High-Level Multiple-UAV Cinematography Tools for Covering Outdoor Events

Camera-equipped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or “drones,” are a recent addition to standard audiovisual shooting technologies. As drone cinematography is expected to further revolutionize media production, this paper presents an overview of the state-of-the-art in this area, along with a brief review of current commercial UAV technologies and legal restrictions on their deployment. A novel taxonomy of UAV cinematography visual building blocks, in the context of filming outdoor events where targets (e.g., athletes) must be actively followed, is additionally proposed. Such a taxonomy is necessary for progress in intelligent/autonomous UAV shooting, which has the potential of addressing current technology challenges. Subsequently, the concepts and advantages inherent in multiple-UAV cinematography are introduced. The core of multiple-UAV cinematography consists in identifying different combinations of multiple single-UAV camera motion types, assembled in meaningful sequences. Finally, based on the defined UAV/camera motion types, tools for managing a partially autonomous, multiple-UAV fleet from the director’s point of view are presented. Although the overall focus is on cinematic coverage of sports events, the majority of our contributions also apply in different scenarios, such as movies/TV production, newsgathering, or advertising.