Celestial Drone Shows: Storytelling on a Whole New Canvas

Celestial, a UK-based drone art company, has carved out a unique role in the global entertainment industry by blending film-grade storytelling with drone light shows. With backgrounds in filmmaking, animation, and touring, the team made the leap during the COVID-19 lockdown, staging their first aerial performance at Hogmanay in the Scottish Highlands. Hundreds of illuminated drones painted a narrative of hope across the night sky. We spoke with Ottilie Culloty, Head of Global Sales & Marketing at Celestial, about how the company has pioneered storytelling through drone light shows. 

“The team’s prior experience spans filmmaking, advertising, touring, and animation. Those disciplines are still at the heart of what we do. The shift into drone shows happened quite naturally - during lockdown we staged our first aerial performance for Hogmanay... that was the moment we realised: this was storytelling on a whole new canvas.”

A New Visual Language

From the beginning, Celestial didn’t just see drones as lights in the air. They saw them as pixels in motion, capable of bringing cinematic storytelling into three dimensions.

“Our ‘pixels in the sky’ vision came from our background in film and animation - frame by frame storytelling. With drones, those frames become physical, luminous pixels hovering in three dimensions.”

That idea quickly expanded from symbolic moments into fully fledged narratives, told at global events and cultural milestones.

Milestones Across the Globe

Some shows stand out not only for their scale but for their emotional weight. Hogmanay will always remain special as a moment of resilience. London’s New Year’s Eve at Horse Guards Parade, broadcast live to a global audience, combined heritage and spectacle with the challenge of syncing animations to Big Ben’s chimes. Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool pushed the team technically, with 640 drones flying in two swarms across a dense urban setting. And Sky Song in Adelaide broke new ground as a 30-minute narrative drone art performance, created with Indigenous communities, which paved the way for the first ticketed drone shows in the UK and US in 2023.

“London’s New Year’s Eve at Horse Guards Parade was unforgettable, with its historic setting, a live global broadcast and timing an animated countdown to the chimes of Big Ben. Eurovision in Liverpool pushed us technically, we had 640 drones flying in two swarms through a dense urban landscape. And then there’s Sky Song in Adelaide… it paved the way for us to launch the world’s first ticketed drone show experiences.”

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Celestial Drone Shows: Pushing Creative Boundaries

Celestial thrives when the brief feels impossible.

“Evolution, our first touring ticketed show, told the story of life on Earth with towering figures and even dinosaurs roaming the skies.”

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For Greenpeace, they combined drones with large-scale projections of endangered animals over natural landscapes. And at Eurovision, they proved that drone art can integrate seamlessly into live TV and urban environments.

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“Our Greenpeace collaboration... included the projection of endangered animals over natural landscapes - artivism in the truest sense.”

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How the Process Works

From the first spark of an idea to the final flight, Celestial approaches every show like a cinematic production. Writers, animators, and technicians work together to script, storyboard, and pre-visualize each performance in 3D. At The Hive, their private test facility, they can run safety simulations and flight demos before every project.

“Every show starts with an idea, a story we want to tell and an emotion that we want to evoke from the audience... We have our own testing facility at our airfield, ‘The Hive,’ and can run safety simulations and demonstrations for clients.”

Technology as a Creative Partner

Balancing ambition with safety is one of the hardest parts of the job. This is where Drone Show Software has become an essential partner.

“Drone show software is absolutely central to what we do. It lets us previsualize entire shows in their actual locations, simulate flights and prevent collisions before any drones leave the ground... Those tools have been game-changers.”

The software allows Celestial to deliver technically complex shows, from live global broadcasts to feature-length aerial narratives - without compromising safety or precision.

Looking Ahead

The future is about bigger fleets, real-time interactivity, and sustainability. Celestial sees drone shows not just as entertainment, but as a cultural alternative to fireworks: immersive, inclusive, and environmentally responsible.

“We’re seeing shows get bigger - thousands of drones instead of hundreds - with higher brightness, speed and resolution. There’s also huge potential in real-time integration… And importantly, drone shows are proving themselves as a sustainable, inclusive alternative to fireworks.”

Long-term, Celestial’s vision is to lead the industry in narrative drone storytelling worldwide.

“Celestial is already a pioneer in drone storytelling, using this medium to inspire, to move people and to reimagine live entertainment. Long-term, our goal is to be the world leader in this space, always finding new ways to connect audiences through light, art and story.”

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Final Words of Advice

The team has one message for other creators: aim higher than you think possible.

“If we could tell our younger selves one thing, it would be: don’t hold back. No idea is too ambitious. Dream bigger than you think possible, because with the right team and the right technology, you really can put your imagination to the sky.”