Berlin-based filmmaker Christopher Kippenberger believes that quadrocopters—cheap, inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles—are the future of sports film. Kippenberger’s firm, Kippenberger Racing, specializes in aerial photography of auto races and of cars in general for outside clients. The company’s business model is simple: Aerial filmmaking via helicopters is expensive, but aerial filmmaking via drone is cheap.

One of Kippenberger’s latest videos, produced in collaboration with eGarage, takes a look inside Germany’s child go-kart subculture. While conventional cameras were used for the on-the-ground portions of the video, a UAV was used for the awe-inspiring aerial race segments.

In both Europe and the United States, UAV videography is a legal gray area. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and their European equivalents have not issued formal regulations and guidelines surrounding drones in the private sector. Much like how the explosive growth of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo has caused headaches for legislators, UAV technology has advanced too quickly for bureaucrats to handle.

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