Thursday, April 29, 2021

Ernest Udet as a star in German mountain movies


The mountain movies were a substitute for the war films. They were a face of masculinity and purity, according to which the conquest of the mountains was a symbol of the personal power, in a world that had lost direction. They provided a description of human control over the forces of nature. The addition of aircraft, especially when Ernest Udet flew them, made them much more significant, linking war, the conquest of nature, and aviation, in a symbolic relationship. His appearances in films were a constant reminder to the audience of the romantic heroism of the pilot of the war, and a means of using the character, who, through "will", controls nature and technology. They praised the aircraft as a tool by which human will power was expressed, and as a model of technological achievement.

The mountain movies greatly influenced the design and inculcation of Nazi ideology. Following the First World War, the German psyche was debating the dilemma of wanting to break free from the yoke of the tyrannical regime in the face of the effects of personal chaos. One of the tracks they chose was this genre, which was exclusively German, and which reflected a wide-ranging sporting activity. 


Filmmaker Arnold Punk discovered the genre and had almost a monopoly on it until the end of the Weimar regime. Punk was a geologist by profession, and a mountaineering enthusiast. He even sought to spread his faith in the towering peaks and dangerous climbs on them, and relied on actors and technicians who had themselves become excellent alpinists. Among the best known were Lenny Riefenstahl and Lewis Trunker. The mountains as a symbol were already an element in expressionist cinema, but he was interested in real mountains. 


Punk initially created, in the years 1920-1923, a trilogy that showed the beauty and joy that is in mountain sports, and this in spectacular field photography, which was a stark contrast to the typical studio films of the period. Punk later showed greater interest in combining the emotional passion in the sights of the peaks and abysses, and in the human conflicts that arise in distress. Each year brought with it another mountain drama. 


The message conveyed by Punk matched the mood of many Germans, who even before World War II found refuge in the Alps from their daily routine, and climbed to the peaks in order to look down on contempt. They were more than athletes. They were zealous believers, who performed cult rituals. They were characterized by heroic idealism which, as a result of blindness to more tangible ideals, was embodied in this tourism industry. Punk developed the mountainous survival narrative further and further, bringing it to the pinnacles of fanatical and nationalist emotion, in a way that overlapped with Nazi ideology. Scenes of heroism and heroic sacrifice, civilian and military, became dominant. The protagonist in them was released from his hesitations, and the transformation that the audience underwent was one of release from complications after a temporary paralysis attack created by the camera stunts. The development of this narrative reflected, above all, the pro-Nazi wave that intensified in German cinema in the early 1930s. 


Lenny Riefenstahl continued to star in Punk, inspiring them to her films, among the first of which were also mountain films, in which she also starred in these. The mystical-primitive experience stands out, such as [1932] ''Das Blaue Licht''. In this film Riefenstahl directs herself, as a reclusive Italian country girl suspected of being a witch, as she climbs the mountains alone, and the village men who try to follow her fall to their deaths. On full moon nights she reaches a cave full of crystals that emit blue light. She befriends a German painter, who discovers the cave, tells about it to the villagers, who loot it, thereby causing her suicide. 


Luis Trunker, another Punk star, also turned to an independent career, starting to create and star in his own mountain movies. In Trunker, military heroism stands out, as in [1931] ''Berge in Flammen''. The plot of this film is about two mountain climbers, an Austrian and an Italian, who before the First World War climbed the Alps together, but in the war fought each other. 


The sacred mountain stars in many traditions and myths of all religions. It is related to the hero archetype. Of the four elements, it is most closely related to the element of air. Nietzsche is considered the mountain and air poet. The color of the snowy mountains is white, the color of light in which all the colors unite. White symbolizes the innocent primordial state, and the final state of integration. The films of the time were still shot in black and white, which highlighted these mythical qualities. After the white color comes the red color, the color of the Nazi flag.


All of these contributed to the fusion of the mountainous subculture with the Hitlerite subculture. The mountain movies were a response to the military and economic crisis of the 1920s, which was particularly pronounced in the field of aviation. They were used to promote aviation and militarism. The pilot was also used to redefine the masculinity figure, which is based on self-confidence, iron nerves, and ignoring dangers, traits that were also typical of those of the mountain climber. Hitler established his spacious vacation home, with a small movie theater, in Berghof in the Alps. Berghof became a well-fortified compound, where his associates also lived and his headquarters operated. On a cliff at the top of the mountain was another small residence, called "The Eagles' Nest", which was a place for solitude. Hitler did not engage in skiing and dangerous mountain climbing, but he did a lot of hiking on the trails that were paved on the mountain. 


Ernest Udet was already a well-known character when he started acting in mountain movies. At the same time, the importance of aviation has gained much momentum in public opinion. Arnold Punk was not naive on the matter. He admired Udet, and knew that his appearance would open a chapter of military history in his mvies, with all the consequences. The geopolitical developments of the period were intertwined with the debate over the future of aviation. The restrictions imposed on Germany under the Treaty of Versailles were in stark contrast to the development trends in the Allied countries. The number of German aircraft it in the 1920s was small, but the Germans did not interested so much flying machines as in the pride involved, the sense of power, and the unstoppable desire. Aviation was a recipe for education, and shaping a future nation, prior to military armament. Like the 19th century railway revolution, the plane was also designed to pump blood to the nation's arteries, unleashing its potential. From here it was also a short way to the theory of ''Living Space''.


The airspace created new possibilities for Germany's aspirations for power and self-defense. All that was needed for that purpose was a determined will, along with appropriate propaganda, that used the most powerful tool at its disposal, cinema. The pilot became the archetypal colleague of the mountain climber. Together they left the viewers feeling hyperactive. The pilot was not just a knight. He was an industrialist, well aware of the power of machines in modern life. He symbolized the new pace of life, and the fusion of man with the machine. 


Comparing the qualities of the modern pilot to the qualities of a mountain climber the balance clearly leaned in favor of the former. Punk movies between the years 1929-1933 are not just examples of the continuity of the genre. They are an expression of the social stalemate crisis, which could be resolved through the pilot's liberated dynamics. The presence of the aviation star, along with the aerial photography, enabled the broadening of horizons, which erases all claustrophobia. With Udet's help, viewers regained the sense of mobility they had lost. He does not look like the ideal Hero. He was short, only 160 cm tall and round, but he was the epitome of professionalism in aviation.


In the film [1927] ''Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü'', despite the recurring narrative in the Arnold Punk movies, there are significant upgrades compared to his previous movies. The heavy and extroverted symbolism of his previous works, as in the [1926] ''Der heilige Berg'', is replaced here by a more realistic and vital approach. The mountain is a real mountain, not a metaphysical place of challenge and salvation. The result is more realistic and compelling. However the plot narrative is similar, and will repeat next time as well. At its center are a man and a woman, and their struggle to get out of a snowstorm with their colleagues. The storm causes them to make mistakes in their way, and in addition disrupts the minds of the weak among them. They try to escape on their own, but the result is a fall into the abyss. After the rescue squad fails to arrive, despite its many efforts, it alll depend on the pilot in the air. After lengthy searches, he finds the trapped people and helps rescue them. The pilot is not part of the social circle of climbers. He arrives quickly from a distance, from the big city, and has the resilience and ability to be resourceful in lost situations. ''Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü'' was an artistic and commercial success, returning pride to German cinema. At the same time, he promoted the aircraft, as a machine with performance capabilities that no others have. The movie was released during the stock market crash in October 1929, and is one of the last silent films. As part of the mountain films starring udet, it combined also the transition from silent film to sound films, which created a severe crisis in the German film industry. 


[1930] ''Stürme über dem Mont Blanc'' is the second of four mountain films with Ernest Udet as the rescue pilot. He won many compliments for his role, breaking records for daring flights over the landscapes of the Alps, which gave the movie its dramatic power. The compliments fit into the overall critique, praising the physical and cinematic achievements that have reached highest peaks. This movie, like the others, emphasizes the vital need for speed and agility that the aircraft imparts, as opposed to the slowness and awkwardness of mountain climbers. The plot is about a meteorological station manager at the top of the mountain, caught in a storm and slowly freezes to death, but manages to broadcast a call for help. The rescuers are delayed due to the storm, but the pilot comes to the rescue. The criticism in the New York Times was: ''Steel cliffs rise in the snow, the clouds pile up at their feet ... glaciers intertwined in cracks. A plane is struggling in a path over the mountains, in the middle of a fierce storm." The power of the machine and the will of the pilot are learned from this review.


The success of these two movies convinced a German studio to collaborate with Hollywood, and create the [1933] ''S.O.S Eiesberg'', which takes place in Greenland. The views of the sea glaciers replace the views of the Alps. The plot formula is similar, the director and crew are almost identical, and even the names of the plot heroes are similar. Udet appears by his real name. In this movie, a delegation sets out to search for the lost diaries of an ice-currents researcher. The expedition gets stuck on a floating glacier, and personal attempts to reach the shore, to the nearby Eskimo village, fail. The pilot of the team, who is the girlfriend of the head of the delegation, and played by Lenny Riefenstahl, also fails to rescue them. The one who finally does it is Udet. Riefenstahl is also the female protagonist in the previous two films with Udet. In this last movie of him with Punk, the plot is less important. The main protagonists are nature and the airplane, and there is almost no dialogue. Punk designed a huge nature painting, over which technology hovers. It was the main source of success. The natural landscapes are revealed in full drama through the pilot's constant search for the survivors. 


The last mountain film in which Udet participated was [1935] ''Wunder des Fliegens: Der Film eines deutschen Fliegers'', created after becoming an active Nazi. It's a propaganda film about a young glider pilot, the son of a war pilot who perished in the war, who crashes in the heart of the Alps, and Udet is called to rescue him. He is the main character, and recreates his resume. The young pilot actor role is done by the one who starred in the best-known Nazi propaganda film, produced by Carl Ritter, [1932] ''Hitlerjunge Quex''.  


''Wunder des Fliegen'' was created at the initiative of the Luftwaffe. The pathetic and emotional message is prominent. Praises for heroism, fame and adventure appear again and again. Udet can be found in almost every scene. The hero of the war also indulges in memories of the past by a collection of images displayed in a long scene. In the flashback, Richhofen can also be seen for a short time, while figure is slightly dwarfed compared to Udet. The aerobatic stunt pilot Udet appears in many scenes. Various sequences from his previous movies help serve this purpose. 


All flying skills in mountain movies are important, but the main skill is aerial observation. Again and again the pilot is seen scanning, with his sharp eyes, the surface of the landscape, in search of a sign of life of the survivors, lost in the snow. This can be linked to the Nazi skill in espionage. Reinhard Heydrich was a fighter pilot who specialized in reconnaissance flights, while having a secret information folder about every important figure. 


Between ''Stürme über dem Mont Blanc'' and ''S.O.S Eiesberg'', Ernest Udet also planned to participate in an international production of a flight film over Mount Everest. After this plan did not materialize, in 1931 he made a filmed flight journey to the African steppes, creating a film and photo album under the name: ''Fremde Vögel Über Afrika''. The film consists, for the most part, of aerial footage of wild herds in Africa as they roam and flee across the savannahs. The filming became a real adventure, after the crews ran into many technical glitches. Short excerpts from the film are combined in the 26-27 minutes of the movie ''Wunder des Fliegen'', together with scenes from ''S.O.S Eiesberg''.




Wednesday, April 28, 2021

NANO SPY DRONE Mosquito Drone from U S Military




Monday, April 26, 2021

Myths and archetypes in cinema - the case of Ernest Udet


Many central archetypes operate in the individual psyche and society: the feminine-masculine, the evil, the almighty hero, and the Sacrifice Savior. The archetypes operate in the woman's psyche as in the man's psyche. As reality becomes more complex, the need for archetypes becomes more important.

Cinema is a place where the myth clearly stands out. We need heroes to identify with, and film actors sometimes become a model for human lives. Famous actors are like cultural archetypes. They guide us over time as a stable mythological model, where they are more important than the various characters they replace on screen.

Many actors, because their personality is built around the persona of the actor and not around their true self, fail to form a strong enough personality. The imaginary may also cause the actor over-pride and arrogance. In many cases, the adoption of the character of the false hero is very easy, for the actor and the fans, but the disillusionment is very difficult. This is also because commercial cinema underestimates the depiction of grim reality.

Ernest Udet was an example of such a star. He, too, was endowed with a personality that was not strong enough in relation to the persona of his actor. In many cases, the adoption of the character of the false hero is very easy, for the actor and the fans, but the disillusionment is very difficult. The original myth that is appropriate for comparison in the context of the Nazi regime is the legend of Daedalus and Icarus.

Modern cinema deals extensively with archetypal-mythological models of male-female relationships. The anime and the animus strive in these films to connect into one complete being. In every culture we will find that the myth revolves around opposing pairs, which are binary pairs like life-death, man-god, heaven-earth, blessing-curse and more. The inclusion of opposites is the key to individuation, the wholeness of the self, which is the goal of every individual.

The archetype of the opposing duo has deep roots in popular and military culture: the brotherhood of the warrior duo, the warrior bond with his weapon, and the brotherhood of the unit and the nation. The nature of close ties is flexible. In Udet's case, he was in competition with Herman Goering for the role of squadron commander and failed. Later, during his Nazi career as a senior general, he was in a contest, in which he also lost, against Erhard Milch, for his proximity to Goering and control of the Ministry of Aviation.

Each archetype also receive a negative aspect, which may take over. The magic of evil is a magnet for filmmakers. In the mountain movies, in which Ernest Udet got his fame as a hero pilot, the captives must be rescued at almost any cost. In the face of demonic evil forces one must embark on an active and collective struggle of survival. If at the same time the protagonist manages to maintain a photographic and human brotherhood, and inner forces develop in him, the journey is an initiation into life.

An archetypal duo associated with evil, and an important component of the fighter pilot myth, is the "hunter and prey". Richthofen described in detail his teenage experiences as a cavalryman and hunter, as the primary basis for his flying skills and military leadership. Herman Goering was filmed as a proud pilot alongside a plane he shot down. Hunting is proof of masculinity. It legitimize the abandonment of the sacred connection to others. It encourages a violent mentality. Hunting is also an expression of the ability to disengage from religion.

The military hero embodies the best qualities that the younger generation seeks to instill. The warriors were a focal point of admiration in every generation, in their lives and deaths. Their qualities were focused on one character, who was an exemplary public and a savior, and took on a mythical character. A particularly revered hero is a superhero, omnipotent, with superhuman powers. Behind the character of the superhero is the personality of the magician archetype, powerful, omnipotent, and with a variety of appearances. A situation in which the "I" identifies with the archetype of the magician creates something that does not belong to him. It's inflating the self beyond its dimensions. Man becomes in his own eyes a supreme man. Archetypes have intense and non-personal energetic power. The temptation to be drawn into identification with the magician's personality is inversely related to self-confidence, ego power, and self-awareness.

Germany's famous aircraft squadron in the First World War was nicknamed the "Flying Circus". Its pilots were among the elite of German officers, who adhered to military and moral code, which was expressed in strict adherence to military norms and integrity. Many of them came from the ranks of the German nobility. Richthofen belonged to a noble family with Prussian military heritage. The flying circus officers were unable to put on the wizard mask. The aura of the superhero did not suit them. The trickster archetype suited. The cunning clown, who is a part of magician archetype, was suitable for their image in the general population.

The German society in crisis needed a leader to connect the character of the trickster to the character of the hero. This was Adolf Hitler, who understood his role well. The former corporal was able to inflate his ego without being blamed. This attracted to him and to the Nazi movement all the shadow forces, which are expressed in an aspiration for honor, control, superiority, competition and power, and are characterized by exploitation and deception. The parallel between Hitler and the archetypal magician figure exists in the context of other archetypal figures, such as the almighty hero, the trickster clown, the hunter and the hunted, and the Sacrifice Savior. All are popular in the German folk tradition.

One of the dangers of being the magician archetype is narcissistic, arrogant and forceful arrogance. Goering's pompous figure, Hess' lust for control flying to Britain on his own, and Udet's debauchery were all expressions of this. As long as the hero has no other way to deal with life, he needs his grandiosity. But the magician denies his feelings, and operates in primitive mechanisms of denial and division. He therefore avoids the integration of real emotions, and a real adaptation to reality. As a person he is superficial and lonely. He is connected to technology as compensation. He is a technological hero. He is stuck in a kind of adolescence. His personality is characterized by immature idealization, and immature faith in the future, from which idealism and over-boldness that know no bounds may develop.

The comic books with the blatant graphic illustrations are one of the important sources for the super heroes of the movies. For example, Batman and Superman were heroes of comic books before becoming heroes of movie series. Today's superheroes began as illustrations, and received most of their grandiose design and power in cinema. Ernest Odet was a gifted cartoonist. Carl Ritter, the important Nazi filmmaker and agitator who made nearly a hundred films, and was also a fighter pilot and flight instructor, started as the owner of a graphics studio. Hitler was a painter, and his graphic ambitions were the source of his spiritual power.

A major motif that characterizes comic book characters like Superman, Spiderman and Batman, is that they have super-virtuoso powers. Their abilities express the urge to break free from the limitations of human existence and take off beyond them. The mythical motif of supernatural flight expresses it. The desire for super natural flight pushed humanity on its path to evolution. Aviation joined this desire. Early commentators used the mythological legend of Daedalus and Icarus as a metaphor for describing its achievements. The Nazi's miracle weapons, on which they hung their hopes, after the great failures of the Luftwaffe, were also mostly aviation: the jet, the rocket interceptor, the cruise missile, the ballistic missile, the long-range bomber, and more. The "bad guys", the Allies, had flying abilities that turned out to be even more powerful. As such, they challenged the Nazis even more.

One can look at superheroes from the perspective of a narcissistic disorder. Of lack in parental love, which creates a bond in creating a relationship and empathy for other and reinforces a sense of insecurity, seeking compensation in a fantasy about. Modern consumer and impersonal society encourages this fantasy by fierce achievement competition. The impulse is not an authentic inner fulfillment, but a victory over the other, who is sometimes also endowed with the same superpower. As a result of this extremism, the bad guys are utter villains. The grandiose urge may excite all evil forces in the psyche. 

One of the other dangers of the magician archetype is over-narcissistic, arrogant and forceful pride. As long as the hero has no other way to deal with life, he needs his grandiosity. But the magician denies his feelings, and operates in primitive mechanisms of denial and division. He therefore avoids the integration of real emotions and a real adaptation to reality. As a person he is superficial and lonely. He is connected to technology as compensation. He is a technological hero. He is stuck in adolescence. His personality is characterized by immature idealization and immature faith in the future, from which idealism and over-boldness that know no bounds may develop. Evil Hitler, Goering's pompous figure, Hess' lust for control who flew to Britain on his own, and Udet's debauchery, were all manifestations of this.

The negative hero is a double of the positive hero. They wear masks, which hide their true identity. They run away from painful emotions and translate them into an urge for revenge. The Nazis wore masks. They hid, for example, the rearmament of the army and the re-establishment of the Luftwaffe, as much as they could. They deceived the leaders and peoples of Czechoslovakia and Austria and conquered their countries. The Holocaust took place under the guise of fraud, when the victims were allegedly sent to labor camps, and up to the last minute did not really believe that this was their end.

The evil hero is a double of the good hero, as in the split of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", which is one of the descriptions of Nazi society. The cognitive ability to sharpen contradictions is the base for creating symbols. Every archetypal element in human life is double-faced. Each archetype also receive opposite aspect, which may take over. In many mythical stories, the source of evil is the clinging to a particular object as the sole source of satisfaction from the ego's desires. In the "Ring of the Nibelungs" myth, for example, the ring allows him to be enslaved to greed, and is therefore eventually thrown back into the waters of the Rhine. In other stories, the source of evil is the unbearable, governmental, parental or communal hierarchy.

The magic of evil is a magnet for filmmakers. The evil theme in Ernest Udet's films is that of the egocentric desires. In all the mountain films, the protagonists' feelings regarding the rescue of their loved ones, who are trapped in the storm, are described in detail. The answer is the same in all movies: rescue the trapped, even at the cost of sacrificing life. In the face of demonic evil forces one must embark on an active and collective struggle of survival. If at the same time the protagonist manages to maintain his humanity and positive inner forces are developed in him, the journey is an initiation to life.

The Nazis, in the name of this opposing egocentric desires, became addicted to the forces of control and power. They preferred the mythical principle over human existence. They set out on a crusade into heaven, which was also a crusade against the infidels in their faith. Therefore in Udet's case, the evil ego from which he was freed in the movies reappeared in his failed private life.

The Comics magazines are  an important source of the movies' mythological heroes. For example, Batman and Superman were heroes of comic books before becoming heroes in movies. . The comic book heroes draw power from small, rejected animals, which have a hidden power: a spider for Spiderman, and a bat for Batman. The identification with a weak and mysterious animal allows for a metamorphosis in the hero's soul.

A small animal with metamorphic power is the bird. The young generation of Germany in the Weimar Republic developed state-of-the-art gliders and flying techniques which imitated the flight of birds. They discovered, among other things, the hot air thermals, which birds use to soar in circles. In this way the gliders broke many distance records during the 1920s. Otto Lilienthal, the Jewish pilot who built gliders with wings that mimic the wings of a bird, was immortalized in a magnificent burial shrine.

In fairy tales miraculous events take place that save the heroes. The rescuer can be an external figure, but at the same time the statement comes true: "God helps those who help themselves." Moreover, the path is often more important than the goal. The messages around embarking on a journey are complex. It is difficult to know whether the master is a deceiver who intended to plunge the hero into the abyss, or whether the fall is a way to mobilize mental resources. It is faith and effort that bring salvation. The Red Baron, and the silver aerobatic plane that Udet brought from the United States, were such guides. It was impossible to argue with the Nazi fantasy, because it was part of their ability to survive.

The journey with the guide leads to the theme of the Sacrifice Savior. The myth of the victim is ancient, and has many meanings, both positive and negative. It involves the sacrificial archetype. When a person sacrifices himself, there is an identity between him and the world, and this is the key to a new consciousness. Often self-sacrifice comes as compensation for the sin of pride.

The spirit of sacrifice is one of the qualities of fighter pilots, and it was nurtured by the Nazi regime. Death while flying, in battle or as a result of a technical malfunction, or human error, often occurred at the beginning of the aviation era. The pilots were therefore perceived as sacrificing their lives voluntarily, as Sacrifice Saviors. Richthofen's death made him a myth. The official denial of Ernest Udet's suicide was sweeping, and it was reported that he died in a flight accident. Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide with a cyanide pill. So did Goering at the end of the Nuremberg trial. They have all voluntarily sacrificed themselves. 

Since the Savior Sacrifice motif is a powerful archetype, it emanates from the self even without conscious intention. The shape of the airplane resembles the cross of Christ, which is a major source of self-sacrifice. The Germans were only a few months away from completing the development of their wonder weapons, when a turning point occurred in the war that led to their defeat. The German people were driven, at the very end, by a powerful unconsciousness.



Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Abe Karem - The Father of The Predator UAV



It was almost inevitable that Mr Karem would become an aerospace engineer. He built model aircraft at school, inspired by a teacher who had flown in a British Lancaster bomber during the second world war. Mr Karem went on to study aeronautics at Technion, Israel’s prestigious Institute of Technology, and then joined the Israeli Air Force. 

Within 13 years of graduating, Mr Karem had completed and deployed 16 projects, mostly conversions of jet fighters to add new weapons or capabilities. “In Israel at that time, we averaged six months from an idea to completion of flight testing,” he says. “Military programmes in the United States now typically take over 20 years to achieve first operation.” 

Mr Karem also built his first drone. During the Yom Kippur war of 1973, Israeli fighter-bombers attacking Egypt and Syria were being stopped by Russian-made air defences. Israel needed a fast decoy drone to activate the defensive radar systems, so they could then be hit using anti-radiation missiles. Mr Karem’s team designed, built and flew such a drone in just one month.

When Mr Karem arrived in America from Israel in 1977, the Pentagon had almost given up on robotic planes. At the time its most promising UAV, the Aquila, needed 30 people to launch it, flew for just minutes at a time and crashed on average every 20 flight hours. “It was insanity itself,” says Mr Karem. “It was obvious to me they were going to crash because they had 30 people doing something that could be done better by three.” 

Critically the drone, code-named Albatross, was developed by a handful of engineers, and operated by a team of just three. “Doing things with the absolute smallest team increases the chance that you’re not going to screw up,” says Mr Karem. “Nothing replaces highly talented people—white-hot passionate thinkers in love with doing challenging things.” 

After a flight test during which Albatross remained aloft for 56 hours, DARPA, the research arm of America’s armed forces, funded Mr Karem to scale it up into a more capable drone called Amber. It, in turn, evolved into the modern Predator.

Mr Karem founded a company, Leading Systems, in the garage of his Los Angeles home and began work on a drone that would ultimately transform the way America wages war. It was built in an intentionally low-tech manner, using plywood, home-made fibreglass and a two-stroke engine of the kind normally found in go-karts. “I wanted to prove that performance is largely a result of inspired design and highly optimised and integrated subsystems, not the application of the most advanced technology,” he says...full article


Genesis of the Predator UAV

The Man Who Invented the Predator


Monday, April 19, 2021

New York City Drone Film Festival winners


2019 #NYCDFF WINNERS

EXTREME SPORTS CATEGORY
GOOD MORNING
by RICHARD PERMIN, MAXIME MOULIN & ANTOINE FRIOUX



Sunday, April 18, 2021

New York City Drone Film Festival

 

2019 #NYCDFF WINNERS

CINEMATIC FPV CATEGORY & BEST IN SHOW

MOABLASTER 2 - THE STORM by AIRBLASTR




Saturday, April 17, 2021

The Madrid Drone Film Festival


Drones have become a force to be reckoned with in the film industry. This festival will showcase the incredible work that can be accomplished using this technology from around the world.




Thursday, April 15, 2021

2D RUN - Mixed Motion Project


2D RUN - Mixed Motion Project, Ilko Iliev [Bulgaria] - Award in 2017 annual Flying Robot international Film Festival in San Francisco.
 



Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Boston Drone Film Festival - 2019 GRAND PRIZE WINNER

 

                                 


Saturday, April 10, 2021

Fiona Banner - Scroll Down and keep Scrolling Experience


The video is simply of a journal left in a street and its browsing journey with wind generated by a drone which hover above. In the gallery, it was a huge video projection that occupied big part of the wall.


 


Friday, April 09, 2021

seagulls by Mato Atom


This short film from Mato Atom is a metaphor for the dangerous side of drones. disturbing not simply because of the future it depicts, but because of the unsettling imagery used to paint it. Narrated in missives from a drone, the flying eye in the sky proves to be stalking a young girl, watching her grow into a young woman and then confronting her on the beach.     



Thursday, April 08, 2021

Grounded - play

An unexpected pregnancy ends an ace fighter pilot’s career in the sky. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorists by day and returns to her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols half a world away.



Wednesday, April 07, 2021

bitplane by Bureau of Inverse Technology



A radio-controlled airplane, equipped with a video camera and transmitter was launched, In 1997, on a series of sorties over the Silicon Valley in California. 
Guided by the live video feed from the plane, the pilot on the ground was able to steer the plane deep into the glittering heartlands of the Information Age. They were critiquing the economics of the area, the infrastructure of technology, the sites where secret research takes place, the locales where aircraft systems are thought-up and built. 
The bitplane sidestepped regulations.It was illegal to fly remotely controlled aircraft within 5 miles of an airport. There were 3 airports within 5 miles of the bitplane flight path. The bitplane also violated FCC communications regulations by transmitting live video on a cable television channel, which somewhat brilliantly, inserted the bitplane‘s “gods-eye view” of the Silicon Valley into the regularly-scheduled television viewing of the households below its flight path. 
The bitplane exposed layers of policing and control over what seemed to be transparent airspace. Bureau of Inverse Technology‘s work revealed the growing capabilities of UAV technologies, but also uses these very capabilities to turn the gaze towards the manifucturers and users of these devices. 
 This is a classic act of tactical media, a form of activist art practice, that goes beyond mere revelation, and actively intervenes within a system deemed to be morally, politically or ethically problematic.

Sunday, April 04, 2021

''The Giver'' [2014]


''The Giver'' [2014] is dystopian film, where drones monitor citizens and inform them of rule-breaking.





Saturday, April 03, 2021

''Drones'' [2013]


Drones is a 2013 American thriller film. Two Airmen are tasked with deciding the fate of a terrorist with a single push of a button. As the action plays out in real time, their window to use a deadly military drone on the target slowly closes. With time running out, the Airmen begin to question what the real motives are behind the ordered lethal attack.


    


Friday, April 02, 2021

Mohajer [1990]


Iranian movie - A man who controls small airplanes to detect Iraq's front line is put in jeopardy of not being able to return.

  
 


Thursday, April 01, 2021

Full Contact (2015


French drone pilot flies drones in the Middle East from Nevada in the United States. He carries out a drone strike on a building to kill a terrorist inside, but he discovers afterward that the building was a school for boys.