Star Wars producers want a ‘drone shield’ to stop set leaks

By David Nield September 21, 2014

star wars produces want drone shield stop set leaks — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Myatt’s photograph as coming from a drone. We regret the error.

Remember the photographer who snapped a picture of the Millennium Falcon on a Star Wars VII set in England? Matthew Myatt, the original shutterbug, took his picture from a helicopter, but it’s the subsequent wave of enthusiasts seeking similar images with their drones that has the the producers of the movie on pins and needles. They’ve reportedly requested a “DroneShield” to protect the set against the onslaught of aerial surveillance.

And they’re still waiting: The U.S. State Department has so far refused the manufacturer’s export application to send the equipment to the United Kingdom.

The DroneShield, according to its makers, helps to give site managers advanced warnings about “helicopters and drones commonly used by paparazzi and media.” Alerts can be sent via SMS and email and connected up to a variety of security systems. Exactly how it works isn’t clear, but it doesn’t seem able to shoot drones from the sky with targeted laser blasts.

Related: C-3PO actor details costume changes for Star Wars: Episode VII

DroneShield says it has orders for more than 20 gadgets from overseas companies but at the moment is unable to fulfil them. “We weren’t able to ship overseas because our ITAR (export) application, filed in May, hadn’t been approved,” a DroneShield representative told Motherboard. “It is now September and it STILL hasn’t been approved.”

In fact, the DroneShield was ordered back in June, so if it had been processed promptly then we might never have seen videos such as this one. Filming continues on the seventh movie in the Star Wars franchise, with the release date set at December 18, 2015. The production company didn’t respond to a request for comment on the DroneShield story.

The FAA has been flexing its muscles in trying to limit the use of drones by aerial enthusiasts until it can come up with a complete set of regulations to control their use. Rules covering drone use in the United Kingdom, where Star Wars VII is being filmed, are equally vague. If Disney wants to completely protect against overheard drone shots, it may have to resort to more drastic measures in the future.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

Entertainment

Beyond The Bad Batch: what’s next for Star Wars animated shows

The members of Clone Force 99 in promo art for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2.

The Star Wars universe continues to expand its galaxy far, far away on Disney+ with supplemental content like the animated show The Bad Batch. Season 2 has just premiered on the streamer, continuing the intimately scaled and daring missions of the titular band of veterans formerly known as Clone Force 99.

The show has proven to be promising so far. Still, other animated works under the Star Wars corner of Disney have given fans a taste of how versatile it can be both conceptually and artistically. Visions was an anime spin on the mega-franchise, providing stylistically distinct approaches to it in a sort of "what if?" narrative format. This would be an exciting template for exploring the Legends continuity stories -- formerly known as the Expanded Universe -- that captivated so many longtime fans.
Capitalizing on the growth of animation

Entertainment

Star Wars: what we’d like to see in Andor season 2

An "Andor" promo poster featuring Cassian Andor of his supporting cast.

Andor has been an excellent revitalization of the Star Wars franchise on Disney+, as the show has wrapped up its first 12-episode season with a level of emotion and drama fitting of its atmosphere, all the while sowing the seeds for what we should see in season 2. The gritty, grounded premise of this latest venture has proven to be tantalizing sci-fi TV, showing the humanity and embers of the Rebellion being nurtured at a grassroots level often not seen in the franchise.

The series has done an excellent job with its three-episode-long story arcs so far, making sure that pieces of what Cassian Andor has experienced throughout the season carried over and contributed to his growth in the finale. The intriguing plotlines involving the intricate political webs Mon Mothma finds herself navigating, as well as the surprisingly dark shadow games Luthen Rael plays, will likely make the upcoming -- and final -- 12-episode second season a thrilling affair.

Entertainment

Andor review: Rogue One prequel is slow-burn Star Wars

Diego Luna walks through a scrapyard of ships in a scene from Andor.

Gareth Edwards' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story isn't the most controversial Star Wars movie ever made, but it still inspires plenty of passionate debate among fans about the place it holds in the beloved sci-fi saga. A gritty, standalone war story set in the period just before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, 2016's Rogue One was always a risky bet, but it was one that paid off as it became the third highest-grossing film in the entire franchise.

Now, the studio is doubling down on that bet with Andor, a prequel-of-a-prequel that explores the formative years of Diego Luna's rebel spy Cassian Andor from Rogue One. And much like the film that inspired it, Andor delivers a very different -- but welcome -- Star Wars story with its simmering tale of espionage set in the early days of a galactic rebellion.