How to brief a drone show designer

I have received a drone show brief that was 20 pages long (for a 12-minute show), and I have received a brief that was one sentence. Both required a fair bit of refining, but they both resulted in a great show.

This is just my suggestion for a brief – it’s a guide to get the project under way as fast as possible. Not a must-fill checklist.

If you have run hundreds of shows, you know how to brief a drone show designer. Perhaps you’ll find one or two points to add to your checklist. For a newer drone show company, this is a good starting point. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the details – some things are not always clear when the designs are made. I know what to ask and at what time.

Essentials of a drone show

These are the bare minimum basics:

• Drone fleet size
• Choreography safety limits: max speeds, minimum safety distances
• Duration
• Startup formation (do you need a grid, or just start with the first scene)
• Theme or occasion
• Show date

Naturally, when you are working with a designer who knows your system and your workflow, you don’t need to specify technical specs, like startup grids or max speeds, if they are customary.

Details of a drone show choreography

When you have more info, be sure to share as soon as possible:

• Show area limits (preferably with a map)
• Audience location (a single direction or 360° all around, audience distance)
• Any logos or product images (if applicable)
• Colour scheme – especially brand colours if the client is a business
• Soundtrack, if you have it before the show design

A time-coded script or a loose concept?

I work with either. Working from a script, I can just jump to designs. With an overall theme/concept, we’ll go through one round of ideation on the actual scenes.

When creating a time-coded script, please run it by your designer before committing to other lighting design, music or event timeline. A common mistake is to plan too fast scene changes. Scenes need time to transition, and even if I create lightning-fast transitions, the drones have their limits. The larger the fleet, the larger the formations and the longer the transitions. Sometimes a fast transition can take precedence over design details, but these should be conscious decisions, not compromises.

The sweet spot is usually a list of scenes/ideas and any references, such as logos, landmarks etc. that you want included. I’m used to fitting the scenes to the time frame.

Drone shows with 3D or 2D images?

Once again, I encourage dialogue. Drone fleet size, the scene subjects, duration of the scenes and budget all contribute to the limits on what is feasible. We’d all want a show of only wonderful, animated 3D scenes, but creating a 3D Elvis Presley lookalike with 200 drones is just not going to happen.

The same scene idea can usually be made in 2D with ~3-5 times less drones than in 3D. Also, 3D scenes do take more work, so to keep costs reasonable, it’s often a good idea to strike a balance.

The 2D/3D choice also affects individual scene sizes. 2D images are flat and they are physically larger than 3D shapes. Smaller shapes lead to shorter transition times, so a fast-paced show benefits from more 3D designs. On the other hand, mixing 2D and 3D shapes can easily lead to a show that is inconsistent in size. Your audience location also affects design choices.

It’s not one of the easiest questions and choosing the dimensions before talking to your designer can lead to unfavourable compromises. Most of my clients leave the decision to me, which is the way to a hassle-free design process.

Syncing music to a drone show

One of the holy grails of any light performance is getting the visuals and the soundtrack working together. With drones, it is not as easy as with traditional stage lighting. Even as we have fast LEDs and 24fps lights, most drone show systems lack the essential component – live time signal. I have created shows that match music drops, hits and even beats and patterns, but the actual syncing on the show is shaky. Drone distances, systemic delays and system-specific things like unreliable show start delays can make syncing just a dream. I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that have lowered the risks, so sometimes a precise sync is possible.

If you want to sleep well, aim to sync the show with music changes, not precise beats or drops. Get the soundtrack overall mood timed with the drone show programming – matching energy, tempo, highs and lows.

Should you have the show first or the soundtrack? Both work, but as a drone show animator, I prefer to make the show choreography first and have the music fitted to the show.

I have also worked with a process where I supplied a working draft of the show for the sound designer to get the overall structure and create the soundtrack. After this round, I have fitted the timings to the exact music changes. This naturally adds one round of revision to the production, but it’s a nice way of ensuring the visuals and the audio tell a strong story together.

What if you don’t have all the details?

This is easy – just talk to me. I can work with little detail and ask for what I need to know.

Sometimes, the info just isn’t available. I have created shows where the exact location and audience direction was a mystery to everyone until the day of the show. I have prepared a few alternatives for the show and the operator has had the choice of which to run. I have also made changes to a show one hour before liftoff. So far, all shows have been delivered and all last-minute surprises (barring weather and radio interference) have been solved.

How to brief a drone show designer FAQ

Need a designer for your drone show?

Send me a brief and let’s get the project done. You can email me at teemu.eskola@gmail.com or WhatsApp at: +358400759676

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