You can fly around to find shots, and you can do those exploratory flights with purpose as long as you follow some simple rules. Once I yaw too hard, or do anything too fast, I've broken a shot. In that sense, even without a specific goal, you can fly with purpose. Through that process I find shots I like, then reset, and refine them with subsequent batteries.
I think slow, purposeful movement is the most important thing to getting useable footage