A crocodile made of 300 drones appeared in Brno

A record 300 drones took off above Brno Lake – a light show of this scale was held in the Czech Republic for the first time ever. “Even though the number of drones is increasing every year, we still only have 300 pixels, and each image is a challenge. We always adapt the form of display to the number of drones so that it is clear what it is about. Voiceover helps us a lot in ensuring that the viewer gets all our ideas,” explained David Zaorálek, head of Spectrum Production.

Despite the challenging conditions, when it was uncertain whether the drones would even take off due to disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, the show was ultimately a success. The towers of Petrov and a clock depicting Brno's noon at 11:00, the Brno “dragon” and the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, which was discovered a hundred years ago, appeared in the sky. The drones also created the outline of the Masaryk Circuit, complete with a racing helmet, to celebrate the return of the prestigious MotoGP motorcycle race to Brno after five years.

The audience's reaction was enthusiastic. “I was really surprised by how they depicted the crocodile and Venus. The drones are getting better and better every year,” said Iveta Beranová. David Michálek was more interested in the racing motifs: “The best part was MotoGP. I really didn't expect to see the Masaryk Circuit from drones in the sky, it was great.”

Zaorálek revealed other aspects of the show's preparation that were challenging: "The challenge with the Ignis Drone Show is always that the images must be visible in 360° format, because the audience watches them from different locations on the Lake. Telling a story to an audience on one side is much easier. Of course, the higher the number of drones, the more demanding is the preparation and programming."

The drone show The City and Region of Stories presented the myths, legends and cultural customs of South Moravia. The voiceover by Brno actor Zdeněk Junák recalled the rich history of South Moravia and the fact that Moravia is a region of wine, sunshine, folklore and cimbalom music.

“The fact that we are from Brno certainly helped us in the preparation, and we are very happy that we were able to create this show for our hometown. At the same time, however, there are so many important Moravian events that it was impossible to cover them all, so from this point of view it was a bit challenging. We chose the most interesting, the most typical, or those that are significant in some way this year,” added Zaorálek.

After the drone show, the audience was surprised by a short fireworks sequence prepared by Flash Barrandov SFX, followed at 10:30 p.m. by the British fireworks display A Tear in My Beer.

Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
for more information from students of the faculty visit Stisk online