Three people were spotted flying around the skies of lower Manhattan last Friday, causing dropped jaws from onlookers.

But while it appeared to be flying death eaters of the Harry Potter series, it actually turned out to be a clever piece of viral marketing for this week's upcoming film Chronicle.

In an interview to yahoo! James Percelay, the co-founder of Thinkmodo said he and his partner Michael Krivicka were approached by 20th Century Fox, the studio behind Chronicle, and they came out with a plan for the viral video.

Those aren't people in the air, but some very intricately designed radio-controlled airplanes. Percelay has not disclosed who exactly was piloting the planes in the video. He only said: They are expert AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) members with amazing skills.

The event has evoked some comments on Youtube:

i was there, i thought they were aliens, the f@#% lex luthor or something, i said to my boss f$%# you, and shown my c*%$ to the office girls and then punched a few guards thinking that was the end of the world,

now i here in my? room looking for a new job :/ commented by Canal de lesscanno.

Check out the video here:

New York New York New York