Now that the competition part of the season is over, we have almost two weeks before the winners are announced. Use this thread to post your personal ranking of the season as well as your jury predictions. I'm post mine soon after re-watching all the videos. It's certainly not an easy nor clear choice this year.

Paul.

It's really sad that the competition went by so fast I'd love to see another Royale display anyday!. Well, I hope everyone at the forum who were there to see the last fireworks display in the competition had a great season of fireworks. I'm really looking forward to seeing the photos of Melrose's setup. Or at least Paul said he'd post at the end of the competition. Now I am pretty confident with casting my vote:

1. Quebec
2. USA
3. Africa
4. China
5. Argentina
6. England
7. Australia
8. Spain

The top 3 ones are what I would choose however this is what I think the judges will choose:

1. USA
2. Quebec
3. Argentina

If they don't put Royale in the top 3, I'll be pretty dissapointed with the judges decision.

Enjoy the rest of the summer guys! I'm most probably going to be attending the Closing display, because I wouldn't want to miss it for the world!

Pat

That was a great season... but this being a special one, i expected more from the participants ... I think that the music choice will be the deciding factor for this year's competition cause all or most of the shows were just in between great and exceptional. None of the shows were really exceptional but some of them were near there Well here's my rankings

1. Fuegos Artificiales Jupiter - Argentina
2. Royal Pyrotechnie - Canada/Quebec
3. Melrose Pyrotechnics - U.S.A (could also be spain )
4. Pirotecnia Igual - Spain (could be U.S.A)
5. Fireworks For Africa - South Africa
6. Pyromagic Productions - China
7. Foti Fireworks - Australia
8. Pains Fireworks - England

I'm guessing maybe a special jupiter for Igual since they've joined the most and won the most jupiters in the history of the competition...

Looking forward to next season

Vander

Voici mon choix pour la saison 2009. Je suis entièrement d'accord avec Vander....je m'attendais à une saison plus "pétillante" pour le 25è anniversaire de la compétition, alors je suis quelque peu déçu....mais quand même très satisfait! Que nous sommes chanceux d'avoir une telle compétition ici-même!

Il est à noter que ce choix est bien le mien, et non mes prédictions de ce que le jury décidera. Je ne vois pas l'intérêt à essayer de deviner les goûts des membres du jury.....ça ne fait que confirmer s'ils ont des goûts similaires ou différents des nôtres.
Aussi, je dois dire que je n'ai pu me décider entre l'Argentine et les États-Unis pour les deuxième et troisième positions....alors pour la forme, je leur ai donné une position "ajustable"!


1. Canada
2. États-Unis (réversible avec l'Argentine)
3. Argentine (réversible avec les États-Unis)
4. Afrique du Sud
5. Espagne
6. Australie
7. Chine
8. Angleterre

La saison n'est pas finie....il reste deux feux à venir.....ce sera très agréable de voir que nous sommes avancé dans le mois d'août et qu'il nous reste des feux à regarder! Vive la décision de ne présenter des feux que les samedis! J'espère que ça deviendra la norme pour les nombreuses années à venir!

Pierre

First of all I would like to give you a heartfelt thank you, Paul. Since I'm half way round the planet it's still possible to follow the competition thanks to your videos. I'm sure a lot of people appreciate this valuable insight into the works of the pyrotechnical world-elite.

Vander:
I have one small comment on you statement that you might have expected more. In some way I follow your way of thinking since Montreal is very special and it's an aniversary edition. I sometime think it must be very hard for the designers to reinvent themselves for new shows, since they naturally show of every artistic capability at their first presence. For instance the best pyromusical I have seen was Royal in 2003 - And nothing have beat them in my oppinion ever since. So naturally my expectations for them are through the roof and almost impossible to surpass since we are already at the limit of "how good a show probably can be". The only way is to do it differently and e.g. include small humorus parts like the Andre Rieu-segment: It's simple, not very product-demanding and almost impossible not to smile of. That's using fireworks for entertainment the "Tai Chi-way" instead of the "Die Hard-model" filling the sky with spanish salutes (though that's also a great effect :cool
I agree with you that the music probably is the vital factor for who's going to win this year.

My personal rankings, from seeing the videos, are:
1 - Royal Pyrotechnie (artistically superior in regards to both theme, soundtrack and choreography)
2 - Jupiter (great theme, good choreography and wonderful product - but few parts a bit quiet)
4 - Pyromagic (better concept than Melrose and good choreography)
3 - Melrose (maybe it was better "live" but It didn't catch me like their first appearance)
5 - Pains (good theme and nice choreography. But a most unusual finale)
7 - Igual (good product and good theme, which shoudn't be changed before the finale)
6 - Foti (maybe my expectations were too high but I liked their last show better)

Jury Predictions:
1 - Royal Pyrotechnie
2 - Melrose
3 - Jupiter

Things might be different if I had seen the shows like you guys ;-)

(I have a problem with the video of South Africas show, so they are not included at this time)

No matter of the outcome I admire all the companies for doing shows at that high level. Like Paul mention the time consumtion is unbelieveable and the artistic demands for not disappointing have been skyrocketing the last years. So even to the companies I placed last there's still a "Thumbs up!" from Scandinavia!

Sure is going to be exciting who gets the jupiters!

BR,
Lars

Following the montreal-fireworks.com tradition, the time has come to summarize our personal view about the on-competition displays and to make a prediction of what the vote of the jury is. My ranking is not a surprise since I updated it following each display, along with a general mark (paste below) and specific marks for each criterion (in each review). This practice and my ranking have offended some people who shared their disagreement with me. Having different points of view is normal and anyone can argue that I may have been unfair with one or another contestant, but I did publish this ranking because I believe it is the spirit of any competition to rank the contestants. This is exactly what the jury does.

Along my ranking, my marks and my detailed reviews add more information about what I thought of each display. Generally speaking, I would say that it is very difficult to rank the contestants this year and that they are very close one from each others. Two pieces of evidence lead me to believe that the competition is very tight. First, among all loyal viewers I talk with, the top 3 is very heterogeneous (and people are more reluctant than in the past years to rank their top 3), though there’s more consensus that Royal should be among the winners. Second, the comparison of my 2009 and 2008 rankings indicates a larger range of marks in 2008 than this year.

Fred’s 2009 ranking:
1. Pyromagic Productions (Hong Kong) (93%)
2. Pirotécnia Igual (Spain) (91,5%)
3. Melrose Pyrotechnics (USA) (91,2%)
4. Pains Fireworks (England) (91%)
5. Royal Pyrotechnie (Canada) (90%)
6. Fuegos Artificales Jupiter (Argentina) (88%)
7. Foti International Fireworks (Australia) (87%)
8. Fireworks for Africa (South Africa) (80%)

Fred’s 2008 ranking:
1. Grupo Luso Pirotécnia (Portugal) (90%)
2. Pyrotecnico (United States) (89%)
3. Hanwha Corporation (South Korea) (85%)
4. Howard & Sons (Australia) (84%)
5. Garden City Displays Fireworks (82%)
6. Sunny International (China) 81%)
7. Pirotecnica Morsani (Italy) (78%)
8. Prestatech Artifices (France) (76%)
9. Pyrovision (Austria) (66%)

Following a discussion with Paul last night, I realized that I may have overestimated the level of the competition this year (for instance, I believe that Luso’s and Pyrotecnico’s were better than most or all displays we saw this year, despite the highest marks provided in 2009), but my point is that the competition is tighter this year than in 2008.

Regarding the Special Jupiter for the soundtrack, I am not sure to understand how it works (the soundtrack is already a component of the evaluation grid). However, I gave to Pirotecnia Igual the highest mark for this criterion. It was the most original, featured a great diversity allowed by the trip theme, and included additional sound effects. So the Spanish entrant is my choice for this special prize.

In the past, I was generally successful to predict the identity for only two of the three annual winners (and not always in the right position!), so my prediction should be considered as such! This year, given my perception of the state of the race, I would like to say only that almost everything is possible, except that a podium without the Canadian team would be very surprising. Nonetheless, I cast the following prediction :

Fred’s prediction :
1. Royal Pyrotechnie (Canada)
2. Melrose Pyrotechnic (USA) (+ Special Jupiter)
3. Fuegos Jupiter (Argentina)

Basically, owing to the tightness of the competition this year, I believe that the order of the entrants matters a lot and that the last contestants are much more likely to be on the podium. I predict a second Gold Jupiter to Royal Pyrotechnie on the basis of the consensus I felt among the people I talked with. Royal may benefit of the division among other contestants and reach the highest position. Melrose may also win the Gold prize and I believe that the vocal audience really liked that display. I think that more people enjoyed Melrose’s music than Royal’s one, but I nonetheless feel that the Canadian entrant may have a small advantage because their show looked more creative. Finally, I predict a mid-schedule contestant for the third prize, that is, Fuegos Jupiter.

I believe that Pyromagic deserves the first prize, but I’m afraid that the poor weather condition and the fact that several people didn’t catch the letter-shape mines rule out that possibility. I nonetheless cross my fingers that Pyromagic will get a well-deserved Jupiter!

Now, I can’t believe that we have to wait 2 weeks before the release of the results. I’m sorry to be so rude, but it makes no sense to actually close the event after the closing show. We will see what happen, but it looks obvious to me that it is a very anti-climactic way to bring the event to the end. I think it is one of the worst decision taken by La Ronde regarding the competition since the absence of Michel Lacroix for almost all displays in 2002. I hope that we will go back to the tradition in 2010.

Fred

What a wonderful season !

Except for a few shows that were less entertaining, the 2009 displays were generally very similar in term of quality and it was increasingly difficult to rank them as the season progressed. I remember being heart-broken last week, when I had to move Pyrotecnia Igual's entry from 3rd to 4th place in my rankings because I felt that the U.S.A. team's "Reel Love" was a tad superior.

My rankings for the great 2009 season (all rated from the Silver section in La Ronde) :

1 - Hong-Kong / China | 94%
2 - Québec / Canada | 93% (I still wish them the Gold Jupiter, they certainly deserve it)
3 - U.S.A. | 91%
4 - Spain | 90%
5 - England | 88%
6 - South Africa | 84%
7 - Australia | 80%
8 - Argentina | 70% (I know that I'm not making friends with this one ! )

I posted a summary of the season on my website alongside a photographic best-of. This time, you may download the full resolution pictures (instead of the usual 1 megapixel versions) and do almost whatever you want with 'em. Enjoy !

Now, let's have some fun with the two next shows and put the evaluation grid away !

STL

OK ... so here goes ... my predictions are way off everyone else's.

I won't even begin to predict the Jury.

1. Quebec Royale
2. Hong Kong
3. England

Bob Burch

I had trouble placing my 1st and 2nd

1. Hong Kong
2. England..............just 2nd for soundtrack
3. Canada
4. Spain..................1st for soundtrack
5. South Africa
6. Argentina
7. USA....................probably the most boring soundtrack ive ever heard
8. Australia

Jury...... who knows but here goes

1. Canada
2. USA..................probably get the best soundtrack
3. China

Steve

What an interesting edition of the Montreal fireworks competition this was. Though it didn’t feel too much like a special anniversary to me this year (at least compared to that of 2004), the latter part of the competition somehow changed my mood a little. I guess I was also a little frustrated since the beginning when first hearing about La Ronde’s decision to hold the awards ceremony a week after the closing – what a dumb thing to do (sorry for sounding harsh, but it’s true), and on the 25th anniversary to boot. The closing wasn’t the greatest and was often dull – the performance felt like it was a 20 minute display stretched to 45 minutes. The displays were entertaining, but nothing exceptional to brag about. The weather in itself was interesting this Spring-Summer, though ranks as one of the coolest and wettest on record. Winds seemed to have played a role more than any other meteorological parameter as well. Funny enough, viewers stationed at all major vantage points this year had to contend with smoke flying straight towards them at least for one display (be it Notre-Dame, the bridge, the Old Port, or La Ronde), and seven out of ten displays had the risk for unsettled weather with only one, China, suffering with precipitation associated with strong thunderstorms just before and during the display, though it was both inappropriate and unsafe to have the fireworks taking place altogether when lightning was present at the time. Overall, August was the best month for the fireworks given that since the month ever started, all the displays have been experiencing more tranquil and Summer-like weather by comparison to both June and July (with the exception of the last week of both June and July). In addition, the wind direction was ideal (S-SW) for all the displays taking place in August.

This year, we were treated with a great diversity of displays dealing with traveling and exploration, love, culture, excitement and movies, all demonstrated in the most creative and unique fashion possible. I felt that we’ve also witnessed some excellent attempts at sequencing amongst many competitors and there was a great variety in product used to represent all the employed themes, enriched with dazzling colors and effects. For one thing, as last year was one of horsetails, I thought this year was more for farfalles. Written below are my commentaries for each display followed by an evaluation for each criterion that needs to be met. Following this, I have provided my predictions for the winners as well as my personal choices for them (Special Jupiter included).

Country participant: Spain
Company: Pirotecnia Igual
Date of presentation: June 20th, 2009

An overall excellent display was put on by the well renowned Spanish team, Pirotecnia Igual. The proposed theme, “Odyssey”, set the stage for wide exposure to a great variety of cultural aspects by making use of a diverse selection of music as the country took the audience of Montreal through various places on the globe once departing from Barcelona and later arriving in the city of Montreal. Using a variety of structures and effects, including a pyramid and a tower, the display well represented the theme in a very organized and fairly clear manner. In this way, synchronization was generally well done with respect to whatever soundtrack was being played – the sequencing was simply fantastic and offered some very well timed shots, particularly towards low level (good examples were during the Indian and Egyptian tracks). The narration at the beginning served as a great brief overview in what was to be expected of the performance, and as the show progressed, it was clear which regions of the globe were being represented. The quality of the product was good and the display had a nice color mix. Good balance was also common from low to high level. While the display was concocted in a creative manner, I found some of the effects slightly repetitive for my tastes, particularly the shells of go-getters towards the beginning pieces of the display. Synchronization was well done, but there were some points later in the display where the music was playing and no fireworks being fired in support of it (these were technical problems, I believe). On a related note, I felt that during some segments, the fireworks weren’t always doing the music justice. Finally, though I can deem the music selection appropriate, I found the last two choices, both by Avril Lavigne, to be very deviant from the main flow of the display and subsequently took away the general feel and perception of it altogether. Also, this display dealt with numerous soundtrack and, consequently, had to change quickly in order to fit into the allocated 30 minutes – the display, then, felt a little rushed from one segment to the next. The finale was ok, but obviously nothing anywhere near what Igual used to do in the past.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 8.5/10
Pyromusical design: 8/10
Technical design: 9/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 8.5/10

Total: 42/50 –> 86%

Country participant: England/UK
Company: Pains Fireworks
Date of presentation: June 27th, 2009

As was the case with their performance in 2007, Pains Fireworks was most successful in their delivery in this year’s display, titled “Venus & Mars”. The objective of the theme was to represent both man and woman into two separate segments (roughly 10 minutes were allocated to both) before combining both components for the final 10 minutes of the display, much in the same way their “Day & Night” performance was devised in 2007. I must give credit to the British team for their organizational efforts, for their display, once again, was nicely designed while virtually running each part successfully during the given 10 minute periods without losing fluidity. The narration, like for Spain, sufficiently allowed for a good opening. Product quality was excellent, particularly the farfalles. The effects were also great and utilized when appropriate, though I was expecting certain effects to emerge towards the last part of the show and in between. The illuminated Mars and Venus symbols were a great addition to the display, and transitioned accordingly during the show. Color choice was good, but could have been a little more diverse to make things livelier at times – England was likely the least colorful of all competitors. Synchronization was nicely done, and, much like Spain, this display had some well timed sequences at low level. The music choice was good, but a couple of the track selections, to me, didn’t really connect to the theme. Finally, some of the parts towards the beginning of the display were a little too slow with respect to the music, which didn’t do the woman component justice at times, by comparison to that of the man. The “finale” was appropriate, but just needed to be a little more active with either more horsetails or large shells of gold comets. “My Immortal” was slow, but it certainly invited a little more activity towards the end. Overall, I believe England stands a good chance of collecting a Jupiter this year.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10
Pyromusical design: 9/10
Technical design: 9.5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9/10

Total: 45.5/50 -->91%

Country participant: Foti’s International Fireworks
Company: Australia
Date of presentation: July 4th, 2009

A powerful and, at times, energetic display was launched by the infamous Australian team, Foti’s International Fireworks, who took home the silver in 2001 and the bronze more recently in 2006. This show ranks among one of the loudest and largest as well. The product quality was excellent, particularly with respect to the dazzling colors given off by many of the shells at mid to high level as well as the fans of comets at lower level. A lot of the colors used were simply glamorous, and I personally loved the way Australia made use of certain effects for the various music choices (i.e. shells of gold strobes for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). Many of the 8” shells were equally beautiful. Synchronization was well done and was particularly attractive towards low level with the fast sequences of mines, cakes and candles. That said, some segments terminated a little too abruptly in relation to the music. The music choice itself was good and allowed for successful transitioning points in rhythm and pace, but for a number of the songs, I just simply couldn’t establish that critical connection to the theme (Dream Catcher). On a similar note, the music selection listing was somewhat disorganized in representing the important components that were defining the theme to begin with - this made the transitions a little unclear while making the theme less understood by comparison to other thematic premises that have been presented this season. There were often similarities in firing patterns during the display, particularly with the shells at mid to high level, which, at times, took away the distinct transitional points that I was looking for, especially with a theme such as this – this made synchronization somewhat simplistic and seeming as if the display were less complex than it really was. The small shells forming a rainbow pattern at low level above ramp 4 were good, but later became a touch redundant. My expectations were also high for this display mainly because I was looking forward to a little more in the way of activity, especially since the various soundtrack used invited it. I was additionally awaiting a large number of nautical shells (a figure of 300 was stated), but there were instead very few. The finale was one of the best this year, but just finished too abruptly in that there was no thundering close to all the chaos that was present beforehand. Good conclusion, however, to an overall enjoyable performance, though with the level of the competition being so high this season, it may prove to be difficult for Australia to secure a spot on the podium.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 8.5/10
Pyromusical design: 8/10
Technical design: 8/10
Soundtrack: 8.5/10
Synchronization: 9/10

Total: 42/50 -->84%

Country participant: Hong Kong/China
Company: Pyromagic Productions Ltd
Date of presentation: July 11th, 2009

With severe thunderstorms occurring in parts of the island from 8-11:00 p.m., the display got off to an early start to get as much “good” weather in as possible, though lightning was still present - I was very, VERY surprised to find out that the display was permitted to go on when lightning was in or close to the area (I can’t help but wonder how some people interpret weather sometimes). In any case, despite the on and off heavy rains, it was actually the winds that were the saving grace for this display due to their speeds. All that said, a strong performance was delivered by China. Fantastic product quality was present along with a very large array of effects accompanied by wonderful synchronization, and sequencing, particularly at low level. I also found that much of the music selection was enjoyable. The lettering attempts used to introduce the five elements were very much welcome and unique, though they didn’t quite stand out in the way I was envisioning – some of the letters were actually quite distorted (perhaps the wind and rain played a role here), so it made it difficult to know what was being presented for each element. The show overall also had a very professional feel to it, while the choreography was simply stunning, providing the display with a lasting appeal for creativity - a 9.5/10 from me here. The theme, though not completely original, was nicely represented with most of the soundtrack being utilized and was, again, well organized. However, I couldn’t quite establish that relationship between the five elements and the man and woman component. Also, for the elements themselves, it didn’t seem too clear to me how each were being connected to the fireworks. During a couple of segments, too, the fireworks weren’t exactly doing justice to those tracks played. The finale was pretty good (the constant firing of the screaming serpents or whistling comets were memorable), but could have been a little more powerful towards the end. Still, a great conclusion to a nicely devised performance. Definitely a contender for an award, and possibly even for the gold if the judges really understood the theme.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10 (could have used some better effects for each element)
Pyromusical design: 9/10
Technical design: 9/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9.5/10

Total: 45.5/50 -->91% (a tie with England)

Country participant: Argentina
Company: Fuegos Artificales Jupiter
Date of presentation: July 18th, 2009

Though the main wind flow was in the form of WSW, Westerlies dominated the 10-10:55 p.m. period, and that caused the smoke to blow straight towards the audience of La Ronde, like during Australia’s show. Despite the inconvenience, we were provided with quite an interesting performance from team Argentina. This display offered a great range of product along with some fabulously rich and deep colors in between. The product quality was excellent, most particularly with respect to the farfalles. The sequences along low level were stunning, especially with the extensive use of the gerbs and, at times, the unique and interesting patterns they executed. The mines of comets along the center were also captivating in accordance to the music. In the end, I personally feel that this display, compared to the other entrants, suffered from redundancy, not just in terms of the similarities heard in the music, but also in firing patterns and from excessive use of certain effects, namely the shell of shells (as much as I love those) and farfalles. Though the colors were often rich (probably the richest of the competitors), dazzling and flamboyant, the last 5 minutes or so of the performance were comparatively dull, since horsetails and kamuros were heavily used. During some tracks, at times, I felt that there simply wasn’t much going on, and some parts were overly silent for much too long of a time frame (namely around 5 minutes into the display – perhaps a small technical problem at the time, I’m not sure). Some of the fireworks that were used, too, simply weren’t enough to adequately represent certain parts – this sort of took away some the vibrancy of the show. The theme wasn’t original and it felt like it was being represented in a very simplistic manner. Synchronization was fairly good and most enjoyable along low level and through the shell of shells. Nice finale, but, like Australia, needed a more thundering close. All that said, this was a good effort from Argentina, just not quite as powerful of a delivery as what I remember from 2005. May have a chance to hold third place, but I think this decision will be based on taste in music, how well the theme was grasped, or how appreciative the judges were of the unique sequences at low level.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10 (score a little high from me due to the color richness)
Pyromusical design: 8.5/10
Technical design: 8.5/10
Soundtrack: 8.5/10 (appropriate, but rhythm became repetitious)
Synchronization: 9/10

Total: 43.5/50 -->87%

Country participant: Canada
Company: Royal Pyrotechnie
Date of presentation: July 25th, 2009

Beautiful and ideal weather conditions prevailed for Canada’s highly anticipated performance, though, this time, winds were unfavorably blowing toward us folks viewing on Notre-Dame. What a powerful, creative, diverse and overall enormous display put on by the popular Royal Pirotechnie! The Canadian display possessed virtually everything needed to be successful, ranging from a diverse set of effects to fantastic choreography. This was probably the only display that really didn’t have any kind of repetition whatsoever, and that stimulated the creativity component of the show nicely, especially when it came to the transitions in rhythm and pace. The display also made use of two 20-meter towers positioned on each side of ramp 4, which, I thought, were a great addition to the display. The towers possessed some enjoyable sequences and dazzling effects and following closely to the music at the time. The colors were undoubtedly there and the effects used were incredibly diverse, while suiting each of the soundtrack. Product quality was excellent, as was the overall design of the show. All areas of the sky were taken advantage of, as was the space available, and so much more – at times it became difficult to keep track between low to high levels of sky since the shells sometimes became so ubiquitous. The nautical shells were some of the most memorable parts of the display, as well as the show often times being so powerful. The feeling was also amplified since the wind constantly blew the large 12” shells of gold comets directly overhead to where we were standing. My only real criticism for this display was the thematic relevance of “Voila” as it was vague and not as well understood, making it seem as if there was no significant foundation that the display could be built upon (maybe some points a little more understood than others) – I fear this will endanger Canada in securing the gold. However, given the strength of the display in every other criteria, it is very well still a possibility for them to win either the gold or silver. The finale was enjoyable (the introductory enduring curtain of cakes being most memorable) much like most of the show, but could have been a little more in the way of color and vehemence towards the climax. The kamuros near the end seemed to have quickly drowned out in the dense smoke, but definitely nothing to offset the quality of this display. During the display, we found ourselves getting occasionally hit with pieces of cardboard and paper (reminded me a little of France 1993). Canada must be a winner.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9.5/10
Pyromusical design: 9/10 (a little less here because of the theme)
Technical design: 9.5/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9.5/10

Total: 46.5/50 -->93%

Country participant: United States
Company: Melrose Pyrotechnics
Date of presentation: August 1st, 2009

Possibly the best weather conditions were present for the American display with very warm evening temperatures (24-25 C in the metropolitan area) and moderate to high humidity along with the most favorable wind direction: Southerlies. America delivered a strong a performance, not in terms of simply power and excitement (as they are famed for), but additionally good in creativity and design. I personally loved the sequences at low level on and off throughout the show. This display, as seen during Canada, really made my ears ring, especially with the power of those 10-12” shells – the blasts coming from them were fearsome. Synchronization was particularly well executed because it tightly connected to multiple soundtracks that were employed – this was quite prevalent compared to most other participants this year and played an important role in the success of this display. The music selection was one of the most enjoyable for me and was appropriate for the theme. The thematic premise was fairly clear and the songs were carefully selected in support of that. My main criticism primarily relates to repetition in the firing patterns – I found that there were simply too many similarities in some of the segments at mid to high level that it sometimes led to a feeling of disproportion or imbalance between high and low portions of the sky. The display also felt somewhat general and sort of took away some of the complexity that I was awaiting. The finale was incredible for the 14 seconds for which it endured, but was much too short with an abrupt finish. It also felt somewhat less than anticipated since, as mentioned, roughly 1000 shells were expected to be fired in the last 12 seconds or so, but it instead it felt closer to 100. That said, a more and less sufficiently powerful close to an overall successful performance. On a side note, this display, as seen during Canada, really made my ears ring, especially with the power of those 10-12” shells. The United States has a good chance for picking up a prize.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10
Pyromusical design: 9/10
Technical design: 8.5/10 (a little general here compared to their display in 2006)
Soundtrack: 9.5/10
Synchronization: 9/10

Total: 45/50 -->90%

Country participant: South Africa
Company: Fireworks for Africa
Date of presentation: August 7th, 2008

Once again, ideal weather conditions were the backdrop for a second Saturday in a row with almost identical conditions (winds included) to what was seen for the United States, though just a little cooler. A very enjoyable display was put on by the South African team and they have surely treated us with an overall powerful display with a fabulous opening to their theme associated with action movies (movies draw a lot of attention for themes, as it would seem). This show had some neat tracks, including a few of which were some popular favorites: James Bond, Jurassic Park and Armageddon. The transitions in pace were notably less apparent in this display than most of the competitors this year, mainly because there was often a myriad of shells exploding at mid to high level. There were some interesting sequences as well near low level and I found those to be quite dazzling, namely the fan of rockets near the center that often emerged there. The nautical shells seen were one of the most memorable parts of the show and really added vitality near the surface (especially the nautical shells of red stars – seemed like small volcanic eruptions from a distance!). Overall, I felt the display was average in its design, merely because the firing patterns (most notably with the shells) were frequently similar in nature, which drew away a lasting impression as to the representation of most soundtrack used – a lot of the time the fireworks were not doing much justice to the music. Also, I found some of the effects to be much too overused and that did also take some of the diversity and complexity away from the performance. The music was quite enjoyable, but not as well demonstrated as it could have been through the fireworks, especially when compared to what Portugal of last year did using a similar theme and subsequent soundtrack. The quality of the products was excellent and synchronization was good for the most part. A good finale, but lacked the sufficient buildup required for a sufficient close since the pace was fairly constant for the duration of the finale and didn’t really fall into place with the crescendo of the track used at the time.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 8/10
Pyromusical design: 8/10
Technical design: 7.5/10 (for me, it was just average)
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 8/10

Total: 40.5/50--> 81%

Trav’s jury predictions:

1st: Canada
2nd: China
3rd: USA
Special Jupiter: USA (possibly Spain)

Trav’s personal choice:

1st: Canada
2nd: USA
3rd: China (I will be happy with England here as well)
Special Jupiter: USA

Best sequences:

1. Canada
2. Argentina
3. China

Best choice of music:

1. USA
2. Spain
3. England

Most diversified effects:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. USA

Highest color richness:

1. Argentina
2. Canada
3. South Africa

Best concocted theme:

1. England
2. Spain
3. USA

Most powerful displays:

1. Canada
2. USA
3. South Africa
4. Australia

Top finishers: (none were that memorable this year)

1. USA
2. Panzera
3. Australia

Carefully revising everything, I sincerely feel that Canada will take home the gold. The diversity of effects, to me, stood out a good deal more than many of the performances this season and the synchronization was often well exploited in a creative manner, especially when it came to the use of those towers. In this way, the performance was fabulously choreographed and made use of all areas of sky possible and available space – the display never lost balance between high and low level as well as from the left to the right considering that it was often a very wide display. I also deeply feel that Canada made one of the best uses of the lake with particularly those brilliant nautical shells (to me, both Canada and South Africa had the best nautical shells). The product quality was superb and the colors were rich. Aside for the kamuros drowning in the smoke quickly towards the end, the theme was probably the main issue with the display as it proved difficult to establish that crucial connection to the display at times. Nevertheless, with every other standard being easily met, this quickly offsets the loss of a good thematic premise.

USA also tightly held an excellent display with probably the best finale this year, but sometimes suffered with a sense of imbalance between low and high level. The display, too, was rather simplistic in its overall delivery by comparison to Canada, and, at times, firing patterns became a little repetitious. China equally had an excellent array of effects and particularly sequencing along low level with the mines and roman candles. However, the problem for me with China was the overall clarity of the employed theme – it seemed a little complex to grasp the connection of the five elements with the man and woman component. More importantly, I found each of the elements weren’t as well represented as they could have been. Still, with enjoyable music, excellent choreography and design, I feel this display will hit either third or possibly second place. England was the most organized show, in my opinion, and had some great effects to represent the theme. Aside from a couple of tracks, the music was suitable and was fitting with the approach taken. The final segment of the show was the most emotional this season, but it felt a little imbalanced since the actual finale had taken place just prior to that piece. For me, England is in contention for the bronze along with China, which is why I have an equal score for both countries, but I feel the jury may put China in for silver because of the interesting creativity shown in the display, by comparison to the American’s somewhat less complex performance. Argentina was interesting in that it had some of the best and most complex sequences, namely at low level with the patterns exhibited by the gerbs. The show was also one of the stronger ones in terms of creativity, but suffered with a fairly redundant rhythm with respect to the soundtrack used. All in all, the winning displays for me this year are Canada, USA, China, England, and to some extent, Argentina. I would consider Spain as they had a great concept for their show (I think one of the best), but the last half of the display really fell apart in representation compared to the vibrancy exploited during the first. Predicting who would win the special Jupiter would be a difficult task since this boils down to taste in music. For me, the Special Jupiter would go to USA since, compared to other displays, the fireworks were demonstrated the best in connection with the music. The music choices suited the theme nicely, too, and thus worked exceedingly well, especially for the transitions in pace, (including representation of the changes in rhythm and pace within most of the soundtrack). I found most of the displays this year, in general, a little slack in the creativity sector, but they were still entertaining to watch, as always.

A special thanks goes out to all the crew members and organizers at La Ronde and those associated with the participants this season for making all of the glamorous fireworks nights possible. Thank you also, Paul, for taking the time to bring us a lot of inside information for each show this season through all the conducted interviews – very much appreciated. I also appreciate you posting full length videos for the second year going.

And so concludes 25 years of the Montreal fireworks competition and 20 great years of attendance on my part. Although I didn’t really see any memorable finales (when I say memorable, I mean a conclusion leaving me breathless and trembling with my ears ringing) for my 20th year attending this competition, at least many of the displays in their entirety turned out to be pleasurable to witness!

Trav.

Funny how few predictions we have posted this year compare to previous years and, especially, to 2004. Is no-one interested anymore? Forum participation has been lower this year than almost any year since the forum was opened. Has everyone got bored with the competition?

Paul.

Has everyone got bored with the competition?

Not exactly Paul.

However, for the 25th Anniversery at La Ronde. I expected ALOT more of a display than a few including Spain, Australia and even Argentina (minus the finale). Alot of bad endings to a finale, even the music, which was UK's last song, My Immortal, which didn't give out an enjoyable ending. The closing display was pretty much the worst display I've ever seen. I thought we'd get a nice and large closing. The years before, we've seen more than 3 enjoyable displays. This year, I only enjoyed 3 (Quebec, USA, Africa). Among those displays, everything else nonsense. The closing display actually embarassed me. I expected a firm from Quebec to give us a great finale, as I mentioned before. Right under those 3 choices I took is China who even gave us a nice finale. This year marking the 25th Anniversery was the worst year of the entire compeition! I even have a article A thunderous anniversary: a never before seen spectacle for the 25th anniversary of the fireworks at La Ronde cited from http://www.internationaldesfeuxloto-quebec.com/EN/ . Are they serious? it makes me laugh reading that after seeing all the displays (minus the ones I liked and mentioned above). Hopefully, next year we might have an enjoyable year of competition.

Funny how few predictions we have posted this year compare to previous years and, especially, to 2004. Is no-one interested anymore? Forum participation has been lower this year than almost any year since the forum was opened.

Maybe because this year was not that enjoyable, where as the previous years had alot more enjoyable displays. But it isn't all that! The economy is also taking part in the problems we have seen, due to the prices of compositions and other pyrotechnic pieces, it will one day cost a fortune to construct a 6" shell, of that I'm sure of. Pollution takes a strong role in it too. Having 1000 shells in 12 seconds doubles the amount of pollution than you would see from Canada's finale! So taken point from both of these reasons, we might not be seeing a large finale like we would have in the 90's.

Once again, a big thanks from me to Paul for taking the time to write the reports and upload the videos. Great job!

Pat

Funny how few predictions we have posted this year compare to previous years and, especially, to 2004. Is no-one interested anymore? Forum participation has been lower this year than almost any year since the forum was opened. Has everyone got bored with the competition?


Well, I will come back for sure next year to post my evaluations, as you guys are very nice !

People come and leave in forums, so maybe the trend you are observing is normal; others will come and post their evaluations to replace those who left (or post less).

To get more guests (and hopefully posts), maybe should you increase the publicity to your site (either online via links from other sites or in person with custom business cards, etc.). I did not knew its existence before late 2008, but I would have come before if I had known. I do not know how much daily visitors you may get; I suggest you to use a good trend indicator like Google Analytics and start from there if you do not do it yet.

You could also prepare something that will encourage people to post more, like featuring selected guest evaluations somewhere on the main website for the 2010 season.

Just some ideas...

STL

How unfortunate that you are all too much experts now to just enjoy a display.

I don't know anyone, anywhere else in the world, who would actually talk about the displays using words so harsh like mediocre... or people that would spit on a Montreal's show. I always thought i was so lucky to be able to enjoy this event in my city, and i am astonished to see most of you tend to forget that privilege, but complain finales are not long enough. I'm personally sooo tired of the salutes. (ouuuuuu, i can hear guns clicking....)

You should all get your 'coeur d'enfant' (kid's heart ?) back. Fast.

Im sorry, but being a pyro now, i guess i can't think the same way you do, knowing the efforts everybody put into their Montreal display. I feel bad for the teams who might be reading those comments...

aaaaahhh... it's been said. Sorry, I'm not gonna make any friends with this, but I wanted to tell you for a while now.

Please do not haev any expectation for the finale, and enjoy your evening all !

To get more guests (and hopefully posts), maybe should you increase the publicity to your site (either online via links from other sites or in person with custom business cards, etc.).

Should there be adds? Those posting videos of the finale on YouTube (Trav & I, apologies if I did not mention your names to those who do as well) add the link of this site on the description, but believe me, only 30% of those viewers read the description!. We should post the link at the end of the video. That way they could post their review of what they saw.



I did not knew its existence before late 2008, but I would have come before if I had known.

Neither did I till Winter of 2007. I would have came to this site if I had known before as well! This is the only site where people like me have the same passion for fireworks. I can at least name a firework. But, , unfortunatley, I hate having to tell my friends what firework that or that was, they end up telling me shut up. But now my friends miss me telling them what firework it was that went off. This is my favorite webstie so far. Which is why since I signed myself up, I bookmarked this website as my home page.

You should all get your 'coeur d'enfant' (kid's heart ?) back. Fast.

My love of fireworks still grows, even if the display isn't enjoyable, I still am greatful that we're one of the city's in the world that still does compeitions after so long. When I was a kid, it didn't matter if the finales were good or bad, I loved them all. My knowing it all of fireworks shells have really badly paid off and made me forget of when I was a kid and not judging the displays. Sometimes I don't enjoy the finales to my potential, but one day I do hope to become a fireworks choreographer. Mylène, it's fair to say everyone on this forum enjoys fireworks alot, even if they aren't that spectacular on this day or that day, it's still fireworks!

As for hearing those salutes, it's like having a second hearbeat to their amazing effect of making your chest thump!

Thanks Paul for making a extravagant website!

Pat

Hi Mylene,

I don't know anyone, anywhere else in the world, who would actually talk about the displays using words so harsh like mediocre... or people that would spit on a Montreal's show.

Do you refer to the closing show or the other ones ? Yes, I think it's normal for us to have some expectations, because we are now used to have a high quality display presented before our eyes. If the show fails to impress us, I do not understand why we should not express our deception, even using words like "mediocre" and such, as long as they are used in a constructive context (like in a throughout review, not a simple random message like
"The show was mediocre.

- Me" .

Im sorry, but being a pyro now, i guess i can't think the same way you do, knowing the efforts everybody put into their Montreal display. I feel bad for the teams who might be reading those comments...

Let's not forget that a fireworks display is a form of art in itself. I think it may even compare to movies and other forms of entertainment. When I pay to go see a movie, I don't care how much months or years the actors and the team worked on it; I am interested on what is presented on the silver screen. If it's boring, should I refrain from saying I was bored and the movie was, excuse me, mediocre ? It's the same thing for a CD. Sometimes a band work hard on it for years, but the critics and/or the public don't like it. C'est la vie.

Yet, as a musician myself, I can appreciate what amount of work has been put into a recording. That doesn't prevent me for expressing my dislike if a good band shatters my expectations by releasing a dud.

I always thought i was so lucky to be able to enjoy this event in my city, and i am astonished to see most of you tend to forget that privilege, but complain finales are not long enough. I'm personally sooo tired of the salutes. (...) You should all get your 'coeur d'enfant' (kid's heart ?) back. Fast.

Don't liking big and long finales show that you indeed have a "coeur d'enfant" ? I do know that my younger cousins like when all hell breaks loose during a finale. The apocalyptic feeling can be similar to a ride in a roller coaster : although your safety is never threatened, you feel like you are in danger when all those bombs and salutes explode just in front of you. Then, when everything stops and the ferris wheel lights up, the peaceful feeling that submerge you can't be described (or at least I wouldn't be able to).

I also noticed that the level of enthusiasm of the public in La Ronde follows the intensity of a show. There is in fact a perceptible increase of euphoria during the louder segments. Still, not everyone there is as "expert" as the forum members may be.


In the end, everything boils down to your personal feeling about the show. If you like big fat finales, you may not like a quieter show, and the artistic-inclined may dislike the first and love the latter. This might explain why Portugal's show did not win last year, even though everyone here wished they do; the popular jury liked something else.

It may be unfair, but ain't l'International a competition ?

STL

Je crois qu'il est nettement excessif et injuste de dire que la saison 2009 fut l'une des moins intéressantes et que seulement une poignée de spectacles ont été "enjoyable". Mais cela semble être principalement l'opinion d'un seul participant à ce forum. Il a droit d'avoir et d'exprimer son opinion, mais je ne crois pas qu'elle est représentative du point de vue de la plupart des participants à ce forum. La saison m'a semblé excitante, la course étant de toute évidence bien serrée. Tous les feux en compétition ont été de bonnes performances, bien que celui de l'Afrique du Sud ait été un peu plus faible, à mon avis. Pensons aux symboliques exprimées par Pains. Au rythme endiablé de certaines séquences d'Igual, alors que le bateau traversait les tempêtes. Les séquences formidables du spectacle chinois. Et j'en passe!

Le délai inhabituel entre le dernier feu en compétition et la remise des prix (deux semaines au lieu de 3 ou 4 jours) a amenuisé tout momentum. Certains participants se sont peut-être promis d'exposer leurs préférences et prédictions plus tardivement, puis sont passés à autre chose.

Et vous deux, Paul et Mylène, quelles sont vos préférences et vos prédictions?

Fred

Je suis d'accord Fred,

C'est juste que je trouve qu'ils auraient pu mettre beaucoup plus d'efforts dans leurs affichages, de très beaux effets comme je l'ai mentionné. Mais les choix de la musique aurait dû être plus correctement choisie. Je trouve États-Unis avaient le meilleur choix de musique, leurs délais entre les séquences ne dura pas longtemps et sommes revenus sur une autre chanson. Où que l'Espagne et certains de l'Australie, nous avons attendu environ 10 secondes, mais ne me lancez pas sur les 25 minutes d'attente le Canada avait, il ya deux ans, comme le temps qu'il fallait, c'était un grand déploiement. La narration de l'Espagne était très long, alors que j'étais sur la rue Notre-Dame, pas seulement moi mais le public derrière moi et à côté de moi étaient en attente de quelque chose à se déclencher. A mes yeux, c'est mon opinion, et beaucoup ne peuvent exprimer ce qu'ils souhaitent et préfèrent entendre. Cette année a été de ne pas bon, aussi beau que les couleurs et parfois la musique et des finales étaient. Je suis sûr qu'ils auraient pu faire un peu mieux. Mais ces trois que j'avais écrit ci-dessus sont ceux que je suis coller avec!

C'est vrai, Paul et Mylène n'ont pas dit une chose depuis Que faites-vous les gars attendez? Allez-vous porter le t-shirt Royale Paul? Hehe

Pat

I will post my rankings tomorrow. I still need to give some more thought. It's especially difficult this year as the variance between the displays was lower than other years - plus the added complication of my knowing five of the competitors quite well together with conducting the interviews and understanding in more detail what each team was trying to achieve. It's hard to separate all these facts from the displays that I witnessed in person - plus the added complication of the weather and my general state of mind. I'm glad I'm not on the jury!

As for which T-shirt to wear, I have two which I could wear and I feel would be correct for at least one of the winners. As for my personal preference, for those who saw me last Saturday, I was already wearing that shirt

Paul.

As for my personal preference, for those who saw me last Saturday, I was already wearing that shirt

I wasn't at La Ronde. But just to give hope to team Royal would suffice! I wonder if Canada will be your first choice. You also predicted the winner 2004 and wore your Weco t-shirt from what I remember!

Pat

You also predicted the winner 2004 and wore your Weco t-shirt from what I remember!
You remember well Maybe I should wear that shirt on Saturday

Paul.

You remember well. Maybe I should wear that shirt on Saturday

I wonder if anyone would look at you saying: "What's Weco?" or even "Weco didn't perform this year." I used to read some posts a while back in summer/spring of 2007. I'd wear an IPON shirt if I could. But I don't got their shirt.

Pat

By the way, Paul, you changed the biglol emoticon and gave it a new encryption? it's now : D. Odd....I love this emoticon!

Do you refer to the closing show or the other ones ?
I refer to the whole season.

Don't liking big and long finales show that you indeed have a "coeur d'enfant" ?
No, those were 2 separate sentences.

You're absolutely right, it is a competition. And yes, it is all about emotion. I've always claim this very high. But i just can't call a show a piece of crap.

Lights bursting in the sky is just magical for me. It can be weaker than their rivals, yes, but still never crap... I love those nights. Even last saturday.

My apologies, i guess i was just tired to hear it wasnt enough this, or enough that...
But eh, that's my opinion

My own predictions or feelings should I say regarding this whole season will also be up on my blog tomorrow. (friday)

Good nite !

This thread certainly had gone crazy... I share the same feelings with mylene .... I think the problem is that a pyromusical has so many details to look at such as soundtrack, overall quality of the display, symetry, finale, synchronization, design, colors, quality of products, theme, and more..... there's just so many that one is usually stuck on just 1 of it, and forgets about everything else. What seperates it from a movie is that a fireworks show is a live show. When there's mistakes you can't have a cut and another take to perfect it. When you see 1 perfect show, chances are you'll never see the same again even from the same firm . It's also a shame how everyone forgets how dangerous fireworks are.. I think this alone is enough to think about what goes on beyond what you see in a display . As everyone else said it still boils down to what you feel during the display ... It's one of those moments where if you close your eyes you missed half of your life already xDD.... Hopefully there won't be disappointments in the result this year..

As for the show of concept fiatlux, I thought that it was very artistic and the products i can't really say that they got cheap ones as i saw a lot of iguals... but i would say that their choice of effects was the one that failed them.. They were scared to use colors instead of a lot of charcoals and golds, they could have used silver or colored strobe comets for instance ... This said i thought that the show was on par with the rest of the shows

Vander

I've thought long and hard about what to write for my predictions and evaluations. I went to all sorts of technical lengths to evaluate things like the synchronization (and even played with the delay between the audio and video to determine how accurate it was) but, at the end of the day, the evaluation is about the overall personal feeling. I don't have to follow the evaluation grid the jury uses plus I have the luxury of being able to re-watch all of the displays and hence evaluate them all at the same time, rather than when they actually happened.

There are some interesting statistics on how the Jupiter awards may be correlated with when a display is held (these were sent to my by someone in the industry):

---
In the last 13 (normal) years there have been 39 places (ie 1st, 2nd or 3rd) awarded at La Ronde


Out of those 1st place has been taken out by the company that

a. Went Last = 4 times
b. Second Last = 4 times
c. Third Last = 2 times

The companies that competed as one of the last 3 in the comp achieved a place in the top 3 on 20 occasion out of 39 possible or a 51.28% chance of winner a place

Out of those 1st place has been taken out by the company that

a. Went First = 0 times
b. Second = 1 times
c. Third = 1 times

The companies that competed as one of the first 3 in the comp achieved a place in the top 3 on 7 occasion out of 39 possible or 17.94%

Those in the middle archived a place in the top 3 , 12 times out of 39 possible or 30.79%

---

Of course, it could be that the organizers set the schedule such that the "better" displays are towards the end - these well known companies act as an attraction to the park during the peak tourist season so it makes sense to have them in July rather than June. There have been comments in this forum many times that the competition starts to "heat up" in the second half. That's the problem with stats: you can use them to prove anything.

Now for my personal choices. After a lot of thought these are:

#1 Pyromagic Productions
#2 Royal Pyrotechnie
#3 Pains

My prediction for the jury is harder to arrive at but I think it will look like this:

#1 Melrose
#2 Royal Pyrotechnie
#3 Pyromagic Productions

There's a good chance the #3 could be either Fuegos Artificiales Jupiter or Pirotechnia Igual. I don't think the unconventional finale of Pains will appeal to the Jury at large, plus they competed early in the season.

If there is to be a surprise, I think it would be that Melrose are not in the jury's choice and that Fireworks For Africa would replace them (having the advantage of going last, perfect weather and a very colourful display). There's also a chance that the jury will put Royal Pyrotechnie ahead of Melrose, but I suspect Melrose's soundtrack may have been more popular than Royal's.

As for synchronization, all the displays were well synchronized since they were all computer fired. In terms of how well the synchronization looked, I think Fuegos Artificiales Jupiter were head and shoulders above everyone else. Their comets, gerbs, mines and one-shots were fired at just the right time to look like they were on-cue, plus their studatas had both breaks synchronized to the soundtrack. Igual were also good but some of the others were not so good - they had fast moving sequences, but only the starting and ending shots were actually cued to the music. Fuegos Artificiales Jupiter were also the most creative in their use of synchronization to give the feeling of dance steps. Don't get me wrong, everyone else was synchronized, but just didn't have quite the right feeling. Note that I'm being very critical here! If any of the teams want to talk to me afterwards, I can point out how many milliseconds of compensation I had to apply to the audio/video delay to make things look right!

I'm not going to comment about the music tracks save to say that it really makes a difference having someone with musical knowledge perform the edits and transitions between pieces. Some were really rough (and I don't have to point these out). I do have to make a prediction about the special Jupiter for the soundtrack.

My personal favorite overall was Pyromagic Productions as it surprised me by not being stereotypical. However, I predict the Jupiter will go to Royal Pyrotechnie since they had by far the best produced soundtrack from a technical point of view. There's a chance that the Jupiter will go to Igual as their soundtrack was the most innovative in supporting their theme through the use of different sound effects. My favorite "finale" piece was Pains' post-finale piece "My Immortal" by Evanescence. But music is such a personal choice.

All will be revealed tomorrow. It's been a few years since my predictions were correct and in the correct order!

Paul.

Paul,

Ces statistiques sont similaires à celles que j'ai édictées dans ce forum à quelques occasions et qui prennent en considération les firmes ayant obtenu l'une des trois premières positions lors de toutes les éditions du concours depuis l'instauration d'un jury populaire (1992-2008). Sur ces 17 éditions, 1 des 17 premiers feux en compétition (6%) a été récompensé d'un Jupiter. À l'opposé, 11 des 17 derniers feux (65%) ont été couronnés d'un Jupiter. Si nous considérons les trois premiers feux en compétition lors de chaque saison, nous obtenons alors 10 gagnants sur 51 feux (20%). Parmi les trois derniers feux en compétition chaque année, 28 sur 51 (55%) ont reçu un Jupiter. (Aux fins de ces calculs, afin de standardiser l'analyse, les 3 finalistes de l'édition spéciale 2004 sont considérés comme des gagnants, même si seul un Jupiter platine était remis.)

Cette situation peut être expliquée par deux théories: l'une économique, l'autre psychologique. La théorie économique, comme tu le disais, consiste à positionner les firmes les plus prometteuses vers la fin du calendrier alors que les auditoires les plus importants sont attendus. Cette théorie est pratiquement impossible à vérifier auprès des organisateurs, car cela impliquerait qu'ils expriment des "préférences" parmi les participants, ce qu'ils ne peuvent évidemment admettre publiquement. D'autres facteurs influencent la construction du calendrier (les autres engagements des compétiteurs) mais je suis certain que les organisateurs ont néanmoins une certaine marge de manoeuvre. La théorie psychologique, elle, est simplement qu'un effet de récence amène les gens à surévaluer la qualité d'un feu qui vient d'être vu par rapport aux feux antérieurs. Je crois que c'est principalement cette dernière théorie qui a le plus grand pouvoir explicatif.

Nous pourrons mettre ces statistiques à jour demain.

Fred

Hi Paul,

I wouldn't rule out England/UK from securing a spot on the podium even though they had participated early. Remember that the team also was set to present as the second entrant in 2007 (funny enough, on the same date, as I recall) and still won the gold that year. Though I feel they weren't quite as successful this year in their overall presentation, I think they certainly have a standing chance for third place, if China isn't there, as reflected as my alternative preference for the bronze in my personal choice for the winners above. And yes, I also felt that the non-traditional finale may have had some impact.

Good analysis, by the way. Seems we have a similar choice for the winners with respect to the mindset of the jury, just 1st and 2nd in a different order.

Trav.

Though I feel they weren't quite as successful this year in their overall presentation, I think they certainly have a standing chance for third place, if China isn't there, as reflected as my alternative preference for the bronze in my personal choice for the winners above. And yes, I also felt that the non-traditional finale may have had some impact.


Of course not Trav. It sucks though, in 2007 they really brought many people including I to our feet and cheering during the finale. And that was an intense finale, it was pretty much similar to USA's except they achieved this finale in less amounts of shells and for a longer period of time. I was very impressed in 2007, but this year, I don't know if they'll cut the cake.. However, no matter what, I stilll go for Canada, they haven't won a Jupiter since Royal in 2003. So I think after 6 years, we deserve another

Pat

Bonjour Mylène,

"I don't know anyone, anywhere else in the world, who would actually talk about the displays using words so harsh like mediocre..."

Je me devais de répondre à vos commentaires d'hier, étant donné que je suis un de ceux (ou le seul) qui a écrit que le spectacle de Fiatlux était médiocre. Ce spectacle avait pour but de clore la 25ème édition de la Compétition Internationale des Feux de Montréal, une compétition qui a maintenant une excellente réputation à travers la planète. Le spectacle de Fiatlux avait aussi le devoir de rendre hommage au Cirque du Soleil pour sa 25ème année d'existence, une entreprise québécoise qui est, elle aussi, considérée partout dans le monde comme un symbole d'excellence.

La définition du mot "médiocre" dans le dictionnaire, est la suivante: "Qui est en-dessous de la moyenne, qui est sans éclat...". Après avoir assisté au feu présenté par Fiatlux samedi dernier, je peux vous assurer que le terme "médiocre" était très approprié et je l'ai utilisé parce qu'il décrit très bien ce que le spectacle laissait transpirer. Je peux m'imaginer des touristes qui étaient de passage à Montréal ce soir-là et qui assistaient pour la première fois à un feu d'artifice de notre compétition internationale.....sachant que l'on "tentait" de rendre hommage à la fois au Cirque du Soleil et au 25ème anniversaire des Feux de Montréal!!! Ouf ! Je peux m'imaginer leurs réactions! La firme avait aussi un public à soulever, surtout ceux qui ont déboursé une somme d'argent pour assister à ce spectacle du site de la Ronde! Fiatlux n'a pas livré la marchandise. On s'est contenté "d'étirer le caramel" pour 45 minutes avec des feux qui auraient pu facilement être lancés en 15 minutes.

"I always thought i was so lucky to be able to enjoy this event in my city, and i am astonished to see most of you tend to forget that privilege..."

J'ai répété à maintes reprises dans ce forum (et d'autres l'ont fait aussi), et ce au cours des années, comment chanceux nous sommes de recevoir cette compétition.


"I'm personally sooo tired of the salutes. (ouuuuuu, i can hear guns clicking....)"

Non, tu as parfaitement droit à tes opinions, à tes goûts! Moi, je les adore, ces Salutes!

"I feel bad for the teams who might be reading those comments..."

Moi, au contraire, j'espère qu'ils les lisent, nos commentaires! La grande majorité de ceux-cis sont positifs, ce qui encouragent les firmes qui ont bien travaillé! Les commentaires qui sont moins "tendres", peuvent apporter un certain virage vers quelque chose de mieux pour les firmes qui sont ouvertes d'esprit et qui sont capables de ne pas réagir comme une "victime" face à nos commentaires (je suis persuadé que toutes les firmes sans exception, réagissent positivement à nos commentaires, quels qu'ils soient).

Sur ce, je vous souhaite à vous Mylène, ainsi qu'à tous les membres de ce forum, une belle fin de semaine et une agréable soirée pendant le feu de demain!

Pierre

Salutes lover,
No. I was not talking about your comments on the Fiatlux show.

Paul,
did we hang out too much during those La Ronde evening ? We think quite the same... My thoughts on the season are right here.

Enjoy the results all !!!