This past week, Austin skies have been aglow, not just with the usual Texan stars, but with a swarming fleet of drones, courtesy of Sky Elements Drone Shows. At the annual South by Southwest festival, the Fort Worth-based company orchestrated a dazzling display with over 500 drones, this time without playing on the novelty of the classic internet meme as in the previous year. After last year's prankish Rickrolling of the audience, this year’s affair was a much more "serious" exhibition of the interplay between abstract mathematical principles and AI-generated spectacles, as reported by KVUE.
In an apparent procession of technological grandeur, the drones again took to the skies on Friday night creating an aerial extravaganza composed of 600 drones that were visible for three miles, according to CBS Austin. As the techie crowd anticipated, a unique countdown concluded in another manifestation of the classic Rick Astley anthem “Never Gonna Give You Up,” rickrolling a city that had already witnessed it last year. Mitch Chaiet, an SXSW attendee, felt the meme-fueled ruse was "just pure South By Meme-ery."
The square footage over the Texas School for the Deaf became a hive of activity, buzzing with drones meticulously prepared for a flight that added a seamless countdown clock to the night's canvas. Tyler Johnson, director of operations for Sky Elements, relayed the monumental effort required: “We’re going to fly a continuous hour-long countdown with a little bit of a surprise at the end.” He highlighted the intricacies involved with coalescing different drone fleets for a single seamless visual effect, as per CBS Austin.
Performing both practical and rehearsal preparations, Sky Elements' pilots synchronized, tested, and programmed this orchestrated ballet of lights, which continued from last year's show but with a renewed seriousness. The show kicked off at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday and was designed to best be viewed from downtown, with optimal sights near the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center along the Colorado River, facing the Bouldin Creek neighborhood, according to Sky Elements' release mentioned by KVUE.
