Sprite of the Jungle
Designed by Stephen Pelkey and Matthew Shea; Pyrodigial firing with over 500 FM-16 modules and ~7000 cues’ VisualShowDirector scripting
For their fourth appearance in Montreal (previously Atlas had competed in 1995, 2003 and won the Gold Jupiter in 2012), the team were blessed with perfect summer weather and, despite the mid-week slot, a large and enthusiastic audience. The showers and thunderstorms that had been threatening for the previous two days failed to materialize, allowing the crew to assemble this large and complex display.
This was a highly anticipated display, especially given the presence of the vaunted “Maltese Tower” so it’s worth discussing this first. For various reasons, it was not successful. Though the wind was in a good direction, the location of the tower on ramp 2 allowed the smoke from ramp 3 to somewhat obscure it from time to time. The wheels on the top of the tower were generally successful, though the products struggled to fire vertically with enough oomph to give a symmetrical effect. The modules on the side of the tower firing horizontally were not successful. I wasn’t able to discern any patterns at all and the products were just too small to be really visible against the shells above and one-shots from ramp 3. In the end, I think it would have been better if all of the horizontal firing product had been placed on ramp 5.
The soundtrack was really well done with excellent mixing and transitions between songs with a good variety of pace and rhythm and without the feel of being a clichéd “Disney Children’s” soundtrack. The audience definitely enjoyed it too, especially those who have children. I was disappointed in some of the sequences, though, where the music was very rhythmic but the fireworks chosen were items like falling leaves and other effects that are not really time-cued. At other times, I found there wasn’t sufficient interplay between low-level and high-level effects, especially in some places where there were just volleys of three shells being repeatedly fired.
The products used in the display were outstanding, except for those mentioned on the tower. Fantastic colours and effects and the 12″ Italian shells from Guilliani were breathtaking. Kudos to Stephen for designing these into the show in such as way as we could appreciate their magnificence! It was also great to see so many studatas as well as the interesting ghost-effect shells.
Synchronization was perfect throughout with many on-the-note sequences (though I missed seeing the position-accurate piano sequence Stephen had mentioned to me). However, I had reported on the Atlas display in 2012:
I also noted that the synchronization, though good and consistent, was just off by a fraction of a second. Maybe this was due to the distance I was from the sound system – perhaps further back (with a longer audio delay) it was right on.
I noticed the same issue again this time. At least it was consistent throughout the display. However, the sequencing of giant hearts rising from ramp 3 was really great and caused gasps of amazement from the audience!
The finale, as expected, was magnificent and was by far the longest of the season so far and was done with great taste so we could appreciate all the Guilliani shells in their glory, as well as the brilliant one-shot sequences below. The audience were deafened by alternating volleys of whistles and cannonades and rose to their feet and cheered and gave the team a well-deserved standing ovation.
This was an excellent display and is a very strong contender for a Jupiter, despite my criticisms above. The team had worked hard to put on this massive display, having a late start due to a slow border crossing. Five days goes by very quickly when something this complex has to be assembled and it’s kudos to the team for what they achieved.
