I met with Patrick Chandonnet, competing for Canada for the first time in Montreal with his company, Orion, based out of Shawinigan in Quebec. Orion is very much a family run company with several people from the Chandonnet family involved in the operation. The name of the company was suggested by Patrick’s mother, who loves the stars! Orion have competed in local and international competitions over the years including in Sherbrooke (Quebec) where they won the top prize in 2012 as well as in Macau (3rd place in 2016) and in Blackpool, UK, where Orion won the top prize in 2015. The company now puts on over 150 displays per year and Patrick said that he has been testing out elements of his Montreal competition display at different locations over the past couple of years! The company was originally scheduled to compete in Montreal in 2021, but the pandemic forced the cancellation of the competition that year.
Effects for Ramp 3
The theme of the display is “Myths and Legends of Québec” and each will be illustrated by the different elements of the soundtrack. To tie everything together, the display will be narrated by Bryan Perro who is the author of the children’s fantasy fiction series Amos Daragon and also a fellow native of Shawinigan. Patrick designed the diverse soundtrack and mixed it at StudioD which is close to Orion. The soundtrack is a total of 35 minutes long, with the narration interspersed throughout the display to tell the story of the different myths and legends, such as The Blue Pig, The Lady in White and many others! The fireworks chosen will match each mythical element and will include a suspended waterfall for The Lady in White segment as well as many other special effects.
Pre-montage
Orion will be using a large array of diverse products from Dancing Dragon and Pyragric (China, imported by Royal Pyrotechnie), Vulcan (Hong Kong), Mystical (China), Icon (Chinese line of Foti Fireworks), Sunny (China), Zaragozana (Spain), Igual (Spain), Vincente Caballer (Spain), Panzera (Italy), Guiliani (Italy), Rozzi (USA) and NextFX close proximity (USA). Patrick said this would avoid any repetition of effects!
Patrick Chandonnet
On the technical side, the display was designed using ShowDirector, but without any 3D visualizations as Patrick said he prefers to do this in his head as this gives a better result and is faster than futzing around making everything look perfect on the screen. The show will use about 3800 cues with around 2100 one-shots and over fifty large shells in the 8″ – 12″ calibre. It will be fired using FireOne. All five firing ramps will be used too.
Patrick said there have been some logistical challenges with the final stock for the show arriving just this week, but everything is in place. His aim is to create a fantastic and exciting display first and foremost for the audience and hopes the jury will consider it for a Jupiter award! The weather is forecast to be perfect for the display too!
