Newcastle student’s drone delivery video makes a real splash

31 May 2016

University of Newcastle student Matt Evans thought it’d be a laugh to deliver a few coffees and donuts to surfers on Crescent Heads. He didn’t realise it would become a social media sensation.
When Matt uploaded a one-minute video of a drone delivery of two coffees, two donuts and a caramel tart to a bunch of surfers hanging outside the swell to his Facebook page, Matt was stunned to see how quickly the views rose.

Newcastle student’s drone delivery video makes a real splash
Matt Evans preparing the drone for delivery (Image credit: Matt Evans)

A little over 48 hours after he posted it, the video had racked up over 60,000 views and climbing.
“It’s gone crazy,” Matt said. “Because I do wedding videos I was expecting it to get around 2,000 – 3,000 views. Within the first hour it picked up a lot quicker than others had and it just kept climbing.”
The third-year Bachelor of Communication student only bought his drone in March so it’s impressive that he’s not only using it to capture glorious footage but to deliver a caffeine hit to surfers who are more used to catching waves than donuts.
A day that Matt had set aside for working on his major project was dashed when media outlets saw the rapidly climbing views of his Facebook video.
A radio interview, TV interview and newspaper interview followed….
On March 1 Matt posted his first drone footage of beaches of his hometown at the Central Coast on his Facebook page. “I’d wanted to buy a drone for about a year, my first footage shot with the Phantom 3 made it all worthwhile.
Matt’s already had media success with his videos. Six months ago Matt’s short Before the Camera Goes Click a study of filmmaker and photographer Matthew Vandeputte was featured on ABC Open and broadcast to an international audience on the web.
And in case you’re wondering—the drone delivered a plastic bag to the surfers and then took away all the rubbish afterward.

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Learn more about how you can study communication and information technology at the University of Newcastle! Contact OzTREKK Australian Information Technology Schools Admission Officer Shannon Tilston at shannon@oztrekk.com.

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