Wired:
>The best Super Bowl halftime shows leave indelible memories, be it a notorious wardrobe malfunction, that goofy Left Shark, or every last second of Beyoncé’s two appearances. It’s too soon to say whether anything Lady Gaga did tonight will resonate, but at least she offered something new: An army of dancing drones, ducking and dodging over the Houston skyline, transforming from stars to a fluttering flag.
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>It’s probably the first time you’ve seen 300 drones flying in formation, but it’s almost certainly not the last.
I’d heard rumors of this and was interested to see how they would pull it off. Looks like it went really well.
I have no doubt that this happened as described, but I kept thinking during the opening with Gaga on the roof, how fake the stars looked, and that it looks much more like a video super instead of drones. No doubt the whole open was taped, including her “fall” into the stadium… NOT. She may have jumped alright… but not at the moment in time.
The drones did not fly live. It was pre-recorded. This does not diminish the accomplishment.
Yup, pre-recorded. But still pretty cool. She finished off the jump by flipping in mid air while suspended by two wires. That part was live, and impressive for an amateur trapeze artist.
I just figured it was all CGI since it was clearly prerecorded. A lot of work to do for something that could be done with a little work in post.
i have to agree – if i had not known that those were drones, i would not have been half as impressed. they could have done more with them (e.g. let some of them fly between her and the camera to make it feel more threedimensional).
apart from that, her performance was very drone-like, with her leading and lots of underlings moving in sync. looked like it was cool again to be part of a faceless mass. reminded me of the opening of the beijing olympic games.