This was an excellent display with some novel effects.
One thing that stood out was the use of a lot of fountains/gerbs (what _is_ the difference between the two?). It appeared that every possible fountain material was used, from the red of charcoal to the bright white of magnesium (or probably titanium). Some of the largest fountains I have every seen were used – the sparks must have risen to a good 80-100 feet.
Almost every display this year seemed to use tourbillons. Italy continued this theme but extended it by using every imaginable type of tourbillon, from red-sparked moderately spinning charcoal types, to fast, white sparked salute termination types.
Since the theme of the display seemed to be film music, one very nice segment was played out to the theme of James Bond movies. A gun, traced out in lancework, fired large white star “bullets” at a target, also traced out in lancework. This really pleased the crowd!
There were some unusual shells used. After shell burst, the stars appeared dark for a few seconds before the ignited, quite a distance from the break of the shell. I guess this is similar to the other delayed ignition technique which was used extensively by the Italiens. This is where a very large shell bursts and ejects several, or many, smaller shells. Sometimes these smaller shells whould explode in a close sequence, giving the effect of many shells fired very close together in time. Othertimes, the smaller shells would all explode simultaneously and their stars would cross each other’s paths producing the effect of a mesh of star trails.
Some shells with very bright yellow stars were used – yellow being quite a popular colour this year.
Yet another interesting type of shell was used in which the burst charge must have been laced with titanium since the bursting of the shell gave the appearance of a large titanium salute in the centre – these were very big shells and the burst charge could be felt as well as heard!
In an earlier report, I mentioned that France used an effect where several large spining rising things lifted off from the ground and ascended on a wide column of sparks. Well, Italy used the same technique but extended it somewhat. I counted ten devices rising on their column of sparks. However, when the devices reached the apex of their ascent, they dramatically burst into a large number of colour stars.
The finale was excellent, with noise makers and spinning devices of every type imaginable including a segment where a vast number of whistles hurtled skywards at enormous speed. The end of the finale was thunderous, with an enormous number of very large salutes.
Overall, this was an excellent display and must be in contention for an award.