Bowling alley attracts worldwide viewers with astounding drone video

A drone-filmed advert showcasing a neighbourhood bowling alley has gone viral worldwide thanks to the remarkable precision flying of its pilot.

The one-take video of Bryant Lake Bowl & Theatre follows the device as it flies in through the doors of the venue, before touring it at remarkable speed – even going behind the pins and dodging between a bowler’s legs.

Pilot Jay Christensen, 25, and director Anthony Jaska, 35 – both from MinneapolisMinnesota – undertook the project free of charge as part of an effort to help local businesses recover from coronavirus-related losses.

“Those small businesses have taken a major hit, obviously because of Covid, but then that whole area is in ruins at one point,” Mr Jaska told the PA news agency.

“It looks like some buildings have been bombed out or something like that.”

“We thought it would be a great way to help them, and also it’s a great way to see how we can be creative with that one-take shot,” Mr Christensen added.

“Hopefully they see a lot of business coming back soon.”

The short film has since gone viral, with more than 90,000 upvotes on discussion website Reddit where viewers marvelled at the speed and skill on show.

“To me the hardest move was going behind the pins,” said pilot Christensen. “That was really stressing me out… and I ended up getting it 15 of 15 times.

“It ended up being that the hardest moves were actually just getting in the front door to start. I was on the phone with the guy that was opening the door and I was like ‘action!'”

Mr Jaska added “The bowling was way more tricky, because of the physical aspect of people bowling – are they going to get a gutter ball?”

The success of the video is worldwide, but both director and pilot – who work out of Rally Studios – said that people need to back local community businesses like Bryant Lake Bowl & Theatre when society begins to reopen.

“If you don’t do it today those places might not be around,” said Mr Christensen.

“This year we’ve been fortunate enough to document films that have gotten a lot of exposure for our work, and so we want to be able to, in a way, repay the community of Minneapolis.

“I think that’s a win-win.”