Accessible drone technology is creating a bizarre future in the world of movie making. In 2014, pictures taken by drones of filming for The Force Awakens prompted the production team to consider buying an anti-drone “shield” to protect secrets. For Episode VIII, they’re deploying drones of their own to take down rebel scum.
A Croatian website, MosCroatia first reported the drone detail in a larger update about Episode VIII will be doing some location filming in Dubrovnik, a popular tourist destination in the southern part of the country. Aside from reportedly having six hundred guards being deployed on location to try and prevent the public from snapping any sneaky pictures, the skies above filming will be protected by a team of remote-controlled drones that will target anyone attempting to fly a drone of their own over the set.
This is the future we made for ourselves, and it’s both kind of cool and yet totally weird—drones wrestling for air superiority above a Star Wars filming set, all for the sake of safeguarding movie details. Presumably by Episode IX, they’ll just film all the drone-vs-drone duels happening above the set and use those for space battles. Begun, the drone war has!
[MosCroatia via Making Star Wars]
Header Image Credit: Imperial Biker Scout quadcopter, by Adam Woodworth.