Meet the man behind the Super Bowl’s annual confetti blizzard

California: Noah Winter brags he’s been to way more Super Bowls than Tom Brady. Brady competed in 10 — more than any other player. But Winter will be part of the Super Bowl spectacle for his 30th straight year this year, not in uniform but as the guy in charge of the celebratory confetti after the game ends. Winter’s company, Artistry in Motion, also makes confetti for rock concerts, movies, political conventions and the Olympics. But the annual blizzard of colour falling onto the field at the end of each Super Bowl is probably what he’s best known for.

It certainly is what he’s most likely to get asked about at dinner parties. “It’s become an iconic moment,” Winter marvels, sitting in his Northridge, California, office and confetti factory.

Jane Gershovich, a photographer who worked for the Seattle Seahawks when they won the Super Bowl in 2014, said that when the confetti falls, everyone wants to play in it. The players and their families have been known to toss it in the air and make confetti angels.

“Just seeing the players and their kids engage with it at such a wholesome level, it brings a lot of joy to everyone on the field,” she said. So, what goes into planning and executing a giant confetti drop? Winter fields some questions:

Artistry in Motion trucks 300 pounds (135 kilograms) of two-colored confetti for each of the teams to the Super Bowl. They bring confetti cannons onto the field with about 4 minutes remaining, and line them up around the stadium walls. Even if the teams stream onto the field before the clock runs out, the confetti waits until the timer shows the game is officially over. And the winners’ colors get the go-ahead.

“It’s always better to be late then early,” Winter explained. “Sometimes players go out and shake hands. We don’t launch until triple zero on the clock. Over the 30 years, we never have launched the wrong colour or launched too early.”

The colour mix is not 50-50, because some colours dominate on video, so the company has to experiment to find the correct mix. Massachusetts company Seaman Paper has for 25 years manufactured the tissue paper that Artistry in Motion turns into confetti, said Jamie Jones, one of Seaman’s owners. A lot of New England Patriots fans who work there are particularly excited about their part in this year’s Super Bowl.

The company makes about 150,000 pounds (68,000 kilograms) of tissue paper a day — mostly for gift wrapping and food service. “It’s a very prestigious but not big order,” Jones said of the Super Bowl paper.

Winter has found that a rectangular shape is best for confetti because it turns on its axis and hangs in the air. But TV viewers might not realize that there are actually two confetti drops at the Super Bowl — one at game’s end, and the other when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is presented to the winning team. That second round of confetti is cut in the silhouette of the trophy.

Messages can be printed on the tiny rectangles too. For a handful of Super Bowls, Artistry in Motion printed social media messages on each tiny flag at the request of event sponsor Twitter.

Some people ask whether the confetti is cut by hand (it isn’t), and Winter jokes that his hands get tired. The tiny rectangular flags of tissue paper are made from US-sourced, 98% postconsumer recycled material, Winter says. The paper is biodegradable. The company makes confetti in the colors of the four final NFL playoff teams. All that isn’t used is recycled.

The confetti makes a beautiful mess in the stadium, but cleanup isn’t Winter’s job. Every stadium uses a different approach, depending in part on the field’s makeup. Some use rakes. Others employ leaf blowers, taking care not to degrade the artificial turf.

In 1986, Mick Jagger saw the confetti at Disney and asked Artistry in Motion to make some for a Rolling Stones’ concert at Dodgers Stadium. Then, he brought the fledgling confetti company on tour. Other artists, including Bono from U2, asked that confetti be made for their shows as well.

Associated Press