Apparently images of drones on the Minneapolis bowling alley amaze the best filmmakers

You don’t usually see a promotional bowling video in general, let alone one that catches the attention of millions of people. But that’s exactly what a video has done for Bryant-Lake Bowl, a Minneapolis bowling alley. The spot has not only gone viral on social media, but has also caught the attention of Hollywood’s best directors who praise the complicated direction and camera work it entails.

The nearly 90-second footage begins with a camera of drones flying over the street off the bowling alley before going down the front doors and zooming inside the building. It starts “Okay, that’s great,” but when you’re halfway there, it’s clear that this isn’t your average drone camera.

With impressive speed, they take us through small openings above the bowling alleys, behind the pin machines, through narrow corridors that no one can ever see, under people’s legs, through the conversations of people, in the bar and the theater, and ultimately on the right. nail yourself in the middle of a flying bowling alley. It is amazing.

In fact, so impressive that it caught the attention of Lee Unkrich (director of the hit film Pixar Coco), who retweeted the video of James Gunn (director of Guardians of the Galaxy), with the two men sharing their dazed reactions.

The amazing film success comes from Minneapolis-based Rally Studios, and was created by cinematographer Jay Christensen and directed by Anthony Jaska. According to Star Tribune, Christensen and Jaska made the short film to help draw attention to local businesses that have been struggling.

“If you think about all the small businesses and COVID, your business has obviously been affected,” Christensen said. “I would go in there and notice it was pretty empty.” The couple contacted the owner of the bowling alley with the idea of ​​showing the uniqueness of the place.

The fast ride inside, outside, up and around the various parts of the bowling alley is dizzyingly great, but the fact that it’s all rolled into a single dam is what gives it that “amazing” feel.

“It’s a real dam,” Jaska told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “There’s no CGI. It was a little interesting. But also its positive nature: people who see the skill it requires and the unique skill it takes to combine the skill of an amazing pilot, the technology of ‘a drone and the story this can really be told by a single shot’.

The perfect shot came after 10 or 12 attempts in a 2 hour period. On March 2 they shot the film after hours (for safety COVID) and added audio after the fact, as the buzzing sound of the drone interfered with the natural sounds of the bowling alley.

According to the Tribune, Christensen had been working hard with the FPV (first-person view) drone camera since last spring, but had never shot images of drones inside, making the feat even more amazing. But as remarkable as the camera task inside the bowling alley is, he said the hardest shot was the first: going through the front door. It was a windy day, he had to make sure there were no pedestrians and he had to maneuver around a parking meter that was right where he wanted the drone to be.

Still, hard work paid off. Todd Vaziri, a visual effects artist who has worked on highly successful franchises such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel, he tweeted: “This kind of wonderful photographic innovation adds to the language and vocabulary of cinema. It’s just beautiful.”

Director James Gunn not only praised the images as “amazing” and “great,” but also said he wanted the duo to join their crew in London when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol fired. 3.

Christensen and Jaska said they have had several directors to get there, which has been a surprise. When asked by the Tribune about working with James Gunn, Jaska said “it sounds crazy, but who knows?”

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