in Amsterdam will be able to assess the growing impact of Ultra-HDTV, big data and Cloud computing.

It is no coincidence that IBC has themed its entire conference as “The future of media in an age of disruption”.

Thames Valley's daredevil drone

Thames Valley hosted a display of drone technology in July at Pincents Manor,  featuring daring fly-past stunts from Skypower’s Russell Cleaver, who guided a drone to hover in front of, and then fly towards, a setting sun.

Aerial-filming specialist Skypower provided a wire-cam system, typically used above sports stadia, and two drones for the display, although the larger, six-rotor Hexacopter proved too difficult to handle in the wind.

Software is the new hardware at NAB

The NAB trade show, held every April in Las Vegas, used to bill itself as the place to see kit manufacturers parade their newest wares to broadcasters and producers. Headline-grabbing black boxes that perform cool, new tricks are, however, increasingly rare.

Today's production and post-­production tools tend, instead, to be software. They are, therefore, open to incremental and regular upgrades, and not tied to the cycle of trade shows.

Even the hardware is designed to evolve with tweaks to the central chip set, rather than a wholesale ­redesign.