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

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 color 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 color or launched too early.”The color mix is not 50-50, because some colors dominate on video, so the company has to experim...