ABSTRACT
Early in 2016, russiaworks.ru, a Russian team of journalists and filmmakers specializing in drone photography of war-torn Syria, released a video featuring Homs, a city almost completely destroyed by years of fighting. Following its initial appearance on the Russian State Television, the video went viral on the Internet, alongside a number of similar drone footage created by russiaworks.ru. The videos combine the aesthetics of computer games and action blockbusters, of military surveillance and ruins, of distance and proximity, of documentation and entertainment. Through the close analysis of Internet-based videos and the team’s website, this chapter argues that the videos evince a new aesthetics of the aerial view imbued with a variety of political agendas and geared towards eliciting affective responses.
