Neutralizing Drones
The evolution of drone shows, a concept that went from an art collective experiment in de-fanging warfare tech to a municipal favorite in record time.
$7,000+
The estimated cost of a “Main Event” pyrotechnics show, according to a range listed by the firm Premier Pyrotechnics, with some shows topping $20,000 or more based on the show’s sheer scope. Even smaller-scale shows could cost between $2,000 and $7,000.
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From Oneohtrix Point Never to Disney: Drone art’s very fast trip to the mainstream
Experimental art projects don’t always turn into mainstream endeavors. But you would be surprised how quickly it happened in the case of drone light shows.
In 2012, a French art collective called the Marshmallow Laser Feast generated an art display at the behest of one of the largest ad agencies in the world. As part of Saatchi & Saatchi’s 2012 New Directors’ Showcase, the collective brought together a bunch of drones and had them move around the sky.
It posed a question: Can you turn a device infamous for destruction and surveillance into something positive and friendly? Sporting a commissioned soundtrack from the experimental electronic composer Oneohtrix Point Never, show co-director Memo Akten put the concept of this light show as such:
Their role in this performance is an artistic subversion of their original purpose. We concentrate on the key feature of these flying robots: the ability to follow trajectories in space without being bound to external fixed supports—programmable vertices in space, the floating cornerstones of a kinetic light sculpture. Thus, the vehicles are in fact not the stars of the show. They are the puppet masters operating in the dark, that carry the light, synchronized and choreographed to a bespoke score by Oneohtrix Point Never.
Point made. Drones could be more than just machines of conflict, just as the internet could have commercial applications, and fireworks could make gunpowder beautiful.
Just a few months later, another artistic collective, Ars Electronica, did something similar in spirit, using a fleet of 49 drones at an installation in Austria. “[A]lthough it's not quite as impressive technically as the martial demonstrations of military drones, it's a lot prettier,” an NBC News article stated at the time.
In future years, Ars Electronica would team with Intel to expand their efforts, which Intel then immediately expanded upon itself. It was clear that commerce would quickly knock on the door of drone art.
But that was nothing compared to what was happening in the United States. In 2013, Disney’s theme parks division filed a trio of intriguing patents that seemed to suggest its Imagineers were earning their salaries.
One patent filing described a mechanism where four drones could hold and manage a projection screen in the air, allowing for a makeshift airborne display. The second described a method to control marionettes with drones (complete with a drawing of Jack Skellington to underline the idea).
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But the third—credited to Imagineers Clifford Wong, James Alexander Stark, and Robert Scott Trowbridge—is likely the most interesting and broadly applicable. It gave the concept of floating drone lights a name: The “flixel,” or floating pixel.
It makes sense that Disney would put their best people on it—after all, they spend a lot of money on fireworks. According to one estimate, Walt Disney World alone puts on four fireworks shows per night, every day of the year, at a cost of $33,000 for each show. Disney certainly has the budget, but that’s tens of millions of dollars per year on fireworks alone for a single theme park.
If you can build a similar spectacle with a more cost-effective method, the investment could be worth it—even after the presumably massive R&D.
Plus, there was the fact that Disney was starting to reach the limits of what it could do with traditional methods. From the patent filing:
Presently, aerial displays have been limited in how easy it has been to alter the choreography and to provide a repeatable show. Some “aerial” displays have relied upon very complex fountain systems to provide sprays of water upon which light may be projected or directed. These shows can be difficult to change or modify to provide a new show and are limited in the amount of the air space that can be utilized as the spraying water only reaches certain heights. Other aerial shows rely on fireworks, which can be dangerous to implement and often provide a different show result with each use. Other displays may use aircraft such as blimps dragging banners or even large display screens. While useful in some settings, these aircraft-based displays typically have been limited in size and use only a small number of aircraft and display devices.
If building a better Goodyear Blimp was the goal, this would be a spectacular way to do it. But Disney’s ambitions went much further:
The aerial display system makes use of the concept of a “flixel” or floating pixel (of a flying pixel object). The flixel or floating pixel assembly is provided by each UAV with its display payload, and the flixel is used to create dynamic aerial displays. In general, a pixel is the smallest element of an image that can be individually addressed or processed in a video display system. Likewise, the aerial display systems described herein make use of the sky or a predefined airspace as a display “screen,” and the flixel is the smallest controllable element of the generated aerial display on or in this display screen/airspace. Many flixels may be controlled by a fleet manager module of a ground control system (GCS) to fly in a flocking and/or synchronized manner (non-swarming control) to create virtual 2D or 3D displays or to flash colors so as to mimic fireworks (e.g., to provide reusable/sustainable firework-type displays).
Disney wanted to use drones to replace fireworks to offer a more consistent and impressive Magic Kingdom experience. Families pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to experience the heights of Walt Disney World—and this was an effective way to raise the game.
The company was so on board with doing this that when the Federal Aviation Administration announced plans to regulate drones, Disney was one of the first companies to ask for an exception, which it got almost immediately. (Made funnier, because Disney World has a no-fly zone that Disney itself asked for.)
By 2016, Disney was creating drone shows at its Disney Springs resort. And its parks, such as Disneyland Paris, have begun to implement the ideas put forth in those patents.
Drone art may have emerged as a form of artistic subversion, but capitalism found a way to unsubvert it in a matter of months.
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400'
The maximum height that unmanned drones can fly in the air without getting special clearance, according to FAA regulations. While still large enough to put on a big show, it can artificially cap the visibility of a drone show to just a few miles. Given that fireworks can reach above 800 feet in height, that naturally means fireworks will be easier to see from long distances. Which means that, as cool as drone shows can be, they have their limits.
The world’s largest drone show, according to Guinness World Records. More than 7,500 drones were used—and yes, it took place in China, which uses more drones per show than any other region in the world by a large margin.
Five questions you’re likely to have about drone shows
- Are they safer than fireworks? In many cases, yes—only one causes devastating explosions, for one thing. Still, human error can cause problems with each. A mismanaged drone show in Orlando last year led a 7-year-old boy to suffer a serious heart injury after a drone hit him in the chest. Of course, a falling drone and an explosion from a mishandled firework represent a different scale of potential injury. The reported cause? Technical issues, along with misaligned software.
- Are they cheaper? Here’s the potentially surprising part: No, though it varies by region and circumstances, according to the Duamentes Drone Show Market Analysis. In North America, for example, drone shows can cost $52,000 on average, which is twice the amount of Latin America. In China, a drone show can cost more than $100,000—while the drones are cheaper because they’re often made in China, the country’s shows use many more of them, about 660 on average. Fewer drones? Cheaper (but less impressive) shows.
- Who actually puts on drone shows? Nearly one-fifth of all drone shows are put on by municipalities, according to the Duamentes research. Part of the reason cities like them? Because they’re easy to manage, as a recent Denver Post piece put it. “A lot of people don’t realize all the debris fireworks can create,” Eric Raya Steinbeiss of Denver’s Civic Center Conservancy told the paper. “We found so much of it on the roof of the City and County building that we had to pay to clean it up. The building manager is very, very happy that it’s not happening anymore, because it did cause a lot of damage.”
- Can fireworks and drones work together? Yes! In fact, the Duamentes report finds that 6% of drone shows integrate fireworks in some way, suggesting that maximum spectacle is the goal of such shows, not cost.
- Can I DIY a drone show? Yes, if you know your technical stuff. Last year, hardware hacker Caleb Bergquist released a video and guide of how he put together a visual display with tools from the open-source company Skybrush. Fascinating, but seems like a lot of work!
How Milwaukee made a drone show work for its Fourth of July festivities this year. It was the city’s first time hosting one, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
How drone shows became a municipality’s best friend—and how the fireworks industry feels about it
This year, if you wanted to see a city-sanctioned fireworks ceremony in Salt Lake City, you were out of luck. Same deal at the Rose Bowl, which is noted for its annual July 4 ceremony. In fact, many cities, particularly in the Southwest, decided this was the year to ditch the fireworks in favor of drone shows.
Any news story you read about them will likely focus on two reasons: first, environmental impact; and second, fire risk. It was only six months ago that many Southern California cities suffered the dramatic effects of a devastating set of wildfires. In that context, a drone show seems like an obvious upgrade.
One expects that the risks of wildfires will eventually make giant urban firework displays verboten in much of the American West.
But it’s not just cities embracing them. Recently, Missy Elliott got a drone show for a party celebrating her first-ever headlining tour. Her crew was able to hire a company to put together the drone show, which meant anyone near the party could see images celebrating Elliott. Regulations or no, it would be a lot harder for Elliott’s team to get their own Missy-themed fireworks show.
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But the popularity of drones is not guaranteed long-term. After all, it’s competing against a medium, fireworks, which has been closely affiliated with celebrations for centuries. That might be hard to replace.
One could imagine drone shows running into the same culture wars behind renewable energy’s recent loss of tax credits.
For what it’s worth, the fireworks industry hasn’t gone on the offensive against drone shows. The American Pyrotechnics Association, despite often speaking up about fireworks ahead of the holiday, has mostly avoided the drone discussion, as far as I can tell. Meanwhile, Steve Houser, a past president of the National Fireworks Association, told the Scranton, Pennsylvania-based Times-Tribune that he didn’t think drones were that cool on their own.
“I’ve seen drones with fireworks in shows, and that’s really cool … they blend well together,” Houser told the outlet. “And I’ve seen just drones, and you don’t get that boom, that explosion, and that’s an instinctive type of response. If you watch a drone show for five minutes, you’ve seen anything they can possibly do. It gets boring quick. I don’t think drones can ever replace fireworks. It just doesn’t have the same effect.”
Part of the reason folks like Houser may not be as full-throated in his pro-fireworks stance is because the mediums blend so well. It’s not like drones have to lose for fireworks to win.
To underline the point: There is a concept called the pyro-drone, which is essentially a drone that launches a firework. Speaking too harshly about drone shows might just cost the fireworks industry some business.
On top of that, drone displays are a relatively new medium. We’re talking about something that saw its first public display a mere 13 years ago. Drones have plenty of headroom to improve—and something tells me that they will eventually become more cost-effective, which may further tip the trend in their favor.
We haven’t been living with flixels all that long. There’s a chance they might just get better.
If you think about it, fireworks and drone shows aren’t that far apart philosophically. They both are instruments associated with warfare and conflict, now being used for entertainment purposes.
They exist to draw attention away from the disturbing and difficult things in our lives, if just for a moment. Neither are perfect and neither are cheap. But both are beautiful in their own way.
If you see drones as part of a broader extension of the decades-long effort to replace traditional lighting methods with light emitting diodes, it makes sense that this is a direction where they would go. But people have feelings about fireworks that a drone show doesn’t quite capture. (Those people aren’t cleaning up after the mess they make, clearly.)
All I know is that it’s cool we have another option for celebrating things, and it’s a little easier to access than some of those super-strong fireworks you can only get by crossing certain state borders.
Let the drones fly.
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