The Butterfly Lovers
Designed by Yong Wang, FirePioneer Firing with ~3200 cues.
The debutante team from China were treated to perfect weather conditions, both during their five day setup and on night of the display. A gentle wind was just enough to move the smoke away from the audience.
This display was unusual that essentially a single piece of music was used for the soundtrack, though it is believe some editing was done to allow for a more dramatic finale than the complete piece of music would have suggested. As promised, the music was clearly traditionally Chinese but performed with a western-style orchestration.
The fireworks complimented the music very well and creative use was made of slice-cakes to really fit with sweeping violin or harp sequences in the music. The supporting shells were also good and the audience appreciated a mini-finale around the mid point of the display. The quality of the pyrotechnic material was also very good, with a fairly wide range of products, though the colour palette tended to default to white red and green, though there were some very good bright blues (in crossettes). The nautical effects were also good, with some mines to crossettes that filled the lake, as well as many different kinds of bengals and nautical fountains. Synchronization was also excellent, though some of the cakes in later parts of the display ran on a bit long and bled into the next musical sequence.
The overall design was fairly conservative, though good use was made of the width of the display. However, the waterfall was a little bit on the short side, though it burned cleanly and completely.
The audience definitely enjoyed the display, giving the team loud applause at the end, though it’s not clear how well the audience connected to the music and the underlying story. All in all, though, a good display for a debutante company!