Japan has some fairly strict drone regulations that bar private pilots from flying the devices in public parks, but that hasn’t stopped a fleet of the remote-controlled vehicles from taking to the skies to perform a “ballet” accompanied by traditional Japanese shamisen music, set against the beautiful backdrop of Mount Fuji. The performance was produced by Japanese company MicroAd, which used more than 20 of its LED-encrusted Sky Magic drones to fly in formation with the music, their 16,500 lights twinkling in the dusk gloom.
Watch drones perform ‘ballet’ with 16,500 LEDs in front of Mount Fuji
The effect marries the old and the new, sandwiching the modern drones between players of centuries-old instruments and Fuji itself, an immovable and ancient symbol of Japan. In the half light, the drones first look like part of the landscape, like lanterns or fireflies, before their technological origins are given away when they start twitching and turning in unnaturally precise patterns.
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