Hi everybody,

Post your comments for the first Feu des Étoiles !

My complete review should be posted tomorrow during the afternoon, but let's just say that I checked the time on the Molson building 2/3 into the display, which is a clear sign that I'm finding this part of the show boring...

It could have been worst, though. Paul Csukassy saved the day with an exceptional soundtrack, and Éric Cardinal managed to do a fair show. It was way better than the Cirque du Soleil tribute, I have to admit that !

What is your opinion ?

STL

Hey All,

Well, what can I say. It was another waste of time for me. Like STL, I was checking my watch after every 5 minutes. The show wasn't as expected since the synchronization and material used could have been much better. This will probably be the last time I attend a Fiatlux display. I really miss the displays made by Panzera. Although they weren't very well synchronized, the finale most of the time made up for it. Actually, I really don't know why they chose Fitalux to do special displays since they have never won any gold awards (... which speaks for itself). Why not invite Royal to do special displays? I'm sure that with Paul's soundtrack, this display would have been a masterpiece. Anyways, La Ronde won it's bet since the stands were sold out ... but failed to win the hearts of the firework connoisseurs.

A for this display. Even my friend which was her first time in La Ronde said that it sucked lol.

Dan

Actually, I really don't know why they chose Fitalux to do special displays since they have never won any gold awards (... which speaks for itself).

Dan, the show was prepared by Éric Cardinal, who won quite a few Jupiters with Ampleman (they merged with Fiatlux last winter). Even though he never won any Gold Jupiter, it's still a feat to win any of them. Therefore, I expected that he'd be able to do better than that.

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In a nutshell, this show was neither boring or that much enjoyable for me. Like I said earlier this morning, it was a fair display, but even though Éric Cardinal was confident enough to ask us to evaluate his display per the evaluation grid, I doubt that he would have won any award if this show was an official entry.

I praise one more time the work done by Paul Csukassy. If you heard the same thing that I did, I guess that you too were literally flabbergasted by what he was able to accomplish. He's not a sound engineer (even though he still is a real mechanical engineer by training), but he managed to prepare a soundtrack that fared better than any other entrant so far.

for that !

There was too much repetition for my liking during the show : too much kamuros, too much crossettes, too much vertical mines + aerial shells sequences, etc.

The Titanic was a nice touch, but I expected it to be a little taller. I guess that 1000 lances do not yield a set piece as big as I first thought.

for that (neutral opinion )


Read my complete evaluation and check out the record number of shells on ramp #2 (ah, yes, there is also display pictures) on my website.


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Please, give your opinion ! Even though it can be negative, I'd like to hear it too, just to make sure that I didn't miss something obvious...

STL

I'm glad I travelled once again from Quebec City to Montreal and came to attend this show. I have been anxious about it when we learnt last winter that the newly merged Groupe Fiatlux-Ampleman was in charge. As I already explained, I find Fiatlux's artistic orientation, emphasizing proximity effects, not appropriate for a theater as large as La Ronde's one, not to mention all other areas people watch from. But I became more confident last June as I was informed from Éric Cardinal himself that he was in charge of this tribute to Céline Dion. Cardinal won a Silver Jupiter in 1999 and a Bronze Jupiter in 2002. I find him skillful to design shows with popular music, especially to mix the pyro with particular voice effects from the songs.

For a moment, I once again felt unquiet as the winds were dangerously weak and the show delayed by a total of 15 minutes. It was first announced that the launch was postponed for a short time due to the capacity audience (!). But I quickly suspected that was a front to hidden more serious problems because every one were then seated and we were still waiting. At 10:11pm, Michel Lacroix claimed less than four minutes to the countdown, to the boos of the audience. The show finally began at 10:15pm, with a minimalist opening: the 30-second opening part, with "Ce n'était qu'un rêve", was made of only two modest shells of color-changing twinkling stars.

Fortunately, the extravaganza really soared up as soon as the second song began, with huge red and blue mines, candles of meteor-headed comets and of whistling serpents, and a nice set of cakes vertically shooting red stars from the perimeter of the 4th ramp. At the end of this 2nd segment on the music of "Love Can Move Mountains", Cardinal added titanium salutes to emphasize Céline's jerky voice effect which bring the song to a close. Another voice effect was similarly accentuated at the end of "Taking Chances", as a sequence of shells of comets ended with four shells of twinkling stars, the twinkling effect reflecting the echo of "What do you say?... what do you say?... what do you say?..."

Since a decade, "My Heart Will Go On" has been used by countless contestants in Montréal, but we have never seen the boat! I and the audience around me were flabbergasted when the Titanic suddenly and perfectly came into life. Following last week interviews, I wondered how this set piece made of 1000 lances would work: if one part of such set piece doesn't light up, the whole effect can be ruined. It was fortunately very effective (though I agree with STL that the boat may have been taller). Moreover, we clearly saw nautical jumping fountains being launched "from the boat", a reminder of the distress rockets displayed in the movie.

Then, a perfect transition to "I'm alive" was executed, with a sequence of triple-comets firing from left to right, then from right to left. Another great transition was between "Mon ami m'a quittée" and "L'amour existe encore", two serene segments, the first ended with horsetails, the second appropriately begining with the same effect. Following that song, the rhythm became more intense again with "Tout l'or des hommes", as golden effects were prominent, including a fast circular sequence of gold comets launched from the central part of the 5th ramp. Displayed for the first time in 2010, the fifth ramp allows a nice depth effect during the penultimate song (Let's talk about love) with two rows of fountains and flying fish along the 3rd and 5th ramps.

We were informed last week that La Ronde Paul Csukassy and Martin Roy have designed the soundtrack. It was a great one, allowing changes with rhythm and perfect mixing, an example that some contestants should follow. Paul told me that the soundtrack required about two months of work, including two weeks in a studio. I really had the feeling that the entire show was a one and single part because the soundtrack was fully continuous from the start to the end. It suited perfectly to Éric Cardinal who did a great job to match pyrotechnic with the music and to make the most of the firing site. Regarding the synchronization, I found it flawless (but one minor criticism below) for a soundtrack made of songs. It is more challenging to achieve the synchronzation with this kind of music since note-synchronization effects are difficult to reach. In such cases, I think it matters more to synchronize the pyro with the lyrics and voice, and that was well-done here.

I was a bit surprised with early criticism of people who found the show too repetitive. I think this is due to the lack of diversity among high-level effects. It is true that crossettes, shells of comets and shells of stars were shooted many times. More multi-break shells, other with pistils and photoflash, for instance, would have added to the diversity among highest pieces. But the overall range of effects were much more diverse, in my opinion, with nautical flares, mines, flying fish, tourbillons, double-ascension girandolas, studatas, sky mines, shells of intertwined rings, shells of comets with inner farfalles, horsetails, etc.

Among more obvious weaknesses, in my opinion, is the limited richness of colours, but that is clearly caused by the song themes which invited to use red and gold effects. Also, I found some pyrotechnic transitions a bit inaccurate. For instance, the titanium salutes which burst with Céline's voice effect at the end of the 2nd song continued at the beginning of the 3rd without any relationship with that forthcoming song; the same thing occured from "Les derniers seront les premiers" and "Pour que tu m'aimes encore". Finally, I wonder how good was the quality of some pyrotechnic pieces which featured weak luminosity (the kamuros on the music of "Love Can Move Mountains" were especially pale, but those used during the penultimate segment were much more vivid) or had some erratic behavior (girandolas). But all these are minor criticisms and didn't detract me from a great, very enjoyable show. For me, the best one so far in 2010.

The 2010 Official Ceremony Column:
The official ceremony began early than the previous weeks. It was more interesting, with Michel Lacroix on stage, a short speech by La Ronde president and a longer one by the Québec Tourism minister. Unfortunately, the show has been delayed by 15 minutes, as reported early. And someone forgot to light up the Giant Wheel at the end of the show...

Fred

Dan, the show was prepared by Éric Cardinal, who won quite a few Jupiters with Ampleman (they merged with Fiatlux last winter). Even though he never won any Gold Jupiter, it's still a feat to win any of them. Therefore, I expected that he'd be able to do better than that.

Hey STL. I'm very familiar with Eric's past and his work with Celine's display. The reason why I mentioned Fiatlux is that they replaced Panzera last year with the cirque tribute display and were called again this year. If it weren't with the merging with Ampleman, it would have been the same team doing this show. Eric's work is much better then last year's show, that's for sure. Was just expecting a lot more. Based on the online reviews, so were the others I guess (6.6/10).

Dan

In the absence of Bob's video today, you can find a medium resolution version of the Celine Dion tribute here: http://www.montreal-fireworks.com/Downloads/DionTribute.wmv

Upload should be completed by 12:15pm Eastern time.

Paul.

The video of the Celine Dion show will be available after 8:00 pm EST today - July 12.

Sorry for the delay.

I have uploaded the video for the Tribute to Celine Dion.
http://www.burchcom.com/2010/index.html

If you want to download the video and save it, use this link.
http://www.burchcom.com/2010/dion.flv
Right click on the link and select "save target as"

Please note that I am uploading .flv files to conserve space.
If you download them, you will need a player to display them on your computer.

The Riva player is free at this site:
http://download.cnet.com/Riva-FLV-Player/3000-13632_4-10435953.html

Once you have the downloaded file, if you want to convert it to an .avi file, you can use this converter (also free download) http://www.any-video-converter.com/

My thoughts are here

Paul.

Paul, in your report you said:

Witness, therefore, the relative paucity of high quality and large calibre shells, Eric having to rely on their Red Eagle Chinese products which, being some of the first to be homologated in Canada, are not pushing the envelope in terms of quality or performance.

Do you mean that the products for this single display had to be homologated in Canada ?

Can't the exception that benefits the real concurrents and allows them to import non-homologated products be extended as well to out-of-competition displays ?

What about the Jupiter awards display ? By definition, it has to be prepared with non-homologated left-overs (unless the formula has changed this year).

If the products must indeed be homologated, how did Panzera managed to do displays with approved products (unless they have quite a lot of homologated products in their catalog) ?

A lot of questions for such a display, but unfortunately not as many comments as I would have liked (where's Travis opinion, for instance ?). Fortunately, usual contributors (yourself, Mylene, Dan and Fred) have given theirs.

STL

Do you mean that the products for this single display had to be homologated in Canada ?

Effectively yes unless Fiatlux/Ampleman were to import a container specially for this display. In reality, they would almost certainly use products from their regular stock - which, by definition, would have to be homologated.

If the products must indeed be homologated, how did Panzera managed to do displays with approved products (unless they have quite a lot of homologated products in their catalog) ?

They do indeed have a lot of homologated products in their catalog - we used several in the display on July 1st. However, their former closing shows were not homologated as a container was shipped with all the products for that display.

For the left-overs, there is an understanding that these can be fired at La Ronde as the closing show is technically part of the international competition (which is the loophole in the regulations that allows un-homologated products to be used - note that this is only in International competitions, national competitions, such as the Lac des Nations which started in Sherbrooke last night, do not have that luxury).

Paul.

note that this is only in International competitions, national competitions, such as the Lac des Nations which started in Sherbrooke last night, do not have that luxury).

Speaking of which, I'm thinking about going to Sherbrooke Sunday to see Royal's closing display. How does it work ? Do I need to buy tickets to see the display (with the music, obviously) ?

I can create a new topic for that (that's my second topic hijacking in as many weeks )

EDIT: Hey, wait a minute ! Royal's show is named "Voilà" ?! Yanick sure like to surf on a successful display concept for a while (not that it's a bad thing in itself, but it's kinda repetitive after some time). I'll probably go there regardless, to see what it's like to see Voilà, lite-version

Apologies for the late reply as I became quickly enmeshed in t-storm tracking (among other things) this past week - it has been quite active across the country over the last eight days, in particular.

As forecasted, Summer weather continued its persistence (a good thing) into this past weekend with a very warm late evening temperature of 25 C in the metropolitan area of Montreal on Saturday with high humidity. Winds, as anticipated, and as Fred pointed out, were very light (7 km/h) in nature from between the West and West-Southwest, and so the smoke was primarily drifting slowly towards central and right hand portions of the audience at La Ronde while often accumulating quickly. Winds may have a somewhat similar influence this coming Saturday as well, though with more breezy speeds - more on that this evening.

Despite the approximately 15-minute delay inconvenience, this was actually a fairly decent display in its entirety and was at times a little more enjoyable simply because of the effective transitions between most segments, which I personally felt were in most cases more distinctive than the previous participants thus far, ironically enough. The most memorable transition, as Fred stated, was following the Titantic segment, "I'm Alive", and had probably the more enjoyable attempt at synchronization this year with the triple comets flowing back and forth corresponding to the beat at the beginning of the soundtrack. My personal favorite segment ultimately was "Drove All Night" (more appropriate for the finale), though it certainly invited much more in the way of activity and increasing pace! There were some nice effects throughout the display, especially along lower level, such as the flares, fountains, gliding fish, and often brilliant mines. Good balance maintained between low and high level of sky and from the left to right, and I found the lower level effects to be quite supportive. Effects were carefully considered to highlight key factors of some tracks, such as the double and single heart shells portraying love, as well as the shells of silver strobes, double-ascension girandolas and horsetails.

Overall, the performance was enjoyable to some extent, but I personally found that the show's general appearance lacked sufficient color richness and mixture at numerous points since many choices were more predominant than others (i.e. reds). On a similar token, mainly attributed to the very light winds, a lot of the kamuros and light-colored shells tended to drown out quickly in the often dense smoke. The effects were in good diversity, though this aspect seemed more prevalent at lower level more so than at mid to higher altitudes, where a greater variety of shells at times would have been appreciated.

Though the transitions were very good most of the time, I felt that some changes between segments were too abrupt for my tastes before proceeding to the next piece - for instance, "All By Myself" terminated too quickly before the next piece had commenced. The very beginning of the display also started off much too slow, even for that sort of soundtrack - this made the feeling a little anti-climatic. Music choices were good and well arranged for changes in rhythm and pace. However, I felt that so much more could have been done to enforce many of the more rapid-paced songs used in terms of activity (notably at high level), considering that many of Celine Dion's songs are often filled with quick changes in speed, and that was not as well demonstrated through the fireworks during many segments - some serene pieces were too serene and the more active ones were still sometimes leaning on the quiet side. Consequently, this often made things similar (redundant) with respect to feel from one segment to the next, particularly in firing scheme at mid to high level. As such, synchronization was good, but not as effectively delivered as the display had invited. The boat simulation (I had to revert to the videos to examine this effect) that appeared during "Titanic" was quite captivating during the first few seconds when it first lit, but it was difficult to fully appreciate it due to all the smoke. Finally, I found the editing of "A New Day" a little less distinctive in the way it was cut during the beginning. The finale was ok, but needed much more color and endurance.

All in all, not too shabby for an out-of-competition display.

Trav.