It’s an amazing bit of Hollywood special effects.

Four weeks ago at LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU football fans were treated to drones on either side of the stadium — 300 in the south sky and 200 in the north — creating Cougar logos, words to the fight song, even a football player simulating throwing a football in an amazing show of technology.

It was just another step for Anna Metcalf and her BYU marketing/fan experience team to create an unforgettable night at Cougar football home games.

“The fan experience has definitely evolved over time,” Metcalf said. “It hasn’t always been this way. Part of it comes from the powers that be making a decision to choose to invest in it. Not only the financial investment, but the investment of getting everyone on the same page. That’s what makes it great.”

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

BYU fans have plenty to entertain them during game play: The Cougars are ranked No. 6 in the country and undefeated at 9-0. But during pregame, halftime, quarter breaks, time outs and the space between plays, that’s where Metcalf and her team live. Between the video board, music breaks, the Cougarettes dance group, cheerleaders, fire dancers, fireworks and mascot Cosmo — who was placed on top of the video board at the top of the south end of the stadium for the third quarter break against Oklahoma State on Oct. 18 — there is entertainment galore during the three to four hours fans are in their seats at LES.

“Coaches and players come and go,” Metcalf said. “And no team is going to be on top forever. We’re just making sure that even when the season doesn’t go as well, coming to games is still worth the investment to be in the stadium.”

Drones are a fairly new technology (about six years old) and Metcalf said she first suggested that type of show a few years ago.

“It was a ‘no,'” she said. “They were not prepared to take the risk. It was so new and there wasn’t a lot of information. So it’s taken a couple of years to get to this point. Everyone needed to be feel comfortable. That was the first hurdle.”

Metcalf said she had gone to a couple of drone shows and was afraid there wasn’t enough to keep fans entertained while formations were changing.

Joey Garrison, BYU Photo

“Fireworks are fast and there is a big ‘bang!'” she said. “Drones are visually appealing, but they are kind of slow. If people have to stop and watch for a while, it doesn’t get them excited or hyped. We want to keep the energy up.”

Metcalf approached Sky Elements Drone Shows, a company from Texas that boasts clients such as Paramount, Major League Baseball, Direct TV, NASCAR and Prime Video. The company was also a participant in the 19th season of America’s Got Talent, finishing third. Her idea was to have two drones shows going at once, so while one was being observed, the other was setting up.

No problem, right?

It’s a fairly simple process,” said Tyler Jack, an account executive for Sky Elements. “We’ll reach out to companies for some ideas, or we’ll have companies or teams reach out to us, and we’ll just kind of go through what that storyboard looks like. We start with ‘What does that show look like if we’re using 100 drones?’ which is the minimum number that we use. So the drone count is fairly important because it lets us know how much time it takes to animate the show, how much space we need on the ground and how much crew we need. Then we need an understanding of the budget we’re working with and how many drones we need, that gives us a starting point on where we can go creatively.”

“We show the client a mock up of what the show will look like and then a video render phase. We put everything into the software where you can see how the drones look from the time we were setting them up. They take off and perform through each animation until them land.”

Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo

Jack said the staff arrives around six hours before an event for set up, testing batteries, checking propellers and making sure the GPS is working properly.

“The maximum amount of time that our shows can perform is around 12-15 minutes,” Jack said. “Typically we have a pilot, a crew lead, a driver, an activation specialist and a sales rep on site, so about four full-time team members for each show. Since we had two shows at the BYU game, we had to go to eight full-time staff. Then we’re trying to find a local production crew, depending on how many drones we’re using.”

Jack added there are Federal Aviation Administration rules that need to be followed, such as clearing the area of cars or people to meet safety requirements.

As you might expect, drone shows can be expensive. Shows range from $350 to $2500 per drone, depending on the model, show complexity, location, logistics and additional services. Sky Elements indicates on its website shows range from $15,000 to “much higher amounts for larger, more intricate performances.”

Sky Elements recently recreated the “Fantastic 4” logo for Disney Marvel to tease the new movie, bringing to real life something that only existed on screen. That show, Jack said, was 2,400 drones, the largest his company has ever done.

Courtesy BYU Photo

Metcalf said Sky Elements offered drones with pyro, but “we couldn’t afford it.”

“We could have been the first school to do that,” she said. “My understanding is that we were the first school to do two simultaneous shows, pregame and third quarter. Halftime we figured fans would be out of their seats, so the third quarter break seemed like the right timing for a great moment.”

Metcalf said the No. 1 feedback from fans was, “Are we doing this every game?”

“We can’t afford to do it every game and we don’t want it to lose its luster,” Metcalf said. “I think we’ll keep it in our bag. We have some things to work out. The south video board is so big, it was kind of hard for some fans to see that show. And there are regulations to how high the drones can fly. There are two home games left this year. Our ultimate goal is to create loyal fans over the years so they will come back to the stadium and to provide a home field advantage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.”

Nate Edwards, BYU Photo

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