How Britney's Everytime Wings Were Made

[Britnoy]

I was looking for some pics of Brit on the Everytime costume from POM and I found this:
 
 

Britney Spears hired Braun Productions.

After the concept design was approved and finalized, construction began.

The build began with creating a super structure capable of supporting over 1,500 pounds. (Even though the actual flying unit would weigh less then 400 pounds with Britney on it.)  The illusion is that Britney is wearing the wings on her back.  In reality, the wings are carrying her.  She sits on a special custom built harness that completely secures and supports her during flight.

Britney had several very specific needs.  One important item to her personally was that NO actually feathers or animal products of any kind were to be used in the making of her wings. This required master designer Armando Farfan Jr. to create a new technique for fabricating special hand-made, one of kind feathers that would appear real on stage.  Thousands of custom hand-made feathers would be needed to create the angelic look and feel Braun Productions was tasked with delivering.  Each feather would be adorned with real Swarovski Crystals shipped in directly from Austria for Britney’s wings.

Once the custom feathers were in production, the work began on designing and installing over 6,000 LED’s that would light up the wings from the super structure underneath.  These LED’s are high intensity, being that they would need to shine through the feathers in order to achieve the desired effect in the massive 7,000 seat Plant Hollywood venue.  Each LED is an individually controlled pixel capable of running low resolution video wirelessly.  The custom made batteries are Lithium Iron Phosphate, which are a high current, lightweight custom unit using the very latest technology that gives off an impressive output of 50 amps per hour.  Our lead electrical designer Bill McGarvin, created an electrical system that operated the entire unit wirelessly, which allowed the in-flight unit to be controlled from the light board via ArtNet.
Special automation control is achieved using DMX relays which trigger a linear actuator that raises and lowers the wings in flight.  A separate variable speed motor drives the bird like flapping of the wings which allows us to achieve the over all angelic flying effect.




 
Beginning Friday, Dec. 27, Britney performs her infectious dance hits, along with tracks from her eighth studio album.  Fans of Britney’s music videos can rejoice!  The Vegas headliner even brings back her most popular, iconic looks on stage.
Celebrating the pop star’s massive success, “Britney: Piece of Me†couples a high-energy concert with a pulsating, nightclub feel.  Planet Hollywood’s venue houses the world’s largest indoor projection theater and offers an explosive, theatrical experience.  Show-goers can relive their favorite Britney Spears moments, all while dancing the night away.

The award-winning superstar sold 100 million albums worldwide and garnered a string of hits including “…Baby One More Time,†“(You Drive Me) Crazy,†“Oops!…I Did It Again,†“I’m A Slave 4 U,†“Toxic,†and “Womanizer,†among others.  Britney’s Las Vegas show is slated for a two-year residency, with the possibility of an extended run.

[kinganthony]

OH my god thanks for finding this!! I AM GOING TO MP THIS!!!

[JoshLee]

they're beautiful wings and thank goodness they had enough motivation for that cuz after the drawings j would of said: this isn't going to work

[MIKE]

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting!

[LivingLegendaryBritney]

T4P! 

[Pokémon Spears]

The wings are fine, what I've never liked is the dress itself. Why does it have wings on the chest? It looks like a dead bird entangled on a cellophane bag. It looks very cheap, even though I guess it must have been very expensive. The dress she uses in the interlude video is so much better.

 

 

 

 

But anyway, it was very interesting what you found.

[Britnoy]

The wings are fine, what I've never liked is the dress itself. Why does it have wings on the chest? It looks like a dead bird entangled on a cellophane bag. It looks very cheap, even though I guess it must have been very expensive. The dress she uses in the interlude video is so much better.

 

 

 

 

But anyway, it was very interesting what you found.

Completely agree

[I've Just Begun]

Beginning Friday, Dec. 27, Britney performs her infectious dance hits, along with tracks from her eighth studio album.  

The shade

[Mike.]

The shade

 

mte

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

Love it.