Drones are back at Liberty Science Center!

This weekend is the return of our action-packed Day of Drones celebration. The fun begins on Friday night when LSC plays host to the 5th Annual New York City Drone Film Festival (NYCDFF). The adventures continue on Saturday with wall-to-wall drone activities, including classes, demos, competitions, vendors, and more.

In the days leading up to the event, we chatted with Randy Scott Slavin – filmmaker, NYCDFF founder, and one of the masterminds behind LSC’s drone events – about what we can expect this year, his opinion on quality drone films, and the future of drone technology.

We’re now heading into the fifth year of the New York City Drone Film Festival. In your opinion, what makes a quality drone film?

First of all, it has to be a really good film. That’s a really important qualifier because you can’t just fly a drone and use an editing software and think that you’ve made a good film. That’s something I’ve been dealing with from the very beginning of the film festival. Many people will shoot some footage of some place, and that’s not necessarily something we’re going to show or is going to win. Competition is too stiff for that.

So for me, there has to be a story. There has to be a kind of “X factor” that makes the video interesting to watch...it doesn’t have to be high production value, it doesn’t have to be fancy moves. It just has to be something that makes me want to watch and be like, “Whoa, that’s cool.”

Is there any film that played at the festival that you remember as being a real standout?

Our first year, the grand prize winner was a film called “Superman With a GoPro.”

That is still one of the most exceptional films I’ve ever seen. It was made by a company called Corridor Digital and the premise is that Superman finds a GoPro and he wears it as he’s on his way back to returning it. He does super things along the way, and the drone shows all his perspective.

That one, to me, is still one of the standouts because it’s such a clever idea and it was so well-executed, and the special effects were really cool.

Is there anything new and exciting about the film festival viewers can look forward to this year?

We have a new category called Cinematic FPV (First Person View). That’s where they use FPV goggles to create very cinematic, kind of lyrical films. It reminds me of what I used to love about IMAX films – that feeling where you’re flying in really close proximity through things and around things...people have been creating those films for a while, but this is the first year where it has really taken off in the mainstream of drone cinema, so it has really warranted a category of its own.

And of course this year is a standout because the festival will be in LSC’s Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, which is an outstanding place to watch a film!

What can people expect on Saturday at the big Day of Drones event?

Everything is so exciting. People can expect a huge drone expo that has all kinds of drone technology. There’s going to be a flight cage where people can see drones flying. There’s going to be a lineup of classes that cover a range of topics from learning how to fly drones, to color correction, to filmmaking topics and industrial topics.

There’s also going to be a freestyle competition, and a demo of the Skydio autonomous drone which is just awesome – that drone is totally next level. We’ll also have screenings of the winning films from the night before.

For newcomers who might not know a lot about drones, how would they benefit from attending this event on Saturday?

I think this is a really good opportunity for parents to introduce their kids to drones in an easy and digestible way – to see a lot of different elements in the drone world represented in one place and learn how to fly drones themselves.

But also drones feel like a very exciting entry point into tech. I think tech oftens feels cold and removed from a lot of the things we do, but for me, the New York City Drone Film Festival bridges the gap between tech and art in a really fun way.

There’s one part of the weekend that definitely isn’t for kids, however. You’re also going to screen an R-rated drone film on Saturday, correct?

Yes, it’s a screening of a film called The Drone. It’s not for everybody. But it’s going to be super fun – it’s a horror/thriller. The director is Jordan Rubin. He’ll be there and he’s going to do a Q&A after.

Finally, what do you think the future of drones and drone technology looks like?

From a professional’s point of view, the drones are going to get smaller, the cameras are going to get better quality – and you’re going to have higher resolution cameras on smaller and smaller drones.

They are also going to have better autonomy. They are going to be able to do things on their own. They are going to be able to be smarter.

We can’t wait! Day of Drones is this weekend at Liberty Science Center. Click here to learn more and get tickets.

Day of Drones,  drones,  New York City Drone Film Festival,  Randy Scott Slavin