The internet is chock full of video content. The challenge remains: how can YOU create content that will cut through all the noise? The best drone footage is how. Imagine if I told you about a way your content could literally SOAR above all the rest with one easy to find tool? That tool? The drone, of course! Let’s find out why.

You’ve surely seen some of the best drone video footage before, and noted that it looked pretty good. Add a little more inspiration into it and you’ll have drone footage that’ll take your content “high above” the rest — pun intended. All you’ll have to do is work some best drone video footage elements onto your shot list. I’ve pulled together some of the coolest looking and flat-out BEST drone video footage from around the internet. Let’s give it all a quick look and get your content inspired.

drone footage

Best drone video footage

There are a lot of different categories we can break the best drone videos into. Top-down drone footage seems like one of the most popular styles.

So, let's begin there.

Check out this video 2D RUN - MMP 3 by ilko 'ill' iliev:

Like a video game

This is some of the best drone video footage out there right now. By match-cutting top-down drone shots of various subjects, the filmmakers have taken viewers to a new place using drone footage.

One really cool section in here is when the figure scales down a structure, upside down at around 1:35. We get some very unique, almost otherworldly looking drone footage:

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - 2D Run MMP3 Top down drone footage

Shots like this made 2D Run one of the craziest drone videos

At 0:37 we get the "2D video game" treatment. This introduces a new, retro video idea into the mix: augmenting the drone shot with animation. Opening up many possibilities for product tie-ins or a nostalgia trip.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Top down video game of Yore

Here's a view from a drone that evokes a top-down video game

Speaking of nostalgia...

drone shots for story

Watch the entire narrative unfold

A drone video can be more than a birds-eye-view or an awesome stunt. Check out the video Drone Star Wars by Corridor Digital:

Star Wars

Rigging Star Wars toys onto drones to create faux cockpits, Corridor recreates the iconic X-Wing/Tie Fighter sequence from the film. This creates a sense of scale and perspective.

An entire narrative unfolds using some of the best drone video footage.

By incorporating physical and visual effects into your drone shots, you can create something totally fresh and original.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Drone augmented cockpit R2D2 Star Wars

Using scale models and miniatures in your drone video footage can lead to countless creative video ideas and possibilities.

watching from above

A fly on the wall... or in the air...

You’ve maybe heard the phrase “fly on the wall” as it applies to documentary filmmaking. It’s an attempt to take in what’s happening from a safe distance, without affecting it.

Drone video footage is perfect for achieving this.

Here’s an example of how the drone operators of the #NoDAPL gather some of the best drone video footage of the construction sites. This is #NoDAPL Drones Monitor North Dakota Police by AJ+

Drones in action

Drone video footage is a great way to gain visual access to something that would otherwise be difficult to reach.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - NoDAPL political purpose

Drone videos can serve a political purpose

The #NoDAPL got some of the best drone video footage and used it to provide a look at what was happening with the hotly contested construction site.

How else can you use the camera to establish story, theme, even political purpose? Check out some different viewpoints and camera angles below.

CAMERA ANGLES

Get Inspired. Explore More Angles.

Explore the different types of camera angles, and learn how to combine them with other shot specs for visual storytelling.

Different Types of Camera Angles 

What is an Overhead Shot - Camera Angles - Camera Angles - Camera Angles - StudioBinder Camera Shots & Movements

Overhead Shot

Omniscience

What is an Aerial Shot or Birds Eye View Shot - Camera Angles - Camera Angles - Camera Angles - StudioBinder Camera Shots & Movements

Aerial Shot

Awe & Scale

hard to get places

Where no drone video has gone before

The best drone video footage often features hard to get places. Or places you wouldn't want to get at all.

This drone video, Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl by Danny Cook takes us to a place few will ever go. The drone footage here has the unique ability to give us a look into this frozen abandoned world.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Frozen abandoned world

The Drone Shots provide a chilling look at a devastated world

What else can a drone show us that we can't see any other way?

This video DJI Phantom - Niagara Falls by questpact gives us a rare angle of the majestic waterfall:

The insanity of Niagara

From this angle the waterfall starts to look abstract; almost alien. Something that has been seen many times by many generations can suddenly be seen in an entirely fresh way.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Epic Niagara Falls alien waterfall

This is one of the more epic drone videos out there.

The natural world provides many strange and inspiring looks.

Not all of them are easy or affordable to reach, but they can add a new element to content that truly pops.

Take a look at this video Dj Phantom flies into Volcano by Shaun O’Callaghan:

Volcano in action

Another dramatic and hard to get look at nature, creating more of the most unique and flat out best drone video footage available.

best drone video footage

Capture breathtaking landscapes

Drone footage can pretty much replace the 'helicopter shot' at this point. Australia - The Eagle Eye from Wild Pacific Media provides breathtaking landscapes. Take a look below:

A look at Australia

There is one shot in the drone video that is inverted and it creates a bizarrely beautiful image.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Helicopter shot Australia

Another epic drone video with creative angles

The drone’s ability to capture great natural beauty is on full display in this video. By changing angles and flipping the horizon entirely new strange images are created. Drones also do an excellent job recreating the “helicopter shot” at a much lower cost.

Check out this reel from Bergen County Aerial to see how effective a drone shot can be doing just that. Take a look at Byzantine from BigFly.fr to see soaring visuals of a church interior.

The same techniques that would take us through the best drone videos of a landscape are used in a man-made structure.

Epic Drone Shots - The Best Drone Video Footage - Landscape of Byzantine interior structure

A drone shot such as this is best appreciated in motion

This structure's religious power, as a place of worship, is brought to life with the drone’s movement.

While one can appreciate the beauty of this space standing in it, flying through it takes it all to a different level.

Sometimes drone footage of a beautiful landscape can also provide a safety service. Check out this video from NSW DPI Fisheries:

This drone video of the beach indicates what marine life is nearby, helping keep an eye out for the more dangerous creatures of the sea.

up next

30 Best Cinematography Techniques

The list of best drone video footage certainly doesn’t end here. By taking a look at this assortment hopefully, we can inspire new creative directions.However it is used, the drone shot is just another tool in your photographic arsenal.

In addition to drone footage, there are many tips and tricks to great cinematography you can start to employ to take your content even farther.

Up Next: 30 Best Cinematography Techniques →
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