Dear mr. Hildeberg,

Don't worry about your narration since it was properly used to explain each different segment of the show. The worst use of narration was by the australian team since instead of explaining the segments, they were complimenting their own display. Not only was it annoying, it's down right arrangant! Especially considering that their display was just average.

Considering the theme. Some firms simply pick music based on a genre. For example, the states in 1998 called their show Cinema. It was simple, exciting, everyone knew and loved the music selection; resulting in a gold jupiter. This year, Panzera blow me away with a somewhat complex theme called "big bang". It was very well done since the narration set the tone for each segment. The narration was interesting and gave the audience a clue of what to expect (including the intensity). As you can see, a winning display can be either complex or simple. With the arrivial of complex firing systems (such as fireone and pyrodigital), the public is more interested in multi-layered (bottom, middle, top) displays using fast synchro and good quality materials. It is for this reason why a gold winning display cannot be decided just on the theme, or music, or synchro. It is a winning combination of quality, synchro, theme, and most of all; the general appreciation of the jury. What truly determines the podium standings is originality mixed with simplicity. As what happened to Spain this year, the most complexily synchronized show is not always a winner (they used a good 6000+ cues). It was nice, but a little repetitive. Your show used many different products and was never boring. Now that I think about it, why isn't Sweden on the podium? This was a hell of a year to be a jury member!

BTW, if anybody is interested in talking about the technical aspect of fireworks, I'm in. I'm studying software engineering so don't worry.

Dan

Martin,

sorry for the slow reply - I've been in the process of moving. I'm very disappointed that the judges failed to be impressed by your creative display. Sure, there were a few mis-fires, but these were not fundamental design flaws. It is my belief that the Canadian show, whilst enjoyable, suffered from too many element design errors to be worthy of a podium position this year. It seems, to my mind, that the judges are somewhat over-impressed by displays which use a lot of large shells and bright colours. However, as many aficianados understand, firing lots of shells and loud cakes does not a pyromusical make. There were several periods in the Canadian show where the music was quite yet loud cakes were bombasting the sky and drowning out the music. This is a fundamental flaw in my opinion.

I guess, though, at the end of the day, everyone has their own idea of what makes a good display. I suspect that for some of the judges, it was their first time watching displays from the grandstand seating at La Ronde. In this case, I'm sure, everything else being equal, a large and loud display would feel more exciting and impressive than a more nuanced effort.

Finally, just to note, that I'm not criticising the Canadian effort per se, I'm just pointing out some of the errors, which, in my humble opinion, would preclude such a display from being amongst the winners - especially given that fact that we had several displays (not forgetting France of course) that didn't have these flaws.

Cheers,

Paul.

Martin,

I'm also sorry about the slow rely, like Paul. Anyways, I'm so sorry that you did not make it on the podium this year. Do you have any idea of how sure we were? The entire display, in my mind, was totally flawless. The show was never repetitive and was probably the most creative and had the best shot at choreography, I think. The entire design and complexity of the show was apparent, too. Although I was not at La Ronde, I could not identify the problems that were cause, but I can tell you this. These problems did not take absolutely anything away from the display. Through my eyes and ears, I could tell that there was nothing that could take you away from that podium.

The appearance of Canada was amazing;y surprising. We must ask ourselves, how was Canada better than Sweden? The show was seriously missing out on originality and the effects were somewhat repetitive. Don't get me wrong, the show was exciting, which is definitely to my tastes, but if we match the kevek of flaws in this display and match them to that of your flaws, I honestly can't see that these were higher level flaws. According to some members here, as I read, there was even some trouble in the finale. Also, as Paul said and as I stated in my review, there were times where some moments were drowning out the music. Also, this show did have some redundancy.

If I had to answer your question and tell you what exactly to "improve." my answer would be complicated, as most of your problems were weather related. This puts me in the postion to tell you that there simply wasn't anything to improve and, to me, the display was techically perfect. According to my rankings, I gave you guys the higest mark. And trust me, you really deserved it. All I can tell you to improve is probably the finale and to make it more intense, colorful (which it was) and longer. You should try to "kill" us! Other than that, I suppose you can find some other innovative and original ideas.

I'm not going to offend you in any way, but I personally hate narration and late starts to a show after the countdown, even during the display as I feel that some of those pauses could have been taken advantage of, but to me, it worked best for the first time with your show. Despite what I said about it being too long for my tastes, at least it worked well with your theme. This brings me to my next point. Theme is very important to, as it is to the overall criteria. It also makes me enjoy a show more when the selcted soundtrack is in perfect harmony with the music. Your show was a perfect example of this, ranging from dramatic slower parts to a sudden quick change. This is always a good idea. The selected music also makes it enjoyable when the theme sort of "builds" over it, meaning like the way the narration worked. However, it's never a good idea to keep narration lengthy as it does distract the audience. However, if it's short and makes sense to the main theme, then it can be enjoyable. My point is that you should always focus on the theme and keep our minds on what you're trying to execute, as you've clearly shown us that night. You guys had no problems in this area, but I'm just saying what we all look for, so keep the good work! Finally, always look for a variety of different paces of music so this way it will allow you to attempt different things. And yes, always ALWAYS save a fast paced song for the ending, but once again, still relating to your theme.

Anyways, your team followed all these aspects and it' still so hard for me to actually believe that you didn't even make 3rd. What I've mentioned up there is what should be done for all entrants that compete. The way I see it, you should have been in 3rd place, despite your flaws. It's still not clear to me. I think this is one of those years where the judges were that extreme! But trust me, in recent years, I've seen decisions like you wouldn't believe.

Regardless, even if you didn't win, miraculously, your display will be remembered as one of the best. You guys truly did a fantastic job and the next time you're here, I want you to blow us away win originality and a hude variety of effects! Also, as you should know, an unforgettable finale!!!! Otherwise, congratulations to you and your team and good work!

Thank you for your contributions on this forum and it was a truly an honor to speak with you. It's so rare to talk with people like you! Please check in as often as possible as a regular poster!!

Pierre,

I have that same feeling as you and Enkil. This year was poor in finales. In fact, out of all the years that I've been attending the competition since 1990, this is the first year where there was about 33% of the competition where finales were impressive, especially France and Sweden and not too far behind, U.S.A. I'm not really that much impressed with La Ronde's, either. It was also well below average for a decent ending for the season. To be honest, I felt the beginning was more intense than the end at times. Heck, I thought the end was the faux finale and they would surprise us with a "Big Bang". However, despite finales, as you all said, we were definitely treated with various products and designs, and my reviews emphasize that enough! Like last year, there was so much creativity that it felt like the competition was takes to another level of art and conceptuality. I was truly impressed with many aspects of this year's shows!

Another thing that I want to point out was the feeling of tempo. Many parts of the musci concept was incredible ranging from extremes in music. In many shows that had impeccable synchronization also had that feeling of rhythm, like Spain, for example.

The other shows, in general, also were very different, though some really repetitive, in which all were presented before us. On the other hand, this year, we were treated with so many effects that it was hard to compare exceptional displays! I found that hard when comparing my notes and reviews and coming up with decent rankings. You can also see how close I was in my predictions, but I felt that I would have been correct if the those astonishing surprises in the results did not show up. To be honest, the competition has become so entirely cmplex over the years that one can argue that there's a correlation between our fussiness and the way shows are designed now! I suspect that this will continue in the years to come as the competition continues to get more and more complex and, at the same time, technological innovations equally continue to emerge.

To conclude, the conflict of the winners will be a apparent for some time, especially for me and many of you. Sometimes, it's rather confusing that the results turned out the way they did, not including U.S.A and Argentina.

Regards,

Trav.

Trav.

If you noticed, I did not try to predict who would be the winners this year, as I know that my tastes certainly differ from the judges' by a big margin.

My personal choice for this year, goes like this:

1. Sweden (Gold)
2. France (Silver)
3. USA (Bronze)

Of course, my choices are "clouded" by their respective finales, as I think that it is VERY important to go with a huge BANG! I don't care if this is not the right way to judge a firework display.......I just don't like it when a participant ends their display without intensity, without a build up and without SALUTES!

Yesterday, it was Wednesday.....so it felt weird staying home and not going on the bridge There's such a feeling of relaxation, fun and peacefulness on the bridge during fireworks I will really miss that for the next 10 and a half months to come..............but on the bright side, we already have 5 days down and only 315 days to go, before the next firework season!!!

Pierre

Pierre,

Sometimes, I feel the same way as you and I feel somewhat clouded! But at least we never forget the main concepts and consider the important stuff! But yes, we ALL have that deep down feeling on what is an EXCELLENT show and what is a good finale. No one here can dey that.

Your predictions were also to my tastes, but it appears you and I had U.S.A for third place! At least we had something in common! Actually, we also agreed on Sweden for first! However, I wouldn't mind if France had hit third!

My predictions were VERY close, though! I can't believe it. But seing Canada there was the biggest surprise of them all, but I don't feel so bad that they made it there. Why not say that I'm patriotic!

As for the countdown, well, less than 315 to go now, but I don't want the rest of August to go by so quickly. But yes, everyday that goes by counts!

Trav.

Trav,

Your predictions were VERY close to what actually happened this year, regarding the winners. You'd make an EXCELLENT judge, Trav....I mean it! As for myself, I did not predict anything, as I thought I am not in the same state of mind as the judges.....and I certainly don't attribute points the same way they do for different aspects or portions of the display. To be a "little" sarcastical, let's just say that I let the finale influence me A WHOLE LOT!!!

My list of best displays of this year, was just my choice of best displays, not what I had predicted that the judges would go for.

Of course, like you, I am so proud when Canada gets on the podium...the higher, the better I feel! It's just that I did not think they deserved to be there this year, so I kind of have mixed emotions about it.

Yep, 309 more days to go, before Season 2006!

Pierre

Pierre,

I had mixed feelings, as well, about Canada's appearance on the podium. But don't feel bad about finales influencing your judgement. Trust me, I think everyone, deep down, does that, too, especially Enkil and I! And, I don't know about you, when a show is really intense and it's to our likings, like it has been many times this year, and the finale just wasn't appealing, your mood changes about the show for some reason. This always happens to me, even since 1990! For 16 years, so far, I think that habit will always be there for me. However, I still look for the important aspects of the show, but my feeling about the finale is always there, so don't feel discouraged. Also keep in mind that a finale IS taken into account and it is, indeed, part of the show and it is BY FAR the part that people look foward to the most. Seriously, we all wait for about 2 hours all thinking about the finale!

As for being a judge, honestly, I was thinking about it, but I'm not so sure about it. But I would love the experience! And yes, I was very close with my predictions...............but yet so far!

Good to hear from you, Pierre!

Regards,

Trav.

Hi Trav,

I think the same as you do.......most people really look forward to the finale. During a display, I often think of how the finale will be.....and when a segment gets real intense, my first reaction often is: "Oh, I think we're going to get it during the finale!!!" LOL I just can't help to think like that, but sometimes, I realise after the finale, that I was completely off the track! Oh well, there's always room for hope!

Pierre

Hey Pierre,

I totally agree. All the time, even if the show is intense, I still worry about the ending. Sometimes I feel that when a lot of fireworks are being fired throughout the show, I get that perception that they're "wasting" everything for the ending. I know this isn't true for more than 90% of the time, but it's a gut feeling I get. But, like you, I also get that automatic feeling of delight about an ending when some segments are intense. But this year, we were deprived of great feelings for finales. In essence, I have mixed feelings.

Trav.