1997 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report

Holland Jules Verne Saturday June 21^st, 1997

JNS Pyrotechniek

The first full day of summer began with humidex values in the high 90's and torrential rainstorms. By the time the display was due to start, the rain had eased off and after another ten minutes, stopped completely.

The theme of the display was a voyage around the world in 30 minutes by Phineas "Frog" and consisted of eleven scenes representing a different stage of the journey and making use of the Mirage water projection screens.

Part 1 Beginning. The display began with a barrage of glitter mines with Titanium fountains playing at the edge of the lake. These were followed with green star mines with silver glitter shells above and after a few repeats of this sequence, some colour star shells and finally a volley of glitter shells.

Part 2 Rio de Janeiro. This began with rising tail shells which burst into colour stars, then shells of white stars with candles of very fast colour ball stars below. Then more rising tail shells with blue stars and glitter candles below. Then a barrage of silver weeping willow shells followed by a barrage of salutes.

Part 3 Europe. Fast colour ball candles with very large glitter shells above opened this segment. Then shells of blue stars and gold comets with gold glitter comet candles below. This sequence was repeated until the end of the segment with a volley of really large multi-colour star shells.

Part 4 Russia. Comet candles and shells of small silver comets followed by large shells of slow falling silver comets opened this segment. Then a barrage of orange mines with shells of pink stars and comets above. These were followed by crackling glitter shells, then a barrage of white star shells finally ending with a large volley of white comet shells with rising comet tails.

Part 5 Africa. This began with many tourbillon candles with very loud hissing and whizzing. Above these, shells of white balls. This was then repeated with bigger and bigger white shells and more and more tourbillons. Some of the shells had particularly large stars which give a dazzling fireball effect. This segment ended with a barrage of large colour star shells.

Part 6 The Middle East. A line of bright red flares interspersed with white strobe pots opened this segment. Then a barrage of charcoal mines followed by gold comet candles with glitter frond shells above. Some of these shells contained gold fireflies. Then a barrage of silver glitter mines with white firefly shells. Some nice shaped burst shells with coloured rings and a few saturn effect followed with the segment ending with multiple volleys of white firefly shells.

Part 7 India. This began with large shells of pinkish stars with crossed comet candles below. Then a mine barrage followed by more crossed comet candles. Next, a volley of large yellow comet shells with pistils and glitter. A barrage of charcoal mines and charcoal crossette candles was followed by some palm tree shells. Several volleys of these were fired and then some blue star shells. This was followed with violet and then red comet shells with glitter and colour candles below. Then some nice shells of blue stars changing to yellow and finally a huge weeping willow shell to end the segment.

Part 8 Hong Kong. A large number of nautic titanium fountains were fired into the lake and hissed loudly into life. Above these, small shells of small silver slow falling comets and then big yellow shells above. Then crackling comet mines with blue star and glitter shells above followed by white star shells, blue and gold glitter shells and a huge white shell. Next, silver comet shells with dazzling bright stars followed by blue ball shells. This was repeated and followed with gold comet shells and crossed blue candles below. Then yellow shells with crossed white candles below and finally a volley of yellow shells.

Part 9 Japan. This began with mines of tourbillons with multi-break shells above followed by a mixture of screaming whistles and more tourbillons. Then a volley of small colour shells and a repeat of the screamers and multi-break glitter shells. Next, glitter mines and candles of crossette ball stars. Then white star shells and some nice dazzling white small comet shells. Next, some more nautic fountains and also ground based fountains. Above these, lots of yellow comet shells and some very fast colour ball candles below. Then a large barrage of white star shells, some with very large stars and finally a huge yellow comet shell.

Part 10 United States. This began with a dazzling flash-pot which produced a mushroom cloud of smoke and then bombettes of glitter. Above this, shells of blue stars and gold glitter comets and more glitter bombettes below. There were some really large blue and gold comet shells and then a barrage of weeping willow shells with a particularly large one to end.

Another flash-pot and various lasers fired through the Mirage water screens with more glitter and blue shells above. Then mines of blue below, shells of blue above, then white, then more blue mines, followed by white shells, red shells and white crackling candles. Next, a fantastic barrage of white shells, then red, then blue, then white, then red, white, blue and all colours ending with a huge glitter frond shell.

Part 11 Finale. This began with rising tail palm tree shells, then more of the same. Next, colour and star shells of all types, including the shells with fireball like comets. The scale and pace increased until there was a giant colour and comet shell, a final dramatic pause and then a thunderous barrage of salutes.

This was an interesting display in that extensive use was made of the Mirage multimedia facilities in the shoot site. This enhanced the "story telling" aspect of the display. JNS used a similar story-telling approach in 1995 which lead to them winning the Gold Jupiter that year. Whilst this display was enjoyable, Brezac are still the ones to beat.