Apparently impossible drone footage in Minneapolis bowling alley amazes top filmmakers

You don’t often see a promotional video for a bowling alley in general, let alone one that catches the attention of millions of people. But that’s exactly what a video made for Bryant-Lake Bowl, a Minneapolis bowling alley, did. The spot has not only gone viral on social media, but it has also been noticed by the best Hollywood directors who praise the tricky direction and the camerawork that comes with it.

The nearly 90-second footage starts with a drone camera hovering above the street outside the bowling alley before diving down through the front doors and zooming into the building. It starts with “Okay, this is cool,” but by the time it’s halfway through, it’s clear this isn’t your average drone camera job.

With impressive speed we are taken through small openings above the bowling alleys, back behind the pin machines, through narrow corridors that no one ever gets to see, under people’s legs, through people’s conversations, around the bar and theater, and finally exactly Dab in the center of some flying bowling pins. It’s impressive.

So impressive, in fact, that it caught the attention of Lee Unkrich (director of the hit Pixar movie Coco), who played the video of James Gunn (director of Guardians of the Universe), with both men sharing their baffled responses to it.

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The startling hit from the Minneapolis-based Rally Studios was created by cinematographer Jay Christensen and directed by Anthony Jaska. According to the Star Tribune, Christensen and Jaska made the short to draw attention to local businesses that are struggling.

“When you think of all the small businesses and COVID, their business is clearly hit,” said Christensen. “I’d go in there and see it was pretty empty.” The pair reached out to the owner of the bowling alley with the idea of ​​showing off the uniqueness of the place.

The fast tour in, out, up and around the different parts of the bowling alley is staggeringly cool, but the fact that it was all recorded in one go gives it that “incredible” feeling.

“It’s a real one-take,” Jaska told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “There is no CGI. That was quite interesting. But also the positive nature of it – people see the skill it takes and the unique ability it takes to combine the skill of a great pilot, the technology of a drone and the story. that can actually be told through a one-take. “

The perfect shot came after 10 or 12 tries in a 2-hour period. They shot the movie after closing time (for COVID safety) on March 2, then added audio afterward, as the drone’s buzzing noise interfered with the natural sounds of the bowling alley.

According to the Tribune, Christensen had been doing a lot of work with FPV (first-person view) drone cameras since last spring, but he had never captured drone images indoors before, which makes the performance all the more incredible. But as remarkable as the camera work in the bowling alley is, he said the hardest shot was actually the very first: coming through the front door. It was a windy day, he had to make sure there were no pedestrians around and he had to maneuver around a parking meter that was exactly where he wanted the drone.

However, the hard work paid off. Todd Vaziri, a visual effects artist who has worked on blockbuster movie franchises such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel, tweeted: “This kind of amazing photographic innovation adds to the language and vocabulary of the film. Just beautiful.”

Director James Gunn not only praised the footage as “incredible” and “awe-inspiring,” he also said he wanted the duo to join his London crew when they play Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Christensen and Jaska said multiple directors have contacted them, which came as a surprise. When the stands asked about the possibility of working with James Gunn, Jaska said it “seems crazy, but who knows?”

Talent is talent, and sometimes it’s found in the strangest places. I look forward to seeing where these guys’ drone work takes them as they explore future projects with the best in the business.