Of Games and Thrones
Designed by Vander Tenedero with Don Miguel and Olivier Zeng (for the Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and This Is Me segments). FireOne firing with 9525 cues.
The Filipino team were blessed with perfect weather for their debut in Montreal. Indeed, since their arrival in Montreal on June 29th, the weather was hot and dry. Their early arrival was to mitigate the problems they’d had shipping their show from Manila – in the end they had to re-order all the 1.3g material from Europe and even that shipment had some problems, leaving them to scramble to source product locally in Canada and the US (though most of their 1.1g material was ordered through ACE Pyro anyway). La Ronde graciously gave the team extra time in between other teams pre-montage periods in order to sort and label their show prior to the official five day setup period.
Fortunately, with a large crew and some overtime, the massive display was almost 100% completely setup in time for display-time. Expectations were high due to the complexity of the show, as revealed in the interview – with a record-breaking 9525 cues (beating the 9000 used by RICASA in 2016 and the 8727 used by Pyroemotions/PyroDigit Team in 2013). It is no mean feat to setup such a complex display.
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about the soundtrack, especially as I’m not a video games aficionado, but my skepticism was soon tempered following a very powerful opening to the theme from Mortal Kombat. The colour scheme used was a nod to the flag of the Philippines, too. The Super Mario Brothers segment was extremely well done, with ring shells firing exactly on the “hits” of the actual video game. Others have written in more detail about how well all of the classic video games were rendered into pyrotechnics.
The synchronization and sequencing used throughout the display was outstanding, with great use made of photoflash runs. Despite the large numbers of one-shots, the patterns did not become repetitive and there was enough variety of product to further reduce the feeling of repetition.
Another very positive aspect was the interplay between the different levels of the display – from low-level effects on ramps 3 and 5, through mid-level to shells above. All possible angles were used and there was always a good balance between the different layers with excellent choice of colours and effects.
Despite the large number of cues – and I remember commenting at the 10 minute point that we were only ten minutes in, there were was a great variety in rhythm and pace. Serene moments with fleur-de-lys type fountains built in intensity until the sky was filled. Even though ramp 5 was used, large nautical shells were still fired in several segments. Several segments ended at an intensity equivalent to a full finale in other displays, yet it never felt overloaded.
By about the 20 minute point, I was worried that the display could possibly run out of steam – this has been the case before with very complex displays where most of the cues end up being used in the first half, leaving the second half feeling more simplistic. I should not have worried! At no point did it feel that there was going to be a shortage of complexity.
The faux and real finales were simply outstanding. Given the intensity of the earlier parts of the display, I worried that the finale might seem anti-climactic. Again, I should not have worried. Essentially the finale began around the 25 minute mark with incredible sequences of brilliant fan-slice cakes that were aimed at the audience across ramp 3, creating an amazing and dazzling 3-D effect. The intensity started to build with fan-slices of salute-terminated commets with shells of salutes and crackling comets above, then dialing back to note sequenced runs of bombettes and then building back up again. Massive scrambling mines filled the sky before barrages of crackle and whistles roared up from ramp 3. Then a pause of smaller effects around minute 27 before building again with more slice cake salutes and brilliant shells above, having everyone think this was the real finale and then dialing down again at minute 29. The slice cake comet salutes returned and were augmented with Panzera thunder candles with barrages of salute shells at mid level and huge colour shells above. Another pause and then the the real finale began and lasted a full minute with silver rain at mid level, massive shells above, huge barrages of 3″ salutes, whistles and a final sky-filling barrage of scrambling comets.
The audience were visibly shaken, as was I, this being the largest finale I can remember in the past 18 years at least, if not ever during my time covering the competition. The packed grandstands erupted into cheers and screams for seemingly minutes. In fact, the team were delayed from returning to the Salon des Artificiers since so many people in the audience wanted to take their pictures with them.
A truly outstanding display that’s absolutely guaranteed to be on the podium this year. Was it perfect? No, it’s impossible. There were a couple of weaknesses such as firing salute-terminated comet slice-cakes during quieter songs where maybe an effect without salutes would have been better. Also, there were no studatas nor girandolas, but every other effect imaginable was used. The soundtrack was much better than I expected with a fantastic variation in rhythm and pace, from moments of serene beauty that brought tears to the eyes to the terrifying finale that caused my video camera to crash with a buffer overflow. The last time this happened was for Pyrotecnico in 2008 … and they are the next up.
On a personal note, it was a thrill to see what Vander a.k.a. reflections_of_earth (which is the name of the music used in the Disney pyromusical shot at Epcot on a daily basis) on my forum was capable of. He had told me in the interview that he had got into fireworks because of my website and he became and avid and insightful critic. Everything I could ever want from a display he included, but in a fashion way better than I could have ever imagined. Truly an outstanding achievement for someone so young (25).