Magic of the Movies
Designed by Robert Fairbanks. FireOne firing with 144 32-cue modules. Finale Fireworks scripting with ~4000 cues
A dreary day of dark grey skies and rain gave way to light drizzle and virtually no wind for the debut display in the 29th edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition by the antipodean team from Queensland, Australia. No doubt discouraged by the weather, the audience was rather sparse, though more people turned out than I imagined. One lady beamed with enthusiasm as Vangelis’s Chariots of Fire announced the official start. Contrary to previous years, we were saved having to listen to speeches from representatives of the corporate and government sponsors of the competition. Instead, La Ronde president, Phil Ligget, welcomed the audience and Martyne Gagnon, competition director, welcomed this year’s enthusiasts with her usual aplomb.
In my interview with the team, it was mentioned that a keep it simple approach would be used, and this was the case. This lead to almost flawless synchronization as well as a very good quality soundtrack. Robert told me he’d been responsible for the editing of this and I must say it was extremely well done. Perfect transitions between pieces with no crude fade-to-nothing effects but, rather, very musical movement from one piece to another. I also noticed that the sound quality was outstanding, with very deep bass and sparkling treble.
The display itself opened boldly and we were soon lead into interesting sequences of one-shots on ramp 3 that gave the now famous “Mount Fuji” effect. Some of the one-shots, though, seemed to lack oomph, probably losing propulsion from damp lift charges, due to the incessant rains on Saturday. This was unfortunate as some of the patterns created by the criss-crossing comets were lost to some extent. I also noticed that the use of an even number of firing positions on ramp 3 gave some interesting patterns, particularly in the centre, as the overlap pattern is different compared to an odd number of sites. This is the first time I’ve been aware of this.
Quality of shells was pretty good, with good bright stars and some interesting rising effects on the larger calibre ones. I did find, though, that the range of effects used was somewhat limited, with many scenes using coloured strobes of various kinds. Some more diversity would have been appreciated. There were some nautical effects fired, noticeable being large (5″ calibre) salutes, some gold glitter mines, but most of the nautical shells were saved for the finale. Given that ramp 5 wasn’t used, I would have thought more nauticals would have been used. There were a couple of places where “magic carpet” effects would have been complementary to the music and aerial effects. I mentioned that synchronization was nearly flawless, this was particularly the case with the large mines used. The timing of the lift as such that it was heard exactly in time with the music, which meant the appearance of the effect was also bang on cue. When I asked Robert about this afterwards, he said he’d carefully taken into account the distance of ramp 3 from the audience so the speed of the sound would arrive right on cue, this being achieved by firing the mines slightly early. This gave a very crisp feeling. At other times, though, some of the one-shot runs (most often in V pairs) across ramp 3 were a little bit “flabby” – but this might have been exacerbated by the damp. One nice effect that stood out was firing a sequence of “micro star” blue fountains across ramp 3. These were very effective and noted by everyone I spoke to. Ramp 4 was used for some fountain effects and Robert also noted that it is difficult to make this ramp stand out from the others.
Due to very humid conditions and almost non-existent winds, smoke accumulation was an issue. However, the way the show had been designed alternated between low-level effects and aerial effects. This was fortuitous as it allowed the smoke to disperse, though sometimes the smaller calibre shells from ramp 2 were obscured. It did, though, lead to the feeling that the design was a little bit simplistic. Also, the range of angles used was quite conservative, with most of the firing patterns on ramp 3 (save for the Mt Fuji effect), being simple Vs or not far from vertical angles. I’m sure that this would be addressed on a second visit.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable display on which to open the 29th season. Overall, the display was well done, though, as mentioned, more diversity of product and a wide variety of firing angles would have been appreciated. I did enjoy the fact that the display was “bright” – I find that the La Ronde site doesn’t suit dim charcoal effects too well as there is a lot of ambient light from the surrounding city. Transitions between musical pieces were done exceptionally well, both from a soundtrack point of view and a pyrotechnic perspective. I’m sure we’ll see Ian Riedel and team return to Montreal in the future. Statistics say that it is impossible (so far) to win a Gold Jupiter as the first entrant, but a very credible display from the debutant Australians.
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