I met with Brad Dezotell of Fireworks Spectaculars Canada (FSC), based out of Calgary, Alberta, competing for the second time in Montreal. Originally trading as Blue Smoke Fireworks and founded in 1983, Brad worked for the original company and liked it so much that he bought it in 2002, after winning the Lac des Nations competition for Sherbrooke for them in 2001. Since then, FSC have won in Sherbrooke three more times, the most recent being in 2008 with their Zeus theme, which they also had used at their debut in Montreal in 2007.
Speaking of 2007, FSC had some bad luck when they competed when a hidden problem in the firing system at La Ronde caused an interruption to their show of around 20 minutes. I remember those agonizing moments very well and Brad said he wasn’t sure if they would have won a prize or not had there not been a problem. Brad told me they had learned a lot from their first participation, both in terms of the usage of the firing site and also in the preparation of the soundtrack.
Brad has a background in radio and he was wholly responsible for selecting the music and editing the final version of the soundtrack – telling that this is version 8! He said that most of the transitions between pieces are seamless – even challenging some of his crew to name when the transitions occur – but there are pauses in a few places where the pyrotechnics calls for it as he doesn’t like the effects from the end of one piece stepping over music that’s not designed for them. Following from the experience in 2007, there will be no narration in the show either.
The theme of the display is Heroes, and Brad explained that he wanted to play tribute to the people whose actions make our everyday lives possible and so there are pieces dedicated to firefighters – Brad pointing out that many people in his crew are also involved in firefighting – as well as the police and military. Since the everyday person on the street doesn’t really have any music to represent their everyday heroism, Brad has selected pieces from films which represent the different groups he wants to pay tribute to. The concept first came to light in January and it took until the end of May to complete. He said he had done a Heroes and Villains theme before, but this display in Montreal does not have any music in common with his previous display.
When asked if there are any special structures in the display, he replied that, this time, there are not and that ramp 4 itself presents many interesting design opportunities, together with ramp 5 which he’s using extensively. He said that their previous experience showed that creating extra structures can consume a lot of time. He also said his experience of watching several displays in Montreal over the years definitely helped him understand the capabilities of the firing site and that there isn’t any space that could be used that’s not being used – if a space is not used, it’s because they’re not allowed to use it! This means the display will be as broad and deep as possible and that, due to the nautical effects they will be using, there “will be lots of testing on Thursday” (the usual day when nautical effects have to be checked for safety).
When asked what products would be used, Brad replied there are about 12 major suppliers. These are Vincente Caballer (Spain), Pyrotecnia Zaragozana (Spain), Yung Feng (China) – particularly for their Nishiki Kamuro 12″ shells; as well as the Chinese manufacturers Lidu, Dancing, Vulcan/Shogun and Wizard. He’s also using some special American “breaking glass” comets from A.C.E. pyrotechnics out of Michigan together with NextFX and RES close proximity pyrotechnics and finally some products from Panzera. Quite the selection – Brad saying that he chose best-in-class products from all of the manufacturers he’s using. Despite Brad saying that he’s “not a big shell man”, he’s using over twenty 12″ shells (the most so far this year) for a total of 128 8″, 10″ and 12″ products on Ramp 1.
Other technicalities: the show is being fired using the Pyrodigital firing system with 220 16-cue firing modules for a total of around 3200 cues. Brad explained this is fewer cues than his previous show in Montreal, which came in over 4000, but, this time, he’s using more delay chains on the shells rather than one cue per shell, saying this way of working saves a lot of time and effort. He also said that, despite the smaller budget this year, because he was smarter with his product purchasing decisions, his show will be about the same size as in 2007, in other words, a big show! Brad also said there would be lots of large (5″) mines as well as the some big comets in 4″ and 3″ calibre, including some special “long throw” comets that would travel over 450 feet, rather than the usual 200 or so.
Asked about how the show was designed, Brad said that his previous show in Montreal was fully visualized using VisualShowDirector (Brad being an early adopter) but, this time, only parts of the show have been subject to visualization, mainly to check the angles on some of the effects.
Brad expressed the desire for some wind on the night of the show, but that rain didn’t matter. Let’s hope the weather gods smile on this year’s Canadian competitor.