Flocking for the future

Created for Greenpeace by Celestial – the drone display company behind Scotland’s Hogmanay 2021 New Year drone show – the event utilised AI software to choreograph the drones’ movements, forming ethereal 3D animals and words, interlaced with projections. 

The light show featured the shapes of iconic and endangered animals  – from giant blue wales to tiny bees – dancing across the night sky. With formations reaching up to 76m high and 122m long, it was the UK’s largest ever drone show. 

In the background, children narrated such messages of optimism as, “I hope the grown-ups in charge wake up,” and “I hope they defend the forests for the animals and people living there.”

The campaign’s two-minute film, 300 drones, 1 message: Act Now, features a lush score created by music producer and Emmy-nominated composer Hannah Peel [Game of Thrones], in collaboration with the Ulster Orchestra.

Reaching a crescendo as the drone animals gather en masse above the cliffs of Cornwall, the film ends with one child saying, “I want our leaders to do their jobs and fight for the planet”, while another concludes with, “hope comes from action, not words,” leading to the drones’ final formation into the simple edict, ‘STOP EXTINCTION. ACT NOW’.

Greenpeace UK’s senior climate campaigner, Ariana Densham, commented: "This film is a beautiful amalgamation of art, activism and cutting-edge technology but its message is simple. World leaders must act now if we are to tackle the climate and nature crisis. The G7 cannot be another target setting exercise resulting only in wasted time, political chest-thumping and more empty promises that might as well be written in the sand of [Cornwall’s] Carbis Bay Beach.”