What a display by team France tonight. The performance was a true work of art as it was nicely designed and choreographed while possessing a nice harmonious and artistic feel to it, differentiating it from other displays this year. The low level effects were absolutely stunning, especially some of the nauticals. I personally loved the choice of music as it reflected the many critical and natural aspects that make up our planet Earth, encompassing partially weather and wildlife - a lot of the tracks were quite engaging (being a nature enthusiast) and served as recognition as to our delicate planet! A number of effects were unique in that the sounds coming from them were intriguing and mystifying - one memorable effect being the sound of birds coming from some of the low level effects or the distinct whistling associated with the girandola-like effect. The tail Saturn shells were equally captivating. Symmetry was always maintained, and like Sweden and Canada, the show appeared wide at mid level. Product quality was superb.

One of the aspects that I didn't too much care for, however, was the overuse of the beige or silver shells throughout much of the display - a fair amount of the display was expected to be monochromatic, as was stated in Paul's interview, but some colors, namely the silver/beige and gold shells (at all levels) came to be too dominant in this display for my tastes, especially in the final minutes (even though that was expected).

Other than that, the weather seemed to have followed closely to the conditions stated in the reports with mostly clear skies with a few cumulus clouds, light winds (occasional moderate breezes) switching to the SSW by evening at mostly 12 km/h, and low humidity. Temperatures stayed at 19 C in the metropolitan area, though at the forecasted 18 C by the last seven minutes of the display. The winds did also make things a little chilly at times, but at least the combination of ideal winds and low humidity brought out the quality of this display.

In any case, post your reviews of the French display here! I'll have more details later on as well as my personal Jupiter predictions once I've reviewed everything carefully.

Edit: I'll post my video of the finale shortly.

Trav.

Here is my video of the final minutes of the French display, taken from Notre-Dame and De Lorimier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVDrvRMzOYU

Trav.

I have uploaded the video for France.
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/france.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/

Hey guys, in for my last review of this year's competition.

France managed to give the last display, one not to forget at all. It was very very well made. Alot of parts I really enjoyed. The opening was very powerful. Dozens of large caliber shells in the air made it seemed like there wouldn't be many 10-12" shells. And throughout the segments, I was intruiged by the very well done angled shells that swept over the parking lot on one side and over the bridge on the other side. This was probably my favorite display in terms of angle usage. Brezac managed to use every angle possible. Including nautical mines and effects. The rockets really were enjoyable. Numerous flights taken with very very nice effects. The rockets then went into larger caliber along with flights of 8" shells. It was truly amazing.

This is not the best display I've seen, but it ranks way up there and unfortunatley kicks Italy off my rankings for a Jupiter.

My final rankings are posted on the final rankings topic.

Thanks to all the participants for the amazing and well constructed display. And a big thanks to the La Ronde setup crew for the hard work in accomplishing this!

My final display videos will be posted shortly.

Pat

Hi everyone,

I did my French review, but I don't quite have the time to summarize it here as I always do. I therefore invite you to consult my review in English (as translated by Google Translate, so your mileage may vary) meanwhile.

Because of my trip to Appleton, I'll either get the time to write the summary tomorrow or Friday...

French (original) version

Google-translated English version

Don't let the Google Translation get in the way, though, as I've got set-up and display pictures as usual that anyone, regardless of their preferred language, can appreciate !

September-like weather made an appearance in Montreal for a couple of days following nearly a week of heavy to severe thunderstorms across many areas of Southern Quebec and Eastern Ontario due to a muggy and heavily unstable airmass. The conversely unseasonably cool conditions, however, made for a nearly perfect atmosphere for the French display as the air was very dry and winds were favorable for all spectators in both direction and speed. The combination of low humidity and a crisper airmass also brought out the quality of many of the products used in this display, making it feel rich in appearance compared to most of the previous displays that possessed a more sticky airmass.

As I had anticipated, the French delivered a very intriguing and artistic performance that offered a reasonable diversity of products and beautifully choreographed sequences to match the mystifying nature of their theme, "Our Earth". Some very interesting effects were featured, including a distinct whistling that emerged from the girandola-like rockets that had appeared around mid-way into the display as well as the memorable tail Saturn shells and the sudden rapid firing of the fans of cakes at low level. Many of the shells and kamuros used by France were enormous, powerful and often times glamourous, seeming a little reminiscent of France 1993. The diversity of the pyrotechnics seemed more prevalent and concentrated at low level with some beautiful nautics (namely the red nautical strobes), gerbs, fountains, nautical shells, mines and the delicate and rich fans of comets, some of which were nicely angled from the left to the right.

Synchronization was well manipulated in order to suit and "illuminate" the signature components of most tracks. It is interesting to note the often precise timing in which some the mines and comets at low level were executed as they nicely tied to the transitions within some of the soundtrack employed. Organization was apparent in how the display was designed, notably when the elements/seasons were being introduced and the manner in which each segment flowed into one another (with little or no pausing for the performance in its entirety).

Overall, I found the display put on by Brezac Artifices to be complex and creative (as was more and less the case in 2006), and I fully appreciated its ability to convey the various elements of the theme, some more than others. The selection of soundtrack was appropriate and placed into an arrangement that was suitable for the theme to project itself in a very subtle, yet inspiring manner. The effects chosen as representations of each segment were cleverly administered through many points to highlight major aspects of both the soundtrack used and the elements being portrayed. I therefore personally favored the artistic approach in which this display was designed as it was probably the most ideal method of adhering to the intricacy of the theme - most parts of the display were effectively enforced and the transitions stood out a fair deal more distinctively than previous competitors, visually enabling the emotional intent and its bond to the corresponding thematic premise. A theme illustrating the Earth in a natural sense is, in my mind, an important means to convey nature and the environment by evoking emotions (such as serenity) as this would permit spectators to be able to some extent appreciate and be drawn into many of its splendors in addition to their complex roles on the planet - it is a great way, then, in raising environmental awareness as well as natural stability or harmony.

As much as I found this display to be well organized, thought-perplexing, and neatly executed in its own right, there were obviously some aspects to touch on that hindered an overall enticing and fully successful display. Though the quality of the materials was excellent, I found the diversity less than the previous displays of both Canada and Sweden. As such, probably the bigger issue for myself was that many segments were, as expected, monochromatic, but a little more problematic as the choices tended to lean and rely much more on principally the beige and golds more often than others, and this perhaps took away some of the complexity of the performance. The repetition and reliance of these colors also fostered an impression of disproportion because several segments appeared to be demonstrated in a similar manner when they were clearly different. On another token, some of the effects were a little overly used, particularly the profusion of the horsetails and the aforementioned kamuros. There was also some redundancy in which some segments had concluded in their overall structure.

The theme, considering its complexity, was carefully considered through the display, but some of the Earth's elements were not as well illustrated and distinguished as they could have been relative to others. Consequently, it sometimes became difficult to grasp which elements or seasons were being expressed through some of the tracks used, taking something away of a lasting impression of a thematic connection. Lastly, the finale was average and, as stated, only made way for four minutes of gold/beige kamuros and offered little crescendo for such an elongated final part.

All that said, it is to my belief that France is in good contention for a Jupiter this year. The quality of the materials used throughout the performance were simply superb and a lot of the low level effects were, in my humble opinion, very engaging and fulfilling for the overall suitable and quaint selection of soundtrack. Transitions were undoubtedly well delivered, and the emotions articulated beforehand were therefore successfully evoked - one of the most distinct emotionally-tied attempts, from my standpoint, were in fact more strongly felt in this performance than most other displays that we have come across this year.

I apologize if my preliminary comments appeared a little rushed - I did write them in a hurry last night!

Edit: Last review of the season already.

Trav.

It is common to say that performing a display in the Montreal competition is a great challenge for all pyrotechnicians who are invited. Brézac, winner of the Silver Jupiter in 2006, clearly took up this one (therefore, I guess, completing the ultimate trio of the 2010 vintage, more on this below). But I would add that this company has a challenge in store for the audience (and the jury). Great openness of mind was required to welcome and to fully appreciate this fine and elegant piece of pyromusical art. This one was very different than the other displays made by those who appear as Jupiter contenders.

One of the brightest idea introduced in the recent years is to supply the on-site audience with a printed descriptive of the display. When it is introduced into a pyromusical event, this practice common in other type of shows (concert, theater) provides an opportunity for the designers to explain their viewpoint, and for the viewers to prepare themselves for the show. Sunny (China) did it for the first time in 2008 with a printed sheet, and Melrose (USA) did the same in 2009 with a leaflet. Brézac Artifices has prepared a nice brochure, with a very high-quality design. Under the cover, an environmental statement ("The Earth is in danger. It’s a risk of becoming unbalanced. It’s both hot and cold, dry and wet, peaceful and volcanic. It’s also colourful, noisy and varied. We need to act now to make sure it stays that way for our children!!!" ) overhangs 12 "subthemes" of the show entitled "Our Earth": four elements (earth, water, air, and fire), the four seasons, and four moods (melancholy, serenity, joy, and anger). However, I don’t really understand the purpose of these human moods which contrast with the nature-inspired main theme. I would have preferred four natural states related to some events which punctuate the life on Earth (storms, volcanos, earthquakes… these type of natural events Trav would be more qualified than me to talk about!). The central pages identify the members of Brézac’s crew and the list of musics.

This brochure was absolutely crucial to make sense to the display, as I’m pretty sure that those who haven’t read it didn’t capture the thematic concept. Even with it, it was not always easy to connect the subthemes to the actual pyromusical segments. I’m still unsure about their order of appearance. This is the Brézac’s challenge to the audience I wrote about above. However, some of them were obvious. The water-theme segment included two lines of blue flares on ramps 3 and 5, Niagara Falls, fan candles of blue bombettes with shells of blue stars above, the whole set featuring two or three shades of blue. The wind segment was made of pyrotechnic devices making some sounds, like shells of white crackling comets and others of crackling pistils. The winter theme was also crystal clear, with white nautical flares, small shells of tourbillons, shells of farfalles with red pistils above, then nautical rotating fountains among the flares, more red and green products, as higher fountains erupted on ramps 2, 3, 4 and 5. This segment came to a close with all these low- and medium-level effects still in life, and larger chrysanthemum shells synchronized on Christmas rings. On the music of "Carousel Waltz", cakes horizontally attached to the fence of the third ramp shot multicolour stars, with multicolour strobes and other multicolour effects, evoking the merry-go-round spirit (I guess that was the joy segment).

The quality and diversity of pyrotechnic pieces were Jupiter-worthy. To the common arsenal of some type of shells, mines, candles, and ground-level effects, some pieces deserve to be mentionned : some multi-break shells of comets shortly after the start of the display, some shells of thin green and yellow go-getters (about six minutes following the start), spirale-shape shells, and other shells similar to bow-tie but including a ring from the middle of them. For the first time in 2010, we saw some flights of silver/white rockets. (I feel that rockets are common in French displays but rare in those performed by teams from other countries; I wonder why.) On a segment with sound of birds, rare cylindrical shells have appeared, bursting twice in small clusters of stars during their ascension, and then bursting a last time in large Saturn effects. I also noted, likely on the music of "The moon", V-shape cakes of stars from the five platforms of the fifth ramp and two more cakes from both extremities of the third ramp, which were in life for two minutes. Such duration is outstanding. In fact, I suspect that each of these firing positions included a set of four V-shape cakes since there colours turned from orange to green, to blue, and to silver, with short overlapping between each one.

The nautical products were numerous, diverse, and unusual. I was especially surprised by the use of nautical bombettes bursting in comets, nautical flares, nautical mines, and nautical rockets, all launched over the lake from angled Z-cakes. (As I rode the Giant Wheel early, I had seen on the third ramp some devices oriented toward the lake which looked more like cakes than the usual mortars.) Thus, the number of nautical pieces was higher than it is usually, several times covering the lake with a carpet of lights. I am not confident enough to state that these presumably cakes of nautical pieces were never seen before in Montreal, but they are not usual, for sure. Nautical shells of kamuros, launched from mortars, also burst during the finale.

To conclude with the pyrotechnic side of the show, some minor problems occured (i.e., a gerb lit up at the wrong time on the right side of the fifth ramp around 3:40), and some effects might have been more effective with minor adjustments, especially the wave effect (around 22:20) whose blue-ending mines were fired with a too high angle, in my opinion. But these things are very minor.

The synchronization was almost perfect, often note-synchronized, even with some secondary components of the soundtrack. It was the case with some note-synchronized mines during the finale. The pyro always followed the rhythm of the music. Synchronization was not as clean-cut as in the Swedish display, but the whole French extravaganza looked a bit more artistic and a little less technical then the Swedish one. I believe that the synchro was a bit better than the one in the Canadian display, though.

The mix of the soundtrack was almost as great as in the Swedish and Canadian displays. Whereas Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik choose popular songs and Fireworks Spectaculars Canada favoured movie musics, most of Brézac’s soundtrack was made of original music, composed by Régis Peters and sponsored by Brézac. This is a bold choice because it brings the risk to keep the audience away. However, it permits to get a tailor-made soundtrack for the themes explored through the show. (Weco has not been so daring for its display rewarded with the Platinum Jupiter in 2004, since the original segment of its soundtrack actually featured well-known tunes, like the Ô Canada for the finale.) In addition to the connection between the thematic concept and the actual display, I would say that the type of soundtrack was another part of the Brézac’s challenge to the audience. Not that the soundtrack was not good, but it was not designed to engage the viewers as effectively as the Göteborgs’ one. There was a striking contrast between the audience’s reactions to this display and the Swedish one. Whereas Göteborgs over-excited the viewers who moved on their seat (or dance on the street), screamed, and clapped through the show, there was no reaction at all from the audience during the show last night, and the applause following the finale was more polite than enthusiast (many people around me didn’t stand). However, the Swedish concept was much more easy to get and the Montreal competition would become ennoying if all entrants focus on the most popular songs.

The challenge was huge for the jury because it is the kind of display which rise questions about our openness to a broad range of artistic orientations, a desirable quality for this prestigious fireworks competition. If I have been a member of the jury this year, I would surely spent a lot of times last night debating myself with the ranking of this ultimate entrant. I believe that the Canadian, Swedish, and French teams deserve high and similar marks on most criteria. Last night, I told to some people that I would rank Brézac’s display on the third position. But after a careful analysis, I decide to revise my opinion and to update my ranking as follow :

1. Sweden
2. France
3. Canada
4. Poland
5. Italy
6. Portugal
7/8. Taïwan/United States (in no specific order)

I keep Göteborgs ahead of Brézac for having a more obvious theme, better and more consistancy with the high-level of synchronization, and for the amount of details in the pyrotechnic design. Then, I rank Fireworks Spectaculars Canada behind Göteborgs and Brézac mainly because the products used were a little less original, and because Brézac performed greater efforts to get an original soundtrack and to explain its theme to the audience. But overall, all these differences are extremely small and it is very difficult to make a finale decision. This one is mine and other – as the jury – will likely reach different rankings. More on this later this week in the prediction thread!

In addition to carefully prepare their shows, the members of Brézac crew also select their clothes in a remarkable way. In 2006, they wore car-racer suits, thus echoing a component of their soundtrack. This year, they have chosen a more conservative and typically French costume, made of grey pants, a white shirt, a navy suit with some armorial bearings, black shoes, and a hat surrounded with blue, white, and red lines, the latter being appropriately removed during the national anthem. My mind may be too conservative, but I believe that the way people dress themselves say something about how they value what they do, and I think some contestants should be inspired by these French colleagues, and shouldn't wear for the official ceremony clothes similar to those wore as they setup their show. This week ceremony was hosted by Michel Lacroix. The wind were fortunately strong enough to push all the smoke made by countless cakes of various effects, colours, angles, and speeds. Viewers could not see the 2.5-meter balloon the press release mistakenly referred to. I only saw the balloon (the Earth) inside the Salon des artificiers after the display and its diameter was smaller than 2.5 meters. Someone has to do his maths!

Fred

Hi Fred,

You and I are just about the same in our rankings, but I put Portugal just ahead of Italy.

Indeed the judges have their work cut out for them.

And as always, I want to congratulate all the competitors who participated this year. We have been treated once again to outstanding shows that are rank and file above any of the traditional displays that many of us see during national holidays, etc.

STL,

just a few corrections to your report. The photo with the caption "Envolées de fusées avec bris," - those were not rockets, but, rather, girandolas with whistle drivers. The only rockets used were in the finale, bursting to kamuro stars.

For the photograph "Une bombe multibris, avec deux effets similaires à des mines et un effet aérien", these were not multi-break shells, but regular shells with rising effects. FSC had used similar shells, as had San Tai. Basically, small shells are attached to the main shell and fire as the main shell rises in the air. Same comment for Fred too.

Fred: for the nautical cakes, these have been used several times this year, notably by FSC - I saw one of the cakes in the trailer entitled "blue magic carpet". These have been used for a few years in the competition and are produced in China by Lidu, to name one company.

My report will be up later today, followed by a season summary and some predictions.

Paul.

That was a really good show by Brezac

I was impressed by how Brezac can bring their audience to different locations using music, music effects, and fireworks. Some segments that did this was the ones where there were kids in the music and the fireworks really looked like there were kids playing Also the one with birds and with the weird humming/whizzing mines. Those segments and many more were very nice That said i think that their synchronization was very nice. Not only where the ground fireworks well synchronized, i thought that their shells were very nicely timed to the music. I really liked how they created a carousel like effect in the middle with the comets and far falle mines going around ramp 3. Just like Canada and Sweden there were a few miswired things in the ground fireworks.

As stated above the quality of the materials were very nice. Although not as good as Sweden's but they were good too. They covered the space very well specially with the nautical cakes. Those were very nice specially the crossettes and the nautical willows near the end. One of the problems would have to be due to the amount of cakes that brezac used, some of their one shots were hard to see. I liked the fact that brezac had just one or two colors per segment. This made their display look organized.

I thought that the theme really showed the most when they used some music effects such as the birds, the animals, and others. I think that Brezac's finale was one of the best choreographed finales this year.

Here's my grading for Brezac:
Effects: 9/10
Synchronization: 9.5/10
Music: 10/10
Technical Design: 10/10
Pyrotechnical/pyromusical Design: 9.5/10
overall: 48/50 (96%)

My final rankings:
1. France - Brezac Artifices (96%)
2. Sweden - Gotenburg Fyverkeri Fabrik (95%)
3. Canada - Fireworks Spectacular Canada (91.4%)
4. Italy - Pirotecnia Soldi (86%)
5. Poland - Surex (85%)
6. Potugal - Macedos Pirotecnia (79%)
7. U.S.A - Western Enterprises (76%)
8. Taiwan - Santai Fireworks (72%)

I'm hoping that the results would be very fair this year just like last year's results

Vander

Salut les pyromaniaques

Je suis moins présent sur le site et exceptionnellement cette année j'ai manqué quelques feux dont celui de la Suède. Je ne ferai donc pas de prédiction comme l'an dernier alors que j'avais eu les bons choix dans l'ordre.
L'autre soir j'étais vraiment bien placé pour regarder le spectacle de la firme Brézac de France.
A la fin de la présentation j'ai dit à ma conjointe:"voilà un feu gagnant" et il le sera assurément.
Cette équipe s'était vraiment bien préparé pour le concours de Montréal ne négligeant aucun aspect de leur présentation.
A l'instar de plusieurs autres firmes Brézac a misé sur une trame sonore faite sur mesure pour un spectacle pyrotechnique ..le thème devenant un peu secondaire.
J'ai été vraiment impressionné par la qualité de ce spectacle qui a sur réunir tous les éléments que je crois nécessaire pour espérer gagner un Jupiter et je nomme brièvement:

1- De très belles pièces lumineuses, certaines originales , bien agencées dans le ciel et enfin une utilisation vraiment maximale de toutes les possibilités du site.

2- La synchronisation était vraiment au point à tous les niveaux.

3- Le choix des pièces musicales a été fait avec beaucoup d'attention bien ordonnées dans les différentes séquences du spectacle et aussi nous avons eu droit a des transitions très harmonieuses entre chacun des segments.

4- La mise en scène m'a paru très soignée et nous avons eu droit à un feu bien équilibré , rytmée avec une intensité bien gérée du début à la fin.C'est spectacle intense qui a su maintenir mon intérêt pendant trente minutes.

5- Cette firme ne s'est pas limité à lancer des pièces dans le ciel sur une excellente synchronisation mais elle a fait preuve de créativité, d'originalité et ce que j'adore voir dans un feu...la présence du sens artistique.. J'ai entre autre adoré le segment sur des éléments de cirque...un vrai petit bijou et bien d,autres moments .

En bref un spectacle grandiose , une très belle juxtaposition d'éléments artistiques, des surprises pour le spectacteur.

Il y aura une belle lutte entre la France et le Canada mais ayant vu les deux mon choix c'est Brézac mais comme je le mentionnais je n'ai pas vu la Suède.Parait que c'était bon.

En plein mon genre de feu. Merci de M'avoir lu.

Roger

France presented a very good show, but since I didn't have the brochure, I couldn't really follow what they were trying to represent. Synchronization was good for some segments and ok for others.

I think Canada and Sweden (and France to some extent) offered the best displays this year. They presented displays that truly define the Montreal Fireworks competition and its uniqueness.

My final 2010 rankings:

1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. France
4. Poland
5. Italy
6. Portugal
7. United States
8. Taiwan

Here are the display videos:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UgI52-8Xo0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_88165D0LhQ
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC9sPAWxkDo
Finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWuVkcuQmT8

Pat

My report on the Brézac display is here.

Definitely a Jupiter winner, but I still need some time to give my final season review and predictions for the podium, save to say that the three obvious winners are Canada, Sweden and France (listed in order of appearance - I'm still thinking about the prize order).

Paul.

Hey all,

Unfortunately I wasn't present in order to watch this display live. However, thanks to Bob, I did watch it online. Let me just say that I was disappointed since it clearly was way too heavily focused on silver and gold shades. Colors were only used to accentuate certain aspects of the show. The synchronization was overall ok but the amount of repetition of the material made it feel less effective. And as for the finale, it was a total let down for me. I already down like all gold finales, but to reduce the intensity as well made it rather boring to my eyes. By using a lot of ground effects, this display felt kind of "cheaper" compared to Sweden and especially Canada. The soundtrack on the other hand was very well done.

An artistic display, still worth a

My ranking:
1) Canada
2) Sweden
3) Italy
4) France

Dan