I met with Ian Riedel and his designer, Robert Fairbanks, competing for the first time in Montreal and responsible for opening the 29th season of the Montreal International Pyromusical Competition.
Ian is both the oldest and longest licenced pyrotechnician from the state of Queensland, holding this status since about 1970. Prior to that, pyrotechnicians were registered but not licenced. His company now puts on around 260 displays per year.
Robert spoke of the design challenges due to being located in Australia: because of the long shipping times, they had to have their design completed two months prior to the competition. Robert started scripting the show in December 2012, using the Finale Fireworks simulation program to help visualize the angles. He told me they are using 144 32-cue FireOne firing modules and this represents a challenge as they have to use two controllers. They have organized the firing files such that one controller fires ramps 3 and 4 and the other fires ramps 1 and 2. They are not using the floating ramp 5, since they will be firing nautical products. Robert’s design for ramp 3 is interesting in that he is using an even number of positions (20) on ramp 3, rather than the usual odd number. It will be interesting to see what visual effect this produces.
FireworX are using products from Australian compatriots Howard and Sons and Christian Howard is present on the team to lend some experience to working in Montreal. They are also using some products from the Quebec-based company Sirius Pyrotechnics (who is an importer of Spanish shells) as well as some products from Grupo Luso in Portugal, that were also sourced locally since they are impossible to ship via Australia. Ian mentioned that Vitor Machado, of Grupo Luso, had offered encouragement in their Montreal participation. Finally, on the technical side, the display will include some large calibre shells in the 8″ and 10″ size, but no 12″.
Robert told me he had spoken to a lot of other previous Montreal competitors to get a sense of what is required, especially it being their first participation and the opening display of the competition. He told me he chose to keep things simple, rather than attempting anything overly complicated, which can cause problems in setup due to time constraints. So there will be no special structures and they are focussing more on pyrotechnic surprises, especially in the finale.
The sound track is meant to convey the “sympathy of the movie magic” and will feature music from many different movies, to give a range of emotions and have the pyrotechnics complement the music and vice versa. This entry in Montreal competition represents the company’s largest display in a single site. The weather for the setup has been very good so everyone hopes that it will continue until show-time on Saturday night!
Comments can be made here: 2013 Display Reviews->Interview with Team Australia