Greetings, enthusiasts!
Well, it appears that we were treated with a great and most impressive effort from this newcomer, Czech Republic. There was a wide range of effects that it was hard to keep up with what happened and what didn't. There were also many nice colors used throughout the show, as well. I was also very happy to see that unique rainbow effect! It was also nicely integrated with the gold and peach color candles. However, this may not be so original, because according to Fred, this effect has been seen before by Italy in 2003, but then again, it could have been represented in another perspective and thus making it original in some circumstances.
I must comment on the weather. A completely wrong forecast that predicted possible threats of rain and isolated storms gave way to hot and humid conditions followed by partly cloudy skies. They were actually right the first time.
Despite the threats, for the first time, I did not see potential developments while weather watching.
Thankfully enough, we also had the right wind velocities, which blew away the excessive smoke accumulations to the Northwest. This was also probably one of the best and hottest nights in terms of temperatures. It was similar conditions, like France, but just a tad warmer where it hovered at about 29-30 Celsius all the way till 10:00 P.M and continued overnight. This was also one of the bigest crowds, as well! It must've been the presence or perception of hot weather and the new country combination. There must have been almost 400,000 people there last night.
This display was different compared to others, though similar in some cases compared to what we've seen. Like Spain, this was also quite traditional, though not as original. The colors made the display massive and there were so many wide ranged effects that I couldn't keep up with everything that was used, as I said before. The use of many products were apparent throughout the show. I noticed where lots of Spanish and Italian products showed up, too. And it was also apparent with the wide range of effects used. This gave an indication that this team had lots of manufacturers, which was about 12. This was clearly shown several times and sort of administered some conceptual art in the show.
This display probably started with the biggest bang this year with some candles and a few mines along with many large shells of sparkles to latter colorful shells from mid levels to upper levels. This was the case in many segments, but done in many varieties. Once again, this always feels good to the audience, especially me.
Most of this display was done in variations, so it kept things balanced in many parts of the sky. For example, there was a segment where there were many massive kamuros with lower blue stars, as well as 3 repetitive candle sequences in the middle and left and right directions. This really filled the sky, particularly in which it portrayed at a different angle in the sense of how it spreaded in each direction. This always puts a dramatic impression on the audience, especially when we consider the rapid pace at the end of this segment. Another example was the segment with a lot of build up with the glitter cracklers and gold brocades. The sky felt really magical in this segments, as well as some others with a variation of different colored sparkles i.e. red/green mixtures. This, indeed, put on a magical feeling of emotion, as well as inspiration which was partially linked to the main theme. Also, I could tell where the "dream" attempts were, particularly with the weeping willows all around the sky.
There were a lot of effects used, so bare with me if I missed any. I did notice tons of them, which have been seen several times in the competition already, but used differently. I enjoyed the go-getters in the middle part of the display. We did see some more in other segments. There were quite a bit of serpents throughout, as well. There was also a time where there were screaming serpents that sound like a missile/eagle. The use of kamuros and weeping willows made it apparent to the satisfaction of some of their theme, particularly when it came to dreaming, inspiration and emotion, and especially emotions. The go-getters and serpents made this ideal in some ways, in my opinion. I was delighted to see massive shells of swirls, some of which crackled upon spinning. Actually, there were shells that consisted of double ring swirls.
Some other effects made it it exciting, which was, indeed, part of the concept of the show, according to some information. They kept their part of the bargain with, no doubt, massive, exciting and brilliant segments which have been proven to excite the audience on several occasions. This demonstration was shown with lots of shell of shells and lots of multi-breakers that constantly burst into red and blue stars. Another piece that I want to point out was the use of those scatter shots and shells bursting into several red green and white shells. This was most "dreaming" and emotionally seen, especially taking into consideration that it was really high into the sky and then burst into colorful stars before the audience. It was also excellent where there were lower shots, as well. The scatter shot shells were very nice and are always pleasant to watch. Some of them started with a red and green color and then splitted in each direction with many other colors. This sort of gave me that feeling of "inspiration."
There were also so many other effects that were enjoyable, such as the red flares, or fireflies, that really crackled loudly after they flashed. It also made it VERY bright and exciting. Those swirls that crackled also made it exciting. Both of these effects have always been one of my favorites since I've been attending the competition.
There were also some volleys of salutes that scattered from one flash in the top in a couple of segments. This is always traditional and exciting when it comes to "excitement." This was also a personal favorite. Finally, there were many mines that burst into loud cracklers below several times during the display, which is also one of my favorites. This was followed by cracklers from the swirl shells above. There were also long lasting yellow and white sparkles that exploded high up in the air.
There were also a decent amount of special effects, like those red spiral shells at the top that looked like this-"@". It was great to see those again. There were also green ring shells and many massive blue and green star shells at the top that looked like a giant star with gold glitters in between. There was also this very dazzling effect with the swirls that made that incredible heavy rain sound.
There were also many girandolas, ONCE AGAIN! Except, some were sort of different. The first sets that were fired were tilted at a certain angle. They were gold glittering ones. Then some more of the same came, except these burst into blue and whittish stars. Then we had double ascension girandolas of gold glitters and silver brocades that also rose and fell. Truly incredible. As always, it's amazing how the audience was dazzled by this, especially since there was a lot of variations with them. This also put a major influence on many of their theme components.
I'm more than certain that excellent use was made of the lake, and I'm fairly certain that nautical effects were present. I did, in fact see some nautical mines in a light blue color, which was similar to Canada in 2003, though not as long. I also did notice some lightning flashes in the bottom, probably coming from ramp 3. This was like Spain, but not as defined. I can't confirm if those were also nautical effects, though. Also, the use of weeping willows and some kamuros must have given a defined look to the lake as they trailed down, particularly the gold sparkles.
Finally, the rainbow effect. This was incredible and one of the most beautiful effects I've seen. The audience was so taken up by it! I, myself, had a nice time seeing which colors would be used. It was mostly sparkling with many glitters. Although, I was hoping for it to be more with the colors from a typical rainbow spectrum, but it still was dazzling. However, I'm not exactly sure if this was an original attempt, as this has been done before in 2003 by Italy, according to Frederick. Although, I can see it as being original in one context. The way it was portrayed was different to that of Italy that year, but it still gave that overall impression. The conclusion of this effect was followed by candles and glittering mines, with some bombettes later on, if that's what they're called.
I can conclude that this show had many weeping willows, swirls and kamuros, as well as many loud and bright cracklers.
The colors in this show were apparent and, once again, this show, like most of the other shows so far, was one of the most colorful, especially since there was a lot of variations of effects. This did, indeed, reduce redundancy. There was so much action that this show did not feel repetitive at all. There were many nice colors like the authentic color of orange and blue shells below. The multi-colors, like what Spain used in the ending, were also there on several occasions. The candles at the bottom also gave you that impression. I want to comment on one color that I enjoyed in particular. This was that rare light violet color. I loved the way it was used when it was mixed in with the yellow shells. This was emotional, I think. The colors were really nicely integrated to the display, and it really connected to this type of theme.
Synchronization was a problem in this display, unfortunately, well, in my opinion. There were times where I felt that the music was going on but there were no fireworks exploding, not even in the bottom sections. This was a problem. As I said, there were times, however, where the music was quite tight, particularly with those candles at the bottom and then rising with stars at mid levels, but otherwise, compared to the other displays, this one was slack.
The choice of music was interesting but personally, it did not really connect with the fireworks at all times. I think the problem was the variation of speeds according to music. This may very well be because of synchronization. Also, I felt that some of the selected music did not have a direct thematic interconnectiveness, but the effects sure did, as I commented above!
The concept of the show was excellent, especially with the variety of wide ranged effects and colors used, particularly the lower effects and the rainbow.
Travis' personal rankings and display criteria rankings:
-Synchronization: 6.5/10-Mainly because there were a few slack areas between fireworks and music. However, there were many tight moments, but not good enough, overall. Plus, some variation with the music were not connected, in my humble opinion.
-Color: 9.6/10-This was apparent all the way through and I personally loved some of the selected color, especially that light violet color.
-Creativity/Originality and Concept: 8.3/10-I'm going to give it a decent score since there were some creativity with colors. The rainbow effect may not be original, but I felt it was original since I believe that it was different it the way it was used. I also think that it's size was different. The concept of this display was excellent since there was no or barely any redundancy. A wide range of effects.
-Choice of music: 6.8/10-Well, to me, it didn't really fit in to the main theme. Some selected were great, but others just didn't feel right. As stated above, the speeds with the music were great, but there many times where I felt that it was not really "dancing" with the music like in other displays.
-Finale/Overall appreciation: 8.4/10-There was decent build up, but not enough excitement. I actually thought that the ending was the faux finale, but then the ferris wheel came on. But the overall apprciation was decent and the entire display prior to the finale was to my taste. Pierre, I'm hoping you still got it, though!
-Overall: 7.7/10
My personal choices for the winners:
1-Sweden
2-France
3-Argentina
4-Spain
5-Czech Republic
6-Australia
My jury predictions:
1-Sweden/Argentina
2-either of the above
3-France or even Spain
My personal choice in terms of overall excitment excluding finales:
1-France
2-Sweden
3-Czech Republic
4-Argentina
5-Spain
6-Australia
My personal choice for finales so far:
1-France
2-Sweden
3-Spain
4-Cezch Republic
5-Argentina
6-Australia
In conclusion, this was an excellent display, especially for their first time here. They really put a positive impression on the audience, too. The variations of color and effects were incredible, though a sort of short finale. It was starting off really nice with those loud cracklers, for which I was happy to see was in use for the end.
But, there wasn't enough longevity. Despite the finale, this is one of the most exciting shows I've seen so far. It's a shame that synchronization didn't work out the best, but this was pretty good considering it was a manually fired show.
The choice of music also wasn't the greatest selection to fit in with the theme, well, not all of them, at least. Another criticism would be the use of the rainbow effect. I would have prefered another segment that was dedicated to its use. Also, it wasn't as big as I had hoped, but it was still most enjoyable, as Enkil said. There were also little variations between speeds in music and fireworks during some segments. Don't get me wrong, I personally enjoyed the music, but it didn't seem right for this type of approach. Sorry to say, judging from the level of the intensity of the competition this year, I'm going to have to agree with Fred and say that it probably won't make it on the podium.
I still suspect that the jury is still leaning towards Sweden and Argentina. If the music/choice of music and synchro. had gone off better in this display, then this definitely would have had a serious chance to be a contender. No joke.
Anyways, I look foward to the rest of your comments!
Regards,
Trav.
