Spirit in the sky with Celestial's drone technology
- Live team
- May 7
- 8 min read
Celestial is uniting people one star at a time, by painting shimmering tales through the use of drones and LEDs
Words Oliver Webb
Since their first appearance in 2012 – unless we’re counting Steven Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind – for a performance over the Danube River at a music festival in Linz, Austria, drone light shows have become a popular form of live outside entertainment. Leading the way in this new artistic medium is Celestial, which was founded by a group of filmmakers, technologists and event specialists.
Experts in large-scale drone light shows, the Celestial team comprises an array of backgrounds in theatre, music, film, animation and technical operations. Since forming in 2020, the company has collaborated with world-class talent, from poet laureates and indigenous artists to Hollywood actors and Grammy-winning musicians. With the whole sky as their playground, they’ve created engaging stories and entertainment ranging from city celebrations, brand showcases and global sporting events to recreating beloved tales such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Steve Winter serves as head of creative development at Celestial. “We work on a combination of commissioned and ticketed shows, but they share the same commonality: using the night sky as our canvas to tell stories that are impactful and meaningful,” he begins.
“Ultimately, our goal is leveraging cutting-edge drone technology to invent aerial displays that merge art, theatre, music, narrative and innovation. Our focus is on producing something that feels immersive and unique but, crucially, is also sustainable and visually stunning. In that way, we feel as though we are pushing the boundaries of what live entertainment can be.”
Winter oversees the creative aspects of the Celestial drone shows to ensure the production delivers a seamless blend of storytelling, technology and artistry.
“Together we decide on the title or story that we want to tell,” he adds. “I write the script, determine the tone of the audio and musical score and then direct the overall creative vision. It’s a project management, producer-type role too. I collaborate with our team – made up of animators, designers, musical composers and pilots – to bring the performances to life in a way that is able to capture the imagination of the audience.”
With his background in theatre, Winter is no stranger to finding new ways to captivate audiences. “At shows like ours, or other kinds of immersive displays, expectations from the audience are now high. Theatre took a real hit from Covid-19; by my observation, audiences are still just returning to pre-pandemic sizes. Attendance behaviours and attention spans have changed too.
“We’ve had to test our model pretty thoroughly. For example, how long do people want to have that experience for? There isn’t really anything that drone light shows can be compared to either. Maybe an outdoor concert, although it’s a very different experience.
“We started off making our shows around eight minutes in duration, then we gradually increased it – and now we’re at 45 to 50 minutes. You have to work incredibly hard to keep people’s attentions – it’s not enough to just have the show, the events should also offer good food, beverages and other draws, like nice locations.”
A Star is Born
Celestial’s first drone show was recorded for the Hogmanay New Year celebrations during lockdown. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the display consisted of hundreds of drones.
The vision was to create stags that would move through the mountainous landscape. The show not only provided a sense of inspiration when people most needed it, but also helped put Celestial onto the world stage.
For the celebrations, Celestial worked alongside Underbelly, a major partner of Edinburgh Festival. The goal was to break away from traditional firework displays and highlight the beauty and landscape of the Scottish hillside, telling a unique story that was engaging and representative of the location.
Capturing this as its first show proved a huge undertaking, due to not having previously operated in that kind of environment. “Getting out into the countryside and up into those specific landscapes was a practical challenge,” admits Winter.
“What we learned from this was that, if we’re to be effective in using the sky as a canvas, skyline is as important as the drones themselves because the two marry quite beautifully – whether it be in the city, a mountain terrain or a sports ground. The Hogmanay show was our way in, giving it the wow factor people expect for that time of year.”
Ultimately, creating a drone show is a combination of an artistic vision and technical precision. “We always start with a general concept,” explains Winter. “Then we have to work out how we’re going to tell that story, starting with the script. Our designers create intricate animations that bring the stories to life, and there’s often also a narrator whose role is to propel the story forward.
“Once our animators have designed a full set of images for the content, these are then programmed into flight paths for the drones. These paths are tested in simulations before we take them out to the venue. That’s essential because it ensures the precision, synchronisation and intricacy of the animation.
“The music and narration all come together to become the full experience that we take into venues with audience sizes of 10,000 and larger.”
The number of drones used per show varies, and it comes down to the scale and complexity of the story Celestial is trying to tell. Smaller displays use a few hundred drones, while the larger-scale shows involve significantly more to form their intricate dynamic formations. The more drones, the greater the level of detail and ability to create a particular image, which allows for even more ambitious storytelling.
Over the Rainbow
Since the Hogmanay show, Celestial has worked alongside some of the world’s biggest brands, charities and celebrations, including BBC, Eurovision, Amazon Prime, Greenpeace and New Year’s Eve in London. Celestial’s latest show is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The 45-minute show will form an entire evening of entertainment, including food villages, music and other forms of stadium performances, both before and after the show. It will take place across stadiums in Nottingham, Southampton, Cardiff, Durham and Birmingham – audiences will be taken on a magical journey to the land of Oz with Dorothy and her friends.
“It has been a beautiful show to work on,” says Winter. “It’s a beloved story and we wanted to be respectful of that and translate all of those recognisable and emotive images of The Wizard of Oz into drone animation while maintaining their charm. The challenge was achieving the rich colours, dynamic motion and well-loved character silhouettes.
“Additionally, performing this in outdoor stadiums meant having to factor in many environmental variables, such as wind and the lighting conditions. It’s been about bringing all of it together to create an unforgettable experience.
“With such a beloved tale like this one, there’s quite an involved story to follow. Our job is to get to the nub of the story and characters to make the experience feel simultaneously very recognisable and yet quite different. I believe we’ve achieved that with The Wizard of Oz.”
Feedback for Celestial’s shows has been overwhelmingly positive overall. “What’s especially heartening is that our audience is hugely diverse – cross-generationally, socioeconomically and multiculturally, in a way you don’t always see in other live events,” explains Winter. “We think that’s because people are not just coming as fans of live experiences, but also tech fans wanting to see how the drones operate.
“That has been so extraordinary and amazing to see. The audiences seem to appreciate the scale and beauty of our drones, as well as the sustainable approach we take – that’s been clear with the feedback. It’s a very inclusive experience and also quite rare, to sit with 10,000 people and just look up. It does something to audiences that I’ve never seen anywhere else.”
Going for Green
One of the many advantages of drone light shows is that they serve as a much more sustainable alternative to firework displays, which are carbon-intensive, and with that comes endless possibilities.
“Sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do; the drones and our way of working,” explains Winter. “This offers a greener alternative to lots of live event productions because we’re bringing in less kit. Our drone shows have much lower air and noise pollution and any chemical waste is eliminated. They’re also reusable across multiple performances.
“By demonstrating far and wide the technology of the drones, as well as their abilities and applications, we’re helping to encourage venues, cities and event organisers to make the transition from less sustainable live events to these kinds of more environmentally conscious products and offerings.”
Creating a drone show isn’t without its logistical issues, however the drones are robust and environmental considerations are always at the forefront of Celestial’s mind. “We’ve been really fortunate to be able to fly in most conditions. We need to make sure we have enough space to fly the drones; the venues we find and work with have to be a particular scale.
“Obviously, we need space to lay out the drones and space around and above the venue to actually fly them. The main logistics are finding the right venue that can accommodate the whole experience and making sure we aren’t compromised in any way. We arrive with quite a few requirements, though technically we’re quite nimble. That’s the beauty of the product – with the right planning and foresight, our drones can access many spaces that other arts and events can’t.”
The Sky’s the Limit
Celestial has a major partnership with cricket grounds across the UK. These are a prime venue of choice for the company since they provide the perfect airspace to showcase its displays. One advantage is that they’re not enclosed, unlike other sports stadiums.
“That’s definitely one of the many considerations,” adds Winter. “Football stadiums, for example, have a roof or overhang, so people can’t really look up properly. That being said, we are getting the same experience we hoped to create for football grounds in cricket pitches. People come and sit and they watch the show, so it still feels just like a theatrical experience, which is what we are meant to be producing, but it just so happens to take place outdoors and in a cricket ground. It’s been really exciting to work on achieving that experience.”
Utilising the grounds means Celestial is introducing arts and culture into spaces where, traditionally, they wouldn’t necessarily be – and the results speak for themselves. “We’re leaning into trying to attract audiences that are already cricket lovers and fans of the venue, while also encouraging new audiences to come to those venues who wouldn’t necessarily come to a cricket match,” says Winter.
“The reach and ability to go into places that might not have an offer such as this every day has been super exciting. That’s something we also want to build on, and we aim to widen our reach to as many people as possible. We feel that it’s an important aspect of our mission.”
As it continues to expand operations, Celestial has a number of new projects in the pipeline. A Christmas Carol will be one of the shows returning at Christmas. “We’re looking into doing music offerings as much as possible as well,” says Winter. “We want to widen our slate and reach to include as many people as possible.
“We’re still only at the beginning of what’s possible for drone entertainment. As the technology continues to advance and our animators become even more accomplished at taking drone animation to new heights, we’ll be able to tell more sophisticated stories and create more immersive experiences.”
In Winter’s eyes, Celestial is only at the cusp of seeing what it can achieve with this technology – and it’s still in the early stages. “We’re seeing advancements in drone technology capabilities all the time, which includes higher-resolution formations and increased flight times.
“There is also potential for interactive experiences that can engage audiences in new ways. As technology evolves, I see our drone shows becoming even more immersive, perhaps incorporating augmented reality and synchronised live performances. The list is endless, and the future is exciting.”
Take a look at photos from Celestial's drone shows here:
Drone technology continues to grow alongside the advancement of LEDs. Learn more about next generation lighting.
Find out more about Celestial at celestial.show/drone-show
This feature was first published in the Mar/Apr 2025 issue of LIVE.
