Drones dazzled audiences across the globe as a record-setting 1,218 drones flew over the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. And drones did it again — this time to mark the Closing Ceremony in PyeongChang of the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony 2018.
This show was quite a bit smaller, with just 300-drones performance in the closing ceremony. Drones flew in shapes such as the Olympics mascot, Soohorang, the white tiger, and a heart.
The Intel Shooting Star drones are a type of drone specifically designed for entertainment purposes, equipped with LED lights that can create countless color combinations and easily be programmed for any animation. The fleet of drones is controlled by one pilot.
Intel’s drones have been serving as nighttime entertainment at events such as Coachella, the Super Bowl and Walt Disney World. They recently flew over the skies of Los Angeles for an event promoting Wonder Woman and over the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas for CES 2018.
The Drone Girl went behind-the-scenes with Intel’s drone team earlier this month via our San Francisco-based meetup group, Girls Who Drone. Cindy Ng of Intel’s drone team led the event, which you can watch all of right here on Facebook Live. Ng revealed personal stories that shed light on what it is like watching the drone shows in person, little-known details, such as that the drone light shows are wildly popular among corporate clients particularly in the Middle East and Asia, and just how much effort goes into planning each light show (many months of planning, plus multiple days ahead of the event on-site).
Sadly for folks who loved Intel’s offerings, the company has shut down its light show arm since that Olympics Closing Ceremony 2018. That said, plenty of other companies run their own drone light shows.
When Intel was offering drone light show services, the price of its drone light shows started at $99,000 and included 200 drones in the sky. For more advanced shows using 500 or more drones — enabling more dimensions and complex animations — shows can easily cost more than $300,000.