[Re]-Connexion
Designed by Arnaud Fouriau; PyroDigital Firing with 4000 cues; Final3D Visualization
Another hot and humid day with thunderstorm watches in effect for the Greater Montreal region. We could see large clouds just off-island in the final hours before display-time and at 9pm the temperature was still close to 30C, making it not only the warmest night of the competition this year, also the largest on-site audience as it appeared pretty much every seat was occupied in the grandstands.
In the hour before the display started, the pyrotechnics crew could be seen still working on the ramps and on one of the floating platforms forming ramp 5. Lights were still on in the control room beneath ramp 4, but, at around 9:45, all the lights were off and the workers had disappeared. Minutes before showtime at 10:00pm, it was announced there would be a short delay to “ensure an optimal display experience”, leading some of us to wonder if everything was ok. I hypothesized that the workers seen on the ramps had delayed the starting of the timecode (which usually occurs at T-minus 15 minutes). Finally, just a couple of minutes after 10pm, this anticipated show came to life.
The sound of an old-school modem echoed around the park as some gerbs fired around ramp 4 and girondola rose into the air. I had a fear that we’d have a slow start, but moments later dazzling photoflashes raced across ramp 3 to the opening drums of the first piece of music by Daft Punk. Quickly the display burst into hectic life with sequences of mines and comets. After the first three minutes, I said to the people sat next to me that I think that we are going to witness a Gold Jupiter winning display.
There were many interesting aspects to the display, especially the firing patterns. Despite some people thinking these were somewhat repetitive, I appreciated that (despite a few transposed products here and there) they had subtleties in the products used and the breadth of space used. Ramp 5 was especially well used with large comets firing so high that you had to turn your head to see them. The shells used were always complementary to the music and I appreciated that the 300mm calibre devices were given sufficient space to be seen.
One added aspect to this display was the use of a vertical firing “ramp” with 6 positions between the ground and a nacelle which contained a 7th position, used to fire in a 180 degree fashion. The 6 lower positions only fired horizontally left and right. Together, though, they allowed for an interesting in-fill in the space between ramp 3 and the shells fired from ramp 2. This was a good concept, but sometimes it didn’t quite work as well as one would have hoped since there was too much in the sky at the same time to fully appreciate this structure.
There were many really nice shells used in the display. I particularly enjoyed the Breathe me piece which had all kinds of strobes, including some amazing large calibre shells that filled the air with brilliant fast twinkling stars – a faster effect than the more typical strobe star. Large nautical shells made their appearance several times in the display, something that I always welcome, though there were no other nautical effects.
The laser segments were very well integrated into the display using the permitted overlap of fireworks at either end of the sequence. Even the laser effects were probably the best we have seen this year and fitted with the music quite well.
One small negative point was that the final third of the display seemed to be a little bit less detailed than the first – but I already knew that the team had had the unfortunate discovery when they opened their shipping container in Montreal to find that one of eight pallets had been omitted. I believe the team attempted to fill-in the holes with products sourced locally. That said, this didn’t really detract from the display [I’m only remarking on this here as Arnaud had commented on a FaceBook post to this effect].
The finale was very enjoyable and also included a lot of white strobe effects – not the first time we’ve seen this year but something which I enjoy. At the end of the display, I noticed I didn’t have dry eyes and found that I had been moved by the entire display in a way that hadn’t occurred with any other display this year. This feeling, together with the appreciation of the well-edited soundtrack and the range of fireworks used lead me to conclude that this display was clearly the Gold Jupiter winner this year. We will see if I am correct very shortly! The team received a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience as well as in the salon des artificiers afterwards.
