The best drone videos in Wichita

An article in Thursday’s Eagle talks about all the legal wrangling and business implications of drones in Wichita. But let’s not forget what these drones are really about for most of us: Seeing some really pointless but awesome video footage of places that previously were accessible only to rich men in helicopters. Preferably they should be set to music and the best ones edited down to a minute or two. Enjoy.

Riverfest Fireworks

The footage is a bit long but some of the shots get right up next to the explosions, which is a beautiful perspective we’re not used to seeing. But where is the sound?

Wichita Coyote

This is a poem about the solitary beauty of a coyote lounging and scrambling in an open field somewhere in Wichita. This video does everything good drone art should do: it takes us to a world where coyotes are hanging out rather than running away from us, which we can’t normally see; it’s short and its brasswind music emphasizes the mood of discovery, as if we’re watching “Peter and the Wolf,” but the main character was a coyote. The footage is high resolution, smooth and balances close shots with the coyote framed against the sunrise.

Keeper of the Plains

Nobody needs to see more shots of the Keeper of the Plains. But if you skip to about 1:20 in, you get an overhead shot which shows you the colors and sedimentation of the river and the strangely transfixing symmetry of Wichita’s famous landscape architecture.

Joyland Amusement Park

Watch as the now-closed amusement park is, with just a touch of creepy bell music, turned into the opening of a Stephen King movie or a non-animated Tim Burton film. This is so good someone really could just add a menacing voice over on top and it would suffice for a movie preview that I would pay money to see.

Jackson Elementary as a 1980s school

This video really should not make the top drone footage in Wichita but its use of some ’80s-style electronic synthesizers while hovering above a school evokes Depeche Mode and all the great coming-of-age movies they can’t seem to make anymore, such as “The Breakfast Club.” Just don’t watch it for very long or expect clean, clear footage. Or to see anything visually appealing.

It’s not as easy as it looks

These videos may make drone art look easy, but watch this video of random people throwing a football in Wichita and see how shaky and terrible drone footage can be. I particularly enjoy the moment 16 seconds in when the drone crashes. But don’t worry it crashes again at 1:33 if you miss the first one.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 9:30 AM with the headline "The best drone videos in Wichita."