Lights, Camera, Drones!

Cinematographers use unmanned aerial vehicles for shots that would normally require more expensive or complicated equipment. J. Emilio Flores for The New York TimesCinematographers use unmanned aerial vehicles for shots that would normally require more expensive or complicated equipment.

No group is likely to be more thrilled by the opening of the skies to commercial uses of drones than cinematographers.

As Somini Sengupta and I wrote in an article  in Saturday’s Times, the new funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration contained language that requires the agency to develop a plan for allowing a wide variety of drones — also known as unmanned aerial vehicles — in United States airspace by September 2015.  Since 2007, the F.A.A. has prohibited the commercial use of drones, frustrating a broad array of companies and entrepreneurs — from photographers of high-end real estate to law-enforcement agencies. Some people, nonetheless, disobeyed that rule or said they had never heard of it.

Cinematographers were among the people most disappointed by the old F.A.A. rule. They said drones could help them get a lot of different shots that would normally require more expensive or complicated pieces of equipment, including dollies for tracking shots, Steadicams, cranes and traditional piloted helicopters. A skilled drone pilot could begin filming indoors, then send the bird out a window and soaring into the sky for an aerial view, providing a continuous shot that would be very difficult to get other ways.

Russell Freeman, an aerial cinematographer with Mi6 Films in Southern California, was using remote-controlled helicopters to shoot music videos, scenes for reality television shows and surf competitions. But then he said he was contacted by the F.A.A. last year and told to stop flying his drone. He’s still using unmanned helicopters to shoot commercials and television shows outside the United States, but he says many of his competitors are ignoring the ban.

“Unfortunately there are hundreds of other companies still flying every day, and we’re not,” he said. “They went underground.”

Some movie industry organizations also started discouraging filmmakers from using drones last year because of the F.A.A. rule. Last May, the California Film Commission warned moviemakers that it would no longer issue permits to use drones for shooting films on beaches, state parks and other state properties. Last year, Film L.A., an organization that handles film permitting in Los Angeles, issued a similar warning to productions in that city.

Tabb Firchau, a drone cinematographer for Free Fly Cinema in Seattle, said he stopped working for hire in the United States because of the F.A.A. restrictions. Since then, he has been shooting commercials and films in Dubai, New Zealand and other countries.

“There’s an entire industry sitting on the fringes, just waiting,” Mr. Firchau said.