First “TIME” Magazine Cover created by 958 Drones

On May 03 in Folsom California, Time collaborated with Intel’s Drone Light Show Team - a fleet of drones and software used to create UAV light shows, Astraeus Aerial Cinema Systems and L.A. Drones to make the first incredible cover for the TIME Special-edition Drone Report was issued on June 01. Time’s cover is the first that was shot on a drone. Using Intel’s program to choreograph light shows, the drones created the iconic red border and logo of the magazine that’s usually simply drawn onto a photograph with graphics software. The entire “cover” in the air, with all the drones in place, was about 328 feet tall and 400 feet horizon, a buzzing collection of lights in the sky at dusk.

This is a challenge that is not easy at all. With upto 958 drones utilized, the Intel’s Drone Light Show team have to accurately nativative all drones system movement avoiding collisions with each other while shape of the TIME cover. In addition, at the 328 ft height, the drones had to fly closer together than the drone light show coordinators typically fly in door. Rather than the 10-foot radius the drones typically keep to avoid gusts of wind creating an in-air collision, the drones flew with fewer than five feet between them.

One Folsom, Calif., resident interviewed by a local news reporter recounted, “Up in the sky, I saw the future.”

Great things have not stopped there, TIME teamed up with Astraeus Aerial Cinema Systems and LA Drones used a professional heavy lifting drone to capture the image. The cover was shot at sunset to create a gradient in the sky behind the drones, Precision time frame plus Precision camera angle that also presented challenges with additional wind and the low light capture.

The result is one of the largest drone shows in the U.S., 958 drones is slightly lower than the amount used in the Olympic opening ceremony earlier this year about 1200 drones, but it's no less impressive.

“I’ve always been amazed at how different an image looks when you put it inside the red border of Time,” D.W. Pine, the creative director at Time, said in a statement. “What’s interesting about this is that the image is actually the border of Time. I’ve looked at that border and logo every single day on a flatscreen monitor, and to see it up in the sky, at 400 feet in the air, it was very moving for me.”

Check it out how to make this incredible “TIME” Magazine cover