Freedom – Homage to Nelson Mandela
Designed by Dominic Brezac, soundtrack engineered by Martin Lascelles; FireOne firing with a large number of cues
Despite a day that started out with thunder and heavy rains, high heat and humidity, the clouds parted at 3pm and left a perfect evening for the fireworks with low humidity and a steady breeze in a favourable direction. Once again, a large audience were present to witness Brezac’s fourth show in Montreal.
After a gentle start, the display built into a complex design with excellent synchronization and a very rhythmic feel. I liked how the sequencing of the one-shots was used to compliment the rhythm of the music rather than always accent it. We would have a series of notes in the music, then the one-shots would act as a counterpoint to this and be shot at the same rate, but without there being any notes in the soundtrack. This technique was used several times throughout the display.
Creating "18"
The theme, an homage to Nelson Mandela, is not something that is necessarily straightforward to tell in a pyromusical context, but Brezac’s well-chosen soundtrack was effective – with a good mix of audio clips from Mandela’s life. The difficult dark period of his captivity was well represented in the aggressive (and rhythmic) fireworks used.
The design of the display made very good use of the space, especially the width of the sky. We had several episodes where one type of shell would be fired at the extreme left and right and a different kind would fill in the middle area. The range of products used was good, though maybe a bit too many kinds of horsetails. That said, I particularly enjoyed the rainbow coloured horsetails that were used on top of rainbow fans of mines below (this time in the correct colour order). The colours throughout the display were rich and vivid, particularly the “magic carpet” nautical flares used.
The lake was often used, with a good selection of effects such as nautical fountains and the many different colours of “magic carpet” bengals and some silver kamuro shells in the finale – the only issue with these is that they were significantly dimmer than the main shells of the finale. For the first time this year, we saw flights of rockets.
The products used always complemented the music – with some really nice double-ended tourbillon mines that really danced with the African music that was playing. The same thing with the types of shells used, with many really nice studatas. There was a bit of repetition, but still a good variety.
There were a few structures on ramp 3 which were used to give the effect of doors closing, representing Mandela’s imprisonment. Photoflash effects were also used for emphasis at various parts of the display. One effect that took everyone by surprise was the projection of the number “18″ into the sky using red stars – representing Mandela’s birthday (he was born on July 18th, 1918). Unfortunately, this effect only appeared once!
Number Eight
A few small criticisms must be made. The setup on ramp 3 was a little bit hap-hazard as some microstar gerbs appeared to be installed upside down and parts of ramp 3 stopped firing from time to time during the display. There also appeared to be some shells of lines of stars suspended from parachutes – something which is not allowed in the competition. That said, we saw a similar effect used by Lacroix-Ruggieri in 2002 in their penultimate segment and that appeared to have been determined to be OK as they won the Gold Jupiter that year. One other criticism was that the dynamic range of the display was, at times, just a bit too much as the lowest level parts were just too low, with single comet or gerb shots – causing me to occasionally wonder if there was a problem on ramp 3 (which there was at other times).
All in all, a very enjoyable and creative display on an extremely unusual subject! I greatly enjoyed the soundtrack. Definitely stands an excellent chance of a podium position, though I think the few mistakes here and there would preclude the Gold.
Thanks to Fred Bastién for the photographs of the setup for the number “18″
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