Please post your reviews/commentaries of the Croatian display here.

Trav.

One word: AWESOME! I really enjoyed this display, powerful, good music, very nice synchro ... it had it all. Too tired to write more, but what a great show

Dan

Here is some video footage that I took of the Croatian display, taken from Notre-Dame street:

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

I echo Dan's comments concerning this display, though the show could have used a little more color diversity, at times, and perhaps a little less in the way of narratives. That said, the display was rather exciting, loud and offered many interesting low-level sequences, which were well synchronized with the music. The musical selection was enjoyable, though some choices were not too clear in relation to the theme.

Still, this was a very enjoyable display devised by the Croatian team, and, in many ways, it reminded me of an Italian-style performance!

Trav.

I take back what I said a couple posts ago. Croatia is definitely taking home a Jupiter!

The synchronization was spot of from where I was positioned. The shells had tremendous power for their size. And the Pirico shells were superb. I agree with Trav on the color issue. Croatia used lots of purple in their segments. Varying from the large calibre shells to the finale. The low effects were well used and synchronized. I had hoped for bigger nautical effects, with more effects rather than just floating bengales. The multi breaks were a nice touch and added a lot of Italian style to it. In short term; this display had more power than the others. The finale was a sky full of gold and purple, with mines of gold glitter, 3 and 4 inch purple shells with turbillion & salute inserts. With barrages of titanium salutes. The final barrage of titanium salutes (I counted 5), were much bigger than the inserts and the other ones scattered across the middle of the display, that literally scared the living hell out me. I wasn't expecting salutes of that calibre to be set off with that type of finale. Usually, Italian finales keep the salutes at an average size (the way I see it). That barrage made me jump for dear life and destroyed my ear drums. The crowd along with I, gave a huge cheer and a standing ovation and walked home with smiles. This display was fantastic, and I can't describe it in any other way. The creativity of this theme was well thought out, and unique among the other previous displays by Australia, USA, England and Spain. Flame effects created lots of good reactioins from the people near me, and the idea of a "super computer/robot" controlling the display was a very technological theme at handmade artistry. As I mentioned above, Croatia is bringing something home, and if the next remaining displays can top the Croatian's, we will be looking at some incredible displays.

Please note, due to MY lack of super intelligence, I could have sworn I was video taping the display until I noticed the REC display wasn't on my screen. Therefore, I had not been filming anything for 18 minutes. I apologize for having missed some of the display (for the 2 people who watch my videos, haha), but I will try to be a little more focused when it comes to recording the displays rather than being in awe, watching the display with an idle phone in my hands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX5deRFBm_c&

If you watch the finale, you'll see I jumped when those salutes exploded. Superb display by Mirnovek!

1. Croatia
2. Spain
3. USA
4. England

EDIT: The huge explosion at the end were not from the titanium salutes, but from the large calibre shell above everything else.

Pat

I have posted the video of the Croatia show here: http://www.burchcom.com/2013/croatia.html

For those who want to download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... http://www.burchcom.com/2013/2013croatia.mp4

The file size is 1.28 GB

Bob

Une performance tout simplement éblouissant de la part de cette nouvelle firme.
C'est sans contredit la meilleure que j'ai vue depuis le début de la compétition et d'assez loin.
Comme tous les spectateurs autour de moi mon intérêt a été maintenu du début à la fin du spectacle.
Je n'ai pas trouvé de failles à ce spectacle en me basant sur les critères établis pour juger.
J'adore la création artistique, la facon d'utiliser toutes les possibilités du sites, la qualité des transitions d'un tableau à l'autre, le dosage de l'intensité dramatique, les éléments pour surprendre et toucher les spectateurs et...J'ai vraiment été bien servis par la firme croate. Voilà des gens qui se sont préparés de longue date pour en arriver à un tel résultat
La barre est maintenant haute pour le Canada et l'Italie.
BRAVO!!!!!!!

Potentially record-breaking cool temperatures for July 24th/early 25th were present for the Croatian team, forcing many spectators to equip light sweaters and light jackets. The winds became very light during the time of presentation, pushing the smoke gently towards the bridge, but also eventually to sections of Notre-Dame closest to the bridge. Fortunately, the low humidity prevented further accumulations of smoke from building.

This was a very enjoyable and impressive first-time display devised by the Croatian team and was certainly strong enough to distract us (even myself) from the chilly conditions. After just over a minute of introductions, the display appropriately initiated following a secondary 10-second countdown at the end of the opening.

Overall, the sequences at low- to high-level effects throughout the show were exquisite, and it was nice seeing firing angles enabling good use of the site. The product quality was also high, along with a fair diversity of effects and interesting patterned shells. The fans of flames distributed at low-level added, as expected, a nice dimension to the performance, and many were very enamored with the occasional use of the infamous shell of shells, multi-breaks and, my personal favorite, the shells of salutes. Also particularly memorable was the use of the large calibre shells, which were all powerful enough to produce a distinct thump in the chest. The sequences at low-level (especially with respect to the mines and z-cakes) also were very engaging and worked frequently well with the selected music. As such, synchronization was effectively executed and had been implemented with a great degree of creativity and precision. The soundtrack was enjoyable (some songs more than others), but my absolute favorites were "Chiquitita" and "Gloria".

While the display was very powerful and often exciting, it lacked, at times, the vibrancy of a rich color diversity (as compared to the American and Spanish displays) and would have otherwise been welcomed for certain segments, especially the finale. Thus, there were several segments that withheld the monochromatic approach, albeit this choice was relevant for some sections of the display. Also, I thought that the soundtrack could have benefited from some editing, as most tracks were too enduring before a transition occurred. The occasional narrative pauses, for me, also detracted a little from the display (though added context to its purpose), but more so for the beginning, where the introduction lasted for just over one minute (I counted nearly one minute and seven seconds, although the flame projectors appeared after approximately 34 seconds). This prompted the feeling of an anti-climax, especially since the display had begun following a countdown that was not voiced by Michel Lacroix! My principal negative point with this display, however, was the lack of a strong thematic connection with the utilized music. For some soundtrack, there was perhaps some semblance of adherence generated, but for several others, the connection did not give me that impression of being representative. I would have additionally liked to see nautical shells present to reinforce such a theme. As for the concluding piece, the faux and real finales were rather powerful, but they, notably the actual finale, needed more in the way of endurance and, as mentioned previously, color. Nevertheless, the actual finale was thunderous and filled the sky at all altitudes nicely with gold dust.

Overall, I thought that the display was quite successful for a first-time visit to Montreal and should be strong enough to potentially earn a place on the podium this year, especially because of the show’s high degree of creativity. Nice job, Mirnovek Pirotehnika of Croatia!

Trav.

Quality matters more than quantity... In my opinion, that common sentence, while not consensual, applies very well, in the context of the 2013 season, to the Mirnovek Pirotehnika debut display. Though the quantity of pyrotechnic pieces and scripted cues were not as high as in many other shows, the quality of the design has obviously impacted the audience. Croatia is the 26th country to be represented in the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Thanks to his multicultural experience as the in-house announcer of the Montreal hockey club, master of ceremonies Michel Lacroix unhesitatingly pronounced the Croatian names of the crew members, including the very young designer Nikola Koeltic (23 y.o., according to Paul's interview).

The soundtrack was an excellent basis for a pyrotechnic show. It was mass-appealing given three well-known musics for about the first-half of the show, including a violin performance of Mission impossible. I think these three musics may have been edited in shorter segments, but I admit that diversity of pyro sequences helped to avoid any monotony (more on this below). Furthermore, they were effective to engage the audience. Then, seven shorter segments made about the second-half of the show, some providing pace and grandeur for a more intense pyro extravaganza. Many transitions were well-done too.

However, the soundtrack was augmented by a narrative which linked the show with the Artifical Intelligence theme. That led to three faux-pas. First, 68 seconds elapsed between the end of the official countdown and the imagined start of the show. It began with a narrative made of a computer voice, performing tests of various components of the show, in the same way than the Vulcan display... and during 35 seconds, I have been afraid that we experienced the same problems. Fortunately, flame effects, dense fans of comets and bombettes finally came into life as part of the test. Secondly, the narrator asked the audience whether it was ready (the scattered crowd - likely because the chilly weather, potentially record-breaking low temperature according to above Trav's post - vocally answered OUI!) and started a new countdown, which had sense given the storyline, but was anti-climactic following the authoritative one performed in a great way by Michel Lacroix. And, thirdly, the computer voice claimed the show over and made a brief comment on the performance following the finale, leaving the audience wondering about the actual end of the show, or expecting an ultimate sequence following what would have been a faux finale. The theme shouldn't be highlighted only by the narrative as it was the case here, but also - and above all - by the choice of musics and the visual effects. Following the display, I heard from Nikola Koeltic himself that he had never attended a display in Montreal. That may explain these anti-climactic features of the show. I'm sure that he already has in mind some adjustments about these for a second display.

The pyromusical design, especially the diversity of pyrotechnic sequences, was definitely a prominent component of the Croatian performance. Special devices installed on each of three floating footbridges connecting ramps 2 and 3, came into life several times to add various flame effects (one, two or three, vertical or angled, flames). Several effects were shotted at very low angles, which contributed to create wider than usual sequences. Several pieces even bursted above the La Ronde Village and it's fortunate that no fire appeared in that area. I'm sure the firemen posted at the entrance of the Village kept an eye on this scenario! I was especially delighted by three inverted-V sets of five cakes shooting blue meteor-headed comets on the music of Euphoria by Laureen. The same sort of V-cakes, overlapping, allowed to create another great sequence for the opening of the ultimate segment of the show.

This example of different ways to use the same product was typical of this display. I found that the range of effects, while reasonably broad, should have been larger for a 30-minute display. We saw countless cakes, as well as mines and candles of comets featuring cluster of stars at the mid-point of the trail. Nautical flares have been launched on the lake three times, without other sorts of nautical effects. Some specific types of shells appeared in different segments, like the shells of blue/red stars with a white pistil. And so on. But because they were often presented in different ways, repetitions were less obvious, which is a good thing for the Croatian team. More obvious, however, was the limited richness of colours.

Synchronizaton with the soundtrack was flawless, with several note- and voice-synchronized segments. Beyond one or two pyrotechnic pieces which appeared at the wrong time, the show was presented without any technical failure.

I was very happy following this entertaining show, the 170th 30-minute pyromusical one I attended on site. Given the level of the competition this year, which I believe is slightly below the average, Mirnovek Pirotehnika seems to be a contender for a Jupiter.

But I had a hard time to compare the Croatian performance with the Spanish one, as both appear tied to my eyes. Mirnovek Pirotehnika's and Zaragozana's performances featured similar weaknesses (their shows were a bit repetitive and soundtrack may have been edited in a more effective way). Nevertheless, my viewpoint is that Zaragozana had products of better quality (especially for richness and vividness of colours), more nautical effects to make the most of the firing site, a more effective way to deliver its thematic and a more climactic performance.

My ranking so far:

1. Zaragozana (Spain)
2. Mirnovek Pirotehnika (Croatia)
3. Merlin Fireworks (England)
4. Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics (United States)
5. Fireworks by Ian Riedle (Australia)
* Vulcan Fireworks (Hong Kong)

Fred

P.S.: Thank you to La Ronde employees who made sure to turn off lights under La Spirale last night... and who will make sure that the same happen with the other crew of ride operators next Saturday! ;-)

My report on this excellent debut display by the young Croatian team: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=786

Paul.

That was the 2nd show this year that I found was fit for the competition. A lot of great italian products and some interesting firing patterns. It's always nice to see so many stutatas and scalas. It was too bad that they repeated segments that include the gold polyps with blue tip shells. The effect was too memorable that repeating them in the show would make it too obvious. I found their song choice in the first half of the show questionable with songs like euphoria, chiquitita, and mission impossible. These songs did not exactly match each other well however each of their segments were well done. The last 10 minutes of the show was very very good starting from exodus up to their last song. I just wish that they chose songs like this throughout the whole show They had a lot of interesting angles such as the blue cakes making 3 mountains. The finale was very well constructed and was probably the best one this year yet. I'm glad that they did not over use the flames like what they did in hannover last year and i wish that they could have used some nautical shells.

Best Regards,
Vander

Excellent display by the Croatian team! It was well designed and executed. I didn't like some of the song selections, but I still think that they did a good job for each one of them. The last two segments were impressive (really liked the song choices). Theme was overall good, and the synchronization was almost perfect! I still would have brought some minor changes. For example, I would personally try to limit the use of same effects/products for different segments. Finale was very good, but should've been longer.

My rankings so far:

1. Croatia
2. United States
3. England
4. Spain
5. Australia
6. China