Film Review: Drones in My Backyard, by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, Producers

Abstract

There is no doubt that the increasing ubiquity of drones for both professional and nonprofessional uses is a timely topic. From that standpoint, the video Drones in My Backyard by Snitow-Kaufman Productions (Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman) helps highlight several salient points. However, at just thirteen minutes running time, it barely scratches the surface of the important issues and implications of drone use. The case cover labels Drones a "film," but I would label it a short video.The video begins with the narrator seeing a drone flying in his backyard and wondering what it's doing there. It then launches into a series of snippets featuring different uses of drones, each somewhat interesting but seemingly in random order with no narrative thread connecting them. For example, it begins with references to drones becoming "part of everyday life" in Pakistan and Gaza, a segment that lasts barely thirty seconds before going on to a graphic of what it says are drone casualties from "America's undeclared wars" and asks whether "armed drones are coming to American skies." For a minute-literally-the viewer might think the video is about drone use by the U.S. military, although the mention of Gaza does not accurately fit in that context.But as soon as the casualties graphic is finished, the video moves on to a "Drone Hobbyist" who shows how to make one out of ordinary materials like wiffle balls and plastic food containers. While continuing with footage of the do-it-yourself drones, the narration goes on to list various uses of drones by such disparate groups as the (U.S.) Forest Service, farmers, and archaeologists, and then raising in the next sentence the notion of drones being used for "mass surveillance and long-distance killing."From there, we see aerial footage taken from drones and the various ways such visuals could be used-to experience the feeling of flight, for example. We hear from an attorney who points out that the questions raised by drone use are not just the drones themselves but the cameras on board. We are told about drones that fly so high they cannot be detected from the ground, and we are shown scary footage of a drone equipped with a submachine gun. Shortly after, we see a clip of a Chinese woman smiling as a drone chases her through a building-a clip with Chinese subtitles but, curiously, not in English.