Lights! Camera! Lift Off? Fusion Studio Brings Sky Elements Drone Show to Boiler Gold Rush
By Taylor Frymier
Three hundred little robots rest upon a field like an army of sleeping pond skeeters. The anticipation from the gathered audience is palpable; their excitement buzzing through the night air.
Three hundred blue lights affixed to the drones’ backs blink awake and begin humming. All at once, they rise in a susurration of shooting stars to cast Purdue Pete in constellation.
Three hundred dancing lights lift the legendary strong man’s sledgehammer to bring it crashing down on the words “Corn Camp” (the program from which Boiler Gold Rush evolved). From the rubble, brick by brick, the iconic Purdue Bell Tower rises in triumph.
Hundreds cheer as a car pulls into the proverbial shadow of the tower to drop off an incoming freshman. The intrepid young Boilermaker, guided by their BGR team leader, passes iconic Purdue locations. They cross the tracks, ride the Boilermaker Special, walk past an unfinished Block P.
Until you see 300 drones on the ground, you see 300 drones go in the air, and you see 300 drones move around to display this imagery, in a show that our students created…I just become more in awe of what we were able to accomplish with them.
Craig Johnson
Director of Orientation Programs
Three hundred drones tell the story of a new Purdue student. Their chronicle studding the night sky, a tapestry of engineering and entertainment culminating in the celebration of Purdue’s interdisciplinary legacy with a giant floating Motion P adorned in fireworks.
This was the Sky Elements Drone Show brought to Boiler Gold Rush by the Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering and imagined by Purdue students.
“It was twelve to fifteen minutes of months and months and months of collaborating,” said Director of Orientation Programs Craig Johnson.
We’re taking a story, animating it, and then creating flight paths for drones from the dots in the animation. The connections between entertainment and engineering seem to speak for themselves.
Rich Dionne
Co-Director, Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering
“Until you see 300 drones on the ground, you see 300 drones go in the air, and you see 300 drones move around to display this imagery, in a show that our students created…” Johnson trailed off, the wonder of the spectacle obvious in his voice. “I just become more in awe of what we were able to accomplish with them.”
All summer long, ten students from across campus worked with Sky Elements staff members to arrange, design, promote, and, ultimately, implement the light show. Orientation Programs brought the students together and organized them into three teams: a story team, a technology and flight team, and a marketing team. They then worked for months to develop the storyboards, animations, choreography, and framing necessary to harvest sizzle reels, then put it all into skyward motion.
“Not only did Sky Elements give us the show, they’ve basically been engaged in a months-long learning experience for these students,” Rich Dionne, chair of theatre and co-director of the Fusion Studio, said. “Again, what they’ve given to us as a gift.”
“We’re talking about storytelling,” he continued. “We’re taking a story, animating it, and then creating flight paths for drones from the dots in the animation. The connections between entertainment and engineering seem to speak for themselves.”
The Fusion Studio serves as a hub for theatre technology innovation at Purdue. Promoting the best practices, trends, and developments in interdisciplinary spaces, they strive to create a thriving community of industry partners, academic institutions, scholars, and practitioners.
