The California Drought: A Missed Opportunity for Drone Journalism
When I think of effective drone usage, I think of fly-overs that tell the stories of large geographical areas — construction sites, football arenas, oceanic expanses, giant cornfields.
Dried-up lakes. Mountains nearly devoid of snow. Neighborhoods that appear as though they exist in the Dust Bowl era. These are the images that drone footage would capture if we sent one over California’s Central Valley today. What better way to show the extreme effects of water shortage across the landscape?
CBS News has captured incredible images to tell the story of the drought crisis, compiled together in a slideshow. Some of the most telling images are small stories in and of themselves. All together, they document a terrifying crisis, indeed.
These images are undoubtedly powerful, but it can be easy to confuse stills as “stuck in time”, singular moments, rather than a group of tools that tell a larger, more whole story. To more powerfully and completely illustrate the water shortage— that is, to connect the photos geographically and regionally — drone footage would be necessary.
In the first photo, for instance, imagine we fly a drone just above the tractor and traveling at the same speed. We gradually pull the drone (and attached camera) up to reveal that the tractor is collecting golf balls. Then we pull up again, and out, away from the head of the tractor, to reveal the barren, gray land that was once a lush golf course. This would tell much more of the story, as opposed to the still image, which is virtually useless without a descriptive caption.
Imagine similar drone applications for the remaining two photos. Then consider that this recorded footage could become B-roll for a piece on the CBS Evening News. Gone are the detached, motionless images and dry captions. Now we’ve got the reporter in living rooms taking viewers there with captivating, expansive imagery and strong audible notes to match.
When drone usage is done well, it can tell a story more forcefully than standard images, video or text could do alone. And in the case of California’s Central Valley, drone usage is well-warranted.
