This is . There are no snowboards or rockets. There are no babies or pets. There鈥檚 no adrenaline-cranking music. There鈥檚 a guy on an ATV, but he doesn鈥檛 hit any jumps or explode in epic fashion. There's just听grass-growing, forest scenes, and a nice sunset. Has GoPro鈥檚 YouTube account been hacked?
Nope, what you鈥檙e looking at is early footage from a prototype quadcopter that GoPro it was working on earlier this year. The short video, which is supposed to remind us,听and investors,听that GoPro is still working on its听much-anticipated drone, does that job well, but is totally underwhelming everywhere else听and a steep departure from its听normal videos, which crank everything to 11.
You鈥檇 think GoPro would want to put its best foot forward with this first reveal of its drone's capabilities. Yes, the footage is perfectly smooth, which showcases the drone's听stabilization system.听I mean, it looks like one big crane shot. But we aren鈥檛 seeing the copter make any sharp directional changes, which is what really jostles a drone鈥檚 camera. Also, I believe them when they say they didn鈥檛 use any stabilization software in post-production, but the ATV shot at the end was slowed down, which always makes footage look smoother.
When GoPro's听drone finally drops, it鈥檚 going to be a gigantic spectacle, no doubt. It鈥檚 going to have to be. GoPro was the first action camera. It established听a huge lead and everybody else is still playing catch-up. The company's听been听king for a long time, but not in the drone world, where DJI is the reining champ (and there are at least half a dozen other brands doing cool things, too). Whatever GoPro releases will have to be unique enough to convince buyers that it鈥檚 better than what鈥檚 already out there. It'll have to feature some spec no one dreamed up, a tempting price-point, or some other wildcard. We don鈥檛 know what it鈥檚 going to be, but we, along with the rest of the world, are excited to find out.
And maybe that鈥檚 the takeaway here. Even GoPro鈥檚 least exciting video still manages听to remind us that there鈥檚 something coming down the pipe that we鈥檙e excited about. And here I am reminding you. So, perhaps it achieved what it set out to听after all.