Fireworks Could Fizzle Out As Drones Rise In Popularity For New Year (theguardian.com) 68
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: As new year approaches, crowds around the world may be expecting whizzes and bangs to light up the sky. But the appeal of fireworks could fizzle out with the growing use of drones for light shows. One notable example was the opening ceremony of this year's Tokyo Olympics, while the Over the Top NYE event at Reunion Tower in Dallas is among those planning to combine fireworks and drones to welcome 2022. They are also being embraced at a local level: more than 1,000 people watched a drone display at Mercia Marina in Derbyshire to celebrate Bonfire Night this year.
Ollie Howitt, the creative coordinator at SkyMagic, which used a fleet of 300 drones to create a display for the mayor of London's new year celebration last year, said demand had increased substantially, something the pandemic has helped accelerate. She added that drones were increasingly able to fly in greater density and for longer. "We do think it's going to be something that's ever evolving, as opposed to it being a short-lived sort of fad that people have suddenly got interested in," she said.
Robert Neff, a partner and general manager at Mercia Marina, also believes drone displays will become more common. "There's a big movement against fireworks," he said. Neff said the decision to use a drone display at the marina was down to a number of factors, including the impact of fireworks on animals -- from wildlife and waterfowl to the cats and dogs of boat owners. "They've often commented on how much distress is caused to their pets by the fireworks," he said. Howitt said there were benefits to drones: "They're no emission, they're reusable, there's no fallout or any debris or that kind of thing. So in that sense they are a very good, sustainable option." "Suggestions are that drones have less of an impact on the environment, but we have grave concerns about electrical demand and use of lithium batteries which are known not to be all that 'green,'" said a spokesperson from the British Fireworks Association. "Firework use impact on the environment has been shown to be minor and very short-lived and recent studies have suggested that there is likely to be more pollution from a couple of cars driving to an event than caused by fireworks at an event."
Others suggest the use of fireworks and drones are not mutually exclusive. "We find fireworks work really well in tandem with drones. But we don't really see it as a one replacing the other at all. We sort of feel as if it's just another tool in the chest for how you sort of animate the sky and what you want to do with the show that you're putting on," said Howitt, noting that while fireworks give a loud, emotive, big performance, drones offer the chance to tell stories in the sky by using a series of images.
Ollie Howitt, the creative coordinator at SkyMagic, which used a fleet of 300 drones to create a display for the mayor of London's new year celebration last year, said demand had increased substantially, something the pandemic has helped accelerate. She added that drones were increasingly able to fly in greater density and for longer. "We do think it's going to be something that's ever evolving, as opposed to it being a short-lived sort of fad that people have suddenly got interested in," she said.
Robert Neff, a partner and general manager at Mercia Marina, also believes drone displays will become more common. "There's a big movement against fireworks," he said. Neff said the decision to use a drone display at the marina was down to a number of factors, including the impact of fireworks on animals -- from wildlife and waterfowl to the cats and dogs of boat owners. "They've often commented on how much distress is caused to their pets by the fireworks," he said. Howitt said there were benefits to drones: "They're no emission, they're reusable, there's no fallout or any debris or that kind of thing. So in that sense they are a very good, sustainable option." "Suggestions are that drones have less of an impact on the environment, but we have grave concerns about electrical demand and use of lithium batteries which are known not to be all that 'green,'" said a spokesperson from the British Fireworks Association. "Firework use impact on the environment has been shown to be minor and very short-lived and recent studies have suggested that there is likely to be more pollution from a couple of cars driving to an event than caused by fireworks at an event."
Others suggest the use of fireworks and drones are not mutually exclusive. "We find fireworks work really well in tandem with drones. But we don't really see it as a one replacing the other at all. We sort of feel as if it's just another tool in the chest for how you sort of animate the sky and what you want to do with the show that you're putting on," said Howitt, noting that while fireworks give a loud, emotive, big performance, drones offer the chance to tell stories in the sky by using a series of images.
Radical idea (Score:2)
Strap fireworks to drones. I would love to see some roman candle launching drones ding flips and shit. Or we can go pure Dr Evil and do drones with freaking laser beams attached to their heads.
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It's been done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Awesome Idea (Score:1)
Strap fireworks to drones. I would love to see some roman candle launching drones ding flips and shit. Or we can go pure Dr Evil and do drones with freaking laser beams attached to their heads.
I swear I came here to post the exact same thought!! Thought you had some nice extra ideas on top of what I was thinking...
In fact if you add Roman candles to drones, then add lasers as well the lasers will look super-cool through the fireworks smoke.
Obv don't do this anywhere you could catch anything on fire, a roof
Looks cool (Score:5, Interesting)
Drone shows can be really amazing and do things fireworks can't do [youtu.be], but fireworks can also do things drones can't do.
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Why not both?
Re: Looks cool (Score:2)
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Can't fireworks and drones be far away from each other? Or do them separately? Drones first, and then fireworks?
Fireworks hit 3 senses not 1 (Score:3)
Drone shows can be really amazing and do things fireworks can't do, but fireworks can also do things drones can't do.
I'd also miss the "boom" and the smell of burnt gunpowder.
...
The different stuff on the visual goes both ways. I'd say add some smoke generators for a light fogging of a volume and add lasers (no, seriously, light show lasers not the anti-personnel lasers we put on sharks) to the drones. Add some Pink Floyd or Rush
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>but fireworks can also do things drones can't do.
such as shoot down drones . . .
[ok, I suppose a group of drones *could* catch a firework with a net, but . . .]
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Wind blows fireworks too (Score:2)
Wind concerns are common to both.
It's not a hat unusual for fireworks to be cancelled or delayed due to wind. I haven't done very many professional shows yet, so personally I've just seen a 15-minute delay and moving the audience out of a particular section.
Drones can of course fly against the wind, dynamically adjusting. With fireworks, you can angle the racks into the wind while you're setting up at noon or 2PM or whatever and that's it. The wind will blow them whichever direction.
Nostalgia and Tradition are strong (Score:5, Insightful)
In a rush to proclaim what's going to be the Next Big Thing, some people neglect how powerful tradition and nostalgia can be. Fireworks have been dazzling people for over a thousand years, and drones are not going to replace the visceral thrill of seeing, hearing, and feeling colorful explosions in the night sky.
Sure, technology is always going to play its part. These days, it's not unusual to have synchronized music, lasers, whatnot as part of a show. In the future, they'll add some drones and who knows what. But I really doubt fireworks will disappear. They thrill our lizard brains at too primitive a level for them ever to completely go away.
Bothificationism (Score:4, Interesting)
They complement each other, the future is both in the same show. Drones can do well-coordinated light dances, while fireworks explode with booms. Think of a ballet where the villains catch fire and explode.
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The biggest issue is that drones are expensive compared to fireworks. Okay for big displays, but individuals will still buy cheap fireworks.
Personally I wish they would just ban personal sales of fireworks. They are annoying and scare pets. Let's just have official displays, on one or two nights of the year, rather than dozens of crappy ones on random dates.
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The biggest issue is that drones are expensive compared to fireworks.
That would be a good argument if drones were use-once. Over time you can reasonably expect drones to be cheaper.
Personally I wish they would just ban personal sales of fireworks.
Sure, then we can have black market totally unregulated fireworks.
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I think you would have to keep your drone swarm for a very long time for it to be cheaper than buying fireworks every year.
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Personally I wish they would just ban personal sales of fireworks. They are annoying and scare pets. Let's just have official displays, on one or two nights of the year, rather than dozens of crappy ones on random dates.
Pets are annoying, personally I wish they would just ban pets.
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Personally I wish they would just ban personal sales of fireworks. They are annoying and scare pets.
Well, then don't try to light up fireworks near your pets... duh!
Re: Nostalgia and Tradition are strong (Score:2)
They are annoying and scare pets.
Some pets. None which I've ever had. When it comes to dogs, the ones bothered most seem to be bothered by everything. Like my neighbor's annoying little shit-box that can't even handle a car door closing nearby without a 30 minute freakout session.
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When it comes to dogs, the ones bothered most seem to be bothered by everything.
That's not my experience. I've had some pretty confident and disciplined dogs, working breeds, that get scared by fireworks. It takes time and repetition to condition police and military K9 for gunfire.
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They don't scare pets any more than thunder does, so let's get over that excuse. People love them, but they can be annoying when you have jackasses who want to blast away into the wee hours, but there are already noise rules in most every place I've lived. Also, every place I've seen a ban, just causes people to buy/import them illegally.
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I've had a four cats over the years, and none of them were scared by thunder like they are by fireworks.
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Okay, I've had six cats and a dog...more anecdotal evidence. Maybe it only affects the woke pets...j/k :D
The cats were never bothered, and the dog was scared by thunder but got used to it by sitting out with me during storms...we have a covered porch, and I would just hold her tightly when I saw a flash.
Re: Nostalgia and Tradition are strong (Score:3)
Re: Nostalgia and Tradition are strong (Score:2)
Just put counterfeit lithium ion batteries in them.
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In a rush to proclaim what's going to be the Next Big Thing, some people neglect how powerful tradition and nostalgia can be. Fireworks have been dazzling people for over a thousand years, and drones are not going to replace the visceral thrill of seeing, hearing, and feeling colorful explosions in the night sky.
Sure, technology is always going to play its part. These days, it's not unusual to have synchronized music, lasers, whatnot as part of a show. In the future, they'll add some drones and who knows what. But I really doubt fireworks will disappear. They thrill our lizard brains at too primitive a level for them ever to completely go away.
Yep, reading TFS, this just sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
Besides, a drone cannot make the same satisfying pop that a firework makes, it's not just the sound, but the pressure wave hitting your face that makes it so good.
Floriduh to save the day (Score:4, Informative)
I've never seen so many fireworks as here in central Florida. There is no need to go to any city sponsored shows. The regular citizens put on displays in every neighborhood equal to many of the small town shows I've seen elsewhere. Massive starbursts light up the sky everywhere. And it isn't just limited to the 4th and New Years. It starts at least a week before New Years, Cinco de Mayo, the 4th, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and goes till at least a week after. Since Christmas and New Years are a week apart, we get three weeks of it then. It also typically goes as late as 2 AM in sporadic bursts.
Any drones would be in serious danger here. It would be like trying to fly a bomber into WW2 Germany through clouds of ack-ack.
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Flak, moron. Kill yourself tonight to preserve whatever honor is left in your family.
Ironic of you to suggest this outcome considering ack-ack is antiaircraft gunfire.
Re:Floriduh to save the day (Score:5, Interesting)
I've never seen so many fireworks as here in central Florida.
Meh. Come to Valencia, Spain, it's every single day. Any public holiday, wedding, funeral, Christening, birthday, Saints day, or just because you feel like it.
They start 'em young here, too. We literally have babies throwing fireworks out of prams. I've got a photo somewhere of my 4-year old nephew showing his 2-year-old brother how to light fireworks in the street.
Any drones would be in serious danger here. It would be like trying to fly a bomber into WW2 Germany through clouds of ack-ack.
The last night of the main fiestas here (in March) looks like Dresden, with fire engines driving around to hose down the buildings and them from burning (nb. not to put the fires out, just to stop people's houses from burning down).
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
This is after a month of all-day firework shows: From the 8am "Wakey wakey" fireworks to the lunchtime fireworks (all noise [youtube.com]) to the evening fireworks and the big displays at midnight. There's no escape. People who aren't into it have to go away on holiday to get away from the noise/smoke.
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Shanghai at lunar new year is pretty bad, too. It's not safe to go outside - people treat it as a dick-waving competition to let off the biggest fireworks they can in the street. The noise is deafening.
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Here it's more organized and family oriented (ie. safety fences to keep 10m distance) but I can literally see the glass my living room windows flexing during the daytime fireworks.
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London, same thing, I just looked out the window and saw continuous firework displays from horizon to horizon, drones isn't going to change that any time soon.
A Space Invaders show would be awesome (Score:4, Funny)
Others suggest the use of fireworks and drones are not mutually exclusive
Particularly when used against each other by competitive teams. I'd watch that display... from a safe distance.
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Particularly when used against each other by competitive teams. I'd watch that display... from a safe distance.
Now that's something I'd pay to watch.
Yeah.... (Score:3, Insightful)
'Cause drones have that awesome BOOM sound that accompanies big firework explosions.
Idiots...
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I fucking hate those booms. Pretty much every redneck and their dog randomly fires them starting late of November all the way to mid-January, scaring the shit out of our pets, for no fucking reason other than "it makes NOISE, man...".
Fire them up on New Year's, at midnight? Sure, no problem, I can get that. People celebrate. But I'd rather enjoy a quiet rest of the month.
I hate it when (Score:2)
I have a pyromaniac neighbor, and I find spent bottle-rocket casings on the roof. Big ones, too. Those bottle rockets that could burn you out of your home come in graduated sizes, from smallest to largest.
City ordinance violation.
Breaking a regional cease-fire agreement.
Ignoring a U.N. Security Council Resolution.
Abrogation of international arms control treaties.
War crime.
At least one more (Score:1)
You forgot the next size up, "Comet Deflector".
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I'm really torn. I love the booms. It's not a fireworks show unless you've had good kabooms that you feel in your chest and shell fragments in your hair. A fireworks show has visual, audio, touch, taste, and smell components; lose any of them and you're missing out.
My dog, on the other hand, is terrified of fireworks. Of anything which makes a sudden loud noise, really. I've spent a good many nights in the far corner of the basement, trying to comfort her as she's curled up into a tight little ball, shi
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Not much worse than the morons who insist on putting aftermarket exhaust pipes on their cards to show what tiny dicks they have.
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That too (I assume you meant "cars"), but whataboutism isn't really working to justify one thing by referring to another.
These are separate issues.
Furthermore, the neighborhood I live in experiences maybe one such car occurrence every two weeks. Fireworks, on the other hand, occur regularly at least three times a week (people here are crazy, they need booms all the time, for some stupid reason), and they get completely out of hand during winter festivities.
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Yes, obviously cars.
There's no "whataboutism" here. Both are annoying. As for your anecdote, that's all it is. I've lived all over the US, and never been anywhere that had more fireworks than jackasses with loud cars. But again, that's just my anecdote, and totally beside the point that both are annoyingly like someone accusing you of whataboutism when there was no such occurrence.
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I've lived all over the US, and never been anywhere that had more fireworks than jackasses with loud cars.
The world contains other countries. Shocking, I know.
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Not much worse than the morons who insist on putting aftermarket exhaust pipes on their cards to show what tiny dicks they have.
Thank you. That made me laugh and I needed that today.
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'Cause drones have that awesome BOOM sound that accompanies big firework explosions.
If you're in Afghanistan, they do.. LOL!
Nope! (Score:2)
"He who hath smelt the smoke is neer agin free."
When fire works go boom (Score:1)
It's ooh ahh purrdy.
When drones go boom it's holy shit how do you put out a lithium battery fire?!
I'm not seeing it (Score:2)
Drone shows are pretty boring - it's like watching low-res animation.
It might fill a different niche than fireworks, somewhere, I suppose.
Hilarious (Score:2)
A someone who shoots tons of crap in the air and burn it, have “grave concerns about electricity usage og drones and lithium batteries”? :D
That being said. I just don’t see drone shows being as interesting to watch once you have seen a few of them. I do like the views , sounds and smell of fireworks.
Drones make lovely targets (Score:4, Funny)
Fireworks (Score:2)
If you've seen one, you've seen them all.
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Have you ever seen a firework drop flares on parachutes? The first time I saw that I wasn't expecting it.
If drones can replace your fireworks (Score:2)
I'd REALLY check their battery supply.
New Coke is the only Coke (Score:4, Insightful)
Our market survey has identified that New Coke is hugely popular. No we never asked anyone what they think they prefer if they only had the option of one or the other.
Fireworks won't disappear, if they were replaced by drones completely there'd be an uproar.
Drones can't make loud bangs (Score:3)
For many, a big part of the excitement of fireworks is the loud bangs they make. Many fireworks are specifically designed to be loud, though they don't have to be loud to be pretty. Drones can make cool lighting designs, but they can't make the noise. The death of fireworks has been greatly exaggerated.
Big booms can kill birds, scare pets, etc (Score:2)
Its cold (Score:2)
Do drones work at -25F ?
Nutty Response from the Fireworks Industry (Score:2)
FTA: "Suggestions are that drones have less of an impact on the environment, but we have grave concerns about electrical demand and use of lithium batteries which are known not to be all that 'green,'" said a spokesperson from the British Fireworks Association. "Firework use impact on the environment has been shown to be minor and very short-lived..."
How about considering the amount of electricity/energy used to produce the metal ingredients of fireworks, hmmn? They spokesperson is not taking all of the energy inputs into making fireworks into account.
In case you don't know, fireworks shells explode and ignite globs of powdered metals, which burn brightly. These powders take a large amount of energy to refine from ore. Take that into consideration, and the energy footprint of fireworks will be much clearer.
The energy to fly 300 lighted drones for an hou
"There's no this, there's no that..." (Score:2)
There's also no bang, no whistle, no fizzle, no crackle, etc. Fireworks isn't just about the colorful display. I don't see them going anywhere anytime fast.
yeah nah! (Score:2)
Cost of production (Score:2)
In Texas where I live, I can put on a pretty decent fireworks show in my back yard for $500, complete with big aerial displays. $500 won't buy a whole lot of drone technology.
Even if the price of drones goes way down, the cost of producing the show--designing and implementing the aerial artwork--is going to remain expensive because the job requires employing highly-paid engineers and producers. Big cities already pay producers for traditional fireworks, but the number of hours required for drone displays i