Professional Interview: http://bit.ly/1iyk72k
Innovation Article:
Journalism has always strived to use innovations in
technology to offer up new and interesting angles to its audience. From the
invention of the printing press to the newsreels before the main feature in
1940s cinema right through to news sites mobile phone app of this digital age.
But, arguably, the adoption of changing technologies is most apparent in the
use of aviation to give viewers and readers a different perspective on the
news, quite literally.
Aerial photography and filming have come a long way since
French photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon took the first pictures from a hot
air balloon over Paris. With humble beginnings such as cameras with an explosively
charged timer on a kite, the development of aeroplanes, helicopters and digital
cameras has led to easier, better and more frequent use of aerial work in mass
media and now, with the advent of small drones that you can attach a camera to,
it is possible that it become more so. Many hope that the advent of these
smaller and less invasive devices will make for more interesting shots and
pictures within journalism as well as the wider media.
At the moment though, there are a lot of different concerns
and limitations with current drone technology. To start with, the battery life
on many of these devices is around 15 minutes so you will need to have planned
out your shots incredibly well to be able to complete your work before the
battery ran out. You also cannot load them with much weight so long lenses and
heavy cameras are out of the question. Unless, of course, you opt for something
particularly high grade which may expand the battery life and weight you can
carry to an extent but costs considerably more. But the real issue arises in
the regulation and legislation surrounding the use not only of drone technology
but also of using them for commercial filming and photography. To begin with,
you cannot use drones for commercial purposes, either for financial or
reputational gain, in the UK without a license from the Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA). Even then, you cannot just fly it anywhere. You need to have
permission from the owner of the take-off point, the drone cannot leave you
line of sight and must be within the visual range of 400 feet vertically and a
total distance of 500 metres from the operator. Plus, it must not be within 150
metres of congested events or assemblies of people and nor can it be within a
range of 50 metres of buildings or people. The only exemption for this is if
the person is ‘under the control of the operator’ meaning that they will likely
need to be a fully briefed and consenting actor that the operator can direct.
There are also a lot of concerns from the public, largely
revolving around privacy and safety. There have been reports of battery fires
and the potential for collisions, injuries from blades and the possibility of
them failing and falling are apprehensions for the public. Besides which, a
large amount of people associate drone technology with its military use and
therefore there are concerns with how data will be used and people’s privacy. Privacy
concerns also arise in the way the drones are used in journalism, particularly
in terms of photographing celebrities. The potential for them to be used by the
paparazzi is huge and, even if fines are imposed for inappropriate use in such
a manner, it could still be worth the risk as it is likely to be so lucrative
that even then it creates enough of a profit to still be worthwhile.
But the other uses of the technology could still make it
worth while to train up journalists on them, and many places already have
including the BBC. Their potential to use in environmental stories, sports and
wildlife & documentary filming as well as to report on protests, traffic
incidents and to film in dangerous places, such as volcanoes, makes them
incredibly appealing. The question, however, is if they’re more worthwhile and
better quality than using a helicopter or an aeroplane.
Having gone up in a two-man aircraft to take photographs to
both research and illustrate this issue. Whilst it allows you to stay up in the
air for much longer periods of time, you don’t have the problems of the camera
focusing on the plane’s interior or any problems with definition due to filming
or taking photos through glass. Plus you cannot get motion sick from taking the
pictures if you are on the ground! But the benefit of a plane or helicopter is
that it can take up much more weight and therefore use multiple cameras and get
several angles without doing multiple flights. They also have the benefit of
having a pilot or professional that can show you points of interests as well as
having better and easier communication with other airspace users in the area
and therefore are less likely to get in the way. Drones are a lot less invasive
though and can get closer to places and to harder to reach places. They also
benefit from being easier to train to use and to pilot.
The regulation of drones, particularly those designed for
commercial use, and the existing issues in technology make the current use of
drones still a rarity. Whilst the issues of the weight the technology has the
ability to carry and battery life continue in the technology, it will make it
difficult to use for many news organisation as does the way the regulations
block the commercial use of drones.
Notes:
Had some technical issues with filming as the SD on which I recorded the good quality sound corrupted so salvaged the audio as best I could. The software I have on my laptop at home wouldn't allow me to integrate text with the picture and save it as a picture file so had to print it off and scan it in, hence the poor quality on the photographs.
