Skip to main content

Watch these beautiful drone displays welcome 2021

Fare Well Part 1 - Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2020

The ongoing pandemic means greatly reduced New Year’s celebrations around the world.

Recommended Videos

Hogmanay, the word used by Scots to describe their usually spirited year-end festivities, regularly involves dazzling fireworks displays in the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. This year, however, drones took to the Scottish skies instead, offering a fittingly serene end to a challenging year.

Three beautiful displays, which took place in the Scottish highlands, as well as over Edinburgh and the famous Forth Bridge, have been shared online (all three are embedded on this page) for everyone to enjoy.

Fare Well Part 2 - Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2020

Featuring an array of Scottish icons and famous places, the displays are accompanied by readings from local actor David Tennant, among others, offering messages of hope for 2021.

The drones were flown and filmed by British firm Celestial, which comprises a team of filmmakers, musicians, developers, and storytellers.

Each of the three shows used around 150 drones with LED lights powered by cutting-edge software on ground-based computers.

“Taking inspiration from Scotland’s land and air, the new work takes viewers on a breathtaking visual journey with the help of 150 individual drones from the Scottish Highlands to the capital city, Edinburgh — a journey that closes the year on 2020 and looks forward to a more hopeful year of 2021,” Celestial said, adding, “Despite the challenges of COVID, we are proud to have created an epic message of hope for Scotland and beyond.”

Fare Well Part 3 - Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2020

A growing number of companies are entering the drone display market as the technology that powers the performances becomes more advanced.

One of the leaders in the field is Intel, which recently partnered with U.S. retail giant Walmart for a dazzling display using nearly 1,000 drones.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch this FPV drone video open Stephen Colbert’s Late Show
The exterior of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show welcomed back its first live audience in 15 months this week, marking the occasion with a snazzy opening sequence shot by a drone at New York City's Ed Sullivan Theater where the show is recorded.

 

Read more
Watch this FPV drone take on the world’s highest waterfall
watch this fpv drone take on the worlds highest waterfall angel falls video

Action-packed and artfully shot first-person-view (FPV) drone videos are all the rage just now, though most of them seem to be shot in and around buildings and urban areas.

Keen to take his own high-speed drone into nature, ace FPV drone pilot Ellis van Jason recently headed to Venezuela to shoot a dramatic dive down Angel Falls, which at 3,121 feet (979 meters) is the world’s highest waterfall.

Read more
Watch this daredevil ad shot by a drone from way up
watch this daredevil ad shot by a drone from way up emirates

Cabin crew are used to high places, but this is ridiculous.

A recently released Emirates ad (below) appears to show a flight attendant at the very top of Dubai’s 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa -- the world’s tallest building -- before flying a drone all the way up to capture the extraordinary spectacle.

Read more