Please post your reviews and/or comments for the Japanese display here!

Cheers,

Trav.

That was a very special night for the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Beyond the introduction of the laser segments (which I discuss in a separate section below), it was a rare opportunity to attend a Japanese show, so to enjoy products from this legendary country. The new entrant, Omagari Hanabi (a consortium of four manufacturers) followed Marutamaya (8 shows) and Aoki (1). So that was the 10th display by a Japanese team since the start of the competition in 1985, and the first one since 2012. From my personal experience (I had attended 5 of these shows), I did expect an exhibit of the Japanese savoir-faire with rare, very high-quality products, but I had lower expectations regarding the overall design of the show. That is exactly what happened.

The quality of the pieces used for this very good extravaganza is certainly its strongest component. It started with common products, then the material gradually increased in complexity. On musics from Disney movies Toy Story and Monsters Inc., shells of various shapes - smiley faces, cats, mouses, maybe a clown, diverse kinds of spirals – appeared, including two which were similar to the Monsters’ characters Mike Wazowski and Sulley. After the first laser segment, we were able to see shells with various patterns of colour and brightness changes. On Mission Impossible, we also viewed shells producing bright flashes during their rise. On James Bond, I saw some shells of go-getters with more angled and curved patterns than usual. Such curves were even more obvious with the behaviour of some shells during the finale on The Greatest Show. The last third of the show featured more bombs with bursting effects during their rise along a kind of twisted rope – and exploding into many simultaneous effects, like large pistils and eccentric comets. On My Heart Will Go On, pieces which first appeared to be sky mines, were actually “day time” fireworks producing smoke in various colours and enlightened by bright stars falling above. During the same song, we saw some anticipated shells with multiple layers of pistils (probably up to 5 nested pistils). However, it was said in an interview reported by Paul that shells with up to 16 sections and 10 colour changes were going to be shown. I consequently expected some spectacular patterns of colour changes similar to those I had seen several times on YouTube, but such products did not materialize. Also on Céline Dion’s Titanic song, horsetails, mines and other kind of pieces produced kamuros gold colours, unfortunately too pale for an urban area like Montreal. But overall, the quality of the products was outstanding.

The show was unfortunately unequal and weaker with the other criteria used in this competition. First, the soundtrack included 10 segments from various popular movies, each segment being separated by a pause, sometimes for too long (almost 10 seconds between the last two segments).

Second, the synchronization was generally very good, with some note-synchronized parts, but it was less precise in other parts (e.g., toward the end of You’ve Got a Friend in Me).

Third, the pyromusical design was also unequal. The combination of pyros and musics was extremely well done during the opening on Star Wars and the aforementioned parts with Disney musics (all the face-shaped shells), but a bit more fuzzy in other segments. Moreover, the theme development was pretty limited. Small notes: the title of the show (“The Greatest Hanabi Show with Film Music”) would have been better phrased without the last three words; the French-language version («Le plus grand spectacle Hanabi et musiques de film») sounded awkward (I am likely to address the issue of the French-language content issued by La Ronde soon).

Fourth, the technical design was the weakest aspect of this display. While the Japanese team had dispatched products across all firing ramps (including the platforms in the centre of the lake), the show suffers of a lack of density several times. For example, on My Heart Will Go On, 3 times I have counted a delay of 7 seconds without any visible pyrotechnic effect. It weakened the pace of the show. Another example was on Mission Impossible, where the pyrotechnic effects were unusually spaced and disconnected. For all these reasons, and despite the quality of its products, I guess that Omagari Hanabi won’t be on the podium this season.

That being said, one reason why I appreciate so much the Montreal competition is the opportunity to attend a range of fireworks shows with diverse artistic orientations, and to enjoy a wide range of products as the participants bring the products of their choice (assuming there is no transportation issues, of course!), in contrast with other fireworks competitions. I felt extremely priviledged to have this opportunity tonight.

Laser segments

Overall, the show of the Japanese entrant lasted precisely 30 minutes, with a total of 4 minutes and 50 seconds of laser effects. Before the show, I saw that four laser positions are located along the third ramp, so in front of the audience. It had been announced since March that two laser segments are going to appear in each show of the competition for a total of 5 minutes per show. Furthermore, these laser sections aren’t designed by the competitors : they are by Laser Quantum, a company based in Laval. As a consequence, they are NOT part of the evaluation and rating made by the jury. The traditional Gold, Silver and Bronze Jupiter will be awarded on the basis of the pyromusical shows only.

However, the leadership of the competition is apparently looking for some specific feedback, so a number of regular viewers – I was part of them – were offered to participate into an informal assessment of these laser segments on the basis of four criteria : the quality of the laser effects (shapes, animation, innovation); their integration into the pyromusic show (fit with the theme, continuity with the fireworks); their plus-value to the show; and the overall appreciation of these effects. This informal survey shall continue for each of the remaining 2024 shows.

For me, the premiere of these laser segments simply failed to reach the passing grade. The first portion had a duration of 3 minutes and 40 seconds and it covered the entire segment made with the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean. Aside the prominent blue colour which may fit with a sea theme, I could not see any connection with the show. After watching these lights “moving” above the lake for a while, I turned around and I saw that lasers produced more effects on the control room structure and the roof of the corporate boxes, at the top of the grandstands, than in front of the audience. The second part was shorter (1 minute 10 seconds) and it opened the Aerosmith’s segment, which continued with fireworks. The overall consensus around me was that the latter segment had been slightly more enjoyable due to its integration with the fireworks.

One fireworks friend who sat next to me said that it had reminded him a screensaver from Windows 98! I agreed as this debut performance of Laser Quantum does not convince me about the contribution of that technology to the whole experience. The difference of dynamics between the pyrotechnics and the lasers was just too striking. Maybe that a laser portion with serene musics would work better… Well, I hope for significant improvements in the next shows.

Tickets for season pass holders

Finally, I like to highlight the inconsistency between the information provided by La Ronde and the pricing of the add-on tickets to get a seat, especially for season pass holders. Following a new procedure implemented towards the end of the 2023 season, La Ronde has profusely explained that such complementary tickets have to be purchased by scanning a QR code displayed in the park. Fortunately, a kiosk is located right in front of the main entrance to sell such tickets to those who don’t have a smart phone, or who can not use it to get their tickets for whatever reasons.

Separate signage in the park also advertised a special offer for season pass holders at this kiosk, without more details. It turns out that season pass holders who show up at this kiosk, instead of using the QR code, get a significant discount, as the add-on tickets were sold $10 (tax included) instead of the $17 + tax charged with the QR code. This discount has been offered for the opening show and again for the Japanese one. It remains to be seen whether it is going to be offered for future displays.

I am glad that a discount is offered, but I can’t understand that it is not offered to season pass holders who dutifully follow the instructions provided by La Ronde online since several weeks, which direct the customers to this online device.

Fred

The Hanabi presentation was uneven, with stretches where the display seemed relatively ordinary, dead spots long enough to make me start to wonder if something had gone wrong with the firing system, and occasions where the musical and visual crescendos seemed completely uncoordinated. However, the brilliantly multicolored complexity of some of the large shells and comets created for me a substantial number of “Oh Wow” moments. Those moments are what makes a display memorable to me, and this one will be, irrespective of whether it is a Jupiter contender. I hope Fred’s video can to some extent show how spectacular they were.

My wife (unaccountably) actually enjoyed the laser presentations. I thought they were a waste of time.

Bob

Finally, my report. http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=2265

I didn't really make any comments about the lasers as the team had no involvement of the design of those segments. Going forward, I believe all the remaining teams did work with the local company on the design.

All my reviews, this year, will consist of notes I took right after each shows.

Sorry for the late post about Japan. Won't happen again !

I liked :
- Absolutely loved the large shells. Some of them were the most beautiful I've ever seen ! Several color change, different shapes.
- Synchronization of those big shells was very good most of the time.
- Soundtrack was interesting, though traditional Japanese soundtrack might have been better for a total experience.
- Sully shape... How did they do that ?!!!!
- Good use of the ramp 5.
- Shells of shells were quite impressive.
- Daylight shells with color powder, combined with silver shells of shells to amplify the color were a super creative idea !
- Colors in general were great, though I felt like yellow, orange and blue could have been used more.

I noticed :
- Positions on the left on ramp 3 failed to work properly right from the beginning.
- Lower effects were repetitive.
- Synchronization was not perfect.
- Middle part of the sky was empty most of the time, leaving the impression to watch 2 separate shows : one for the lower effects, one for the big caliber shells.
- The use of large caliber shells through the whole show, even on more quiet sequences, seemed rather linear, without much emotions.

Personal thoughts
Mixed feelings about the Japan show. On one side I was absolutely delighted by the beautiful big shells we saw. That was an awesome experience ! On the other side, apart from the large shells, there was too much unused space and to me it felt incomplete.

Dan

In sharp contrast with the chilly conditions featured by the opening display, considerably warmer and more humid conditions settled into the region, being a part of a persistently very warm to hot and humid pattern that established itself by the afternoon of July 2nd. Winds were in the form SW at 11-13 km/h, allowing the smoke to displace towards mostly right-hand sections of the La Ronde audience, with the highest-altitude smoke moving somewhat more directly overhead towards the right-hand and partially central sections. A display time temperature of 27 C was also observed under high humidity. Shortly after the display, lightning could occasionally be seen flashing in the distant NW horizon due to a small family of thunderstorms in the Lachute area.

I enjoyed the range of effects incorporated into this display, including some unexpected patterned shells and lighting. The brilliance of the colors was one signature aspect that was characteristic of this show, especially along low-level, and frequently was a venue to flaunt the quality of the products. This was often quite immersive and worked well to highlight some important properties engendering the soundtrack in which they appeared. One part that really stood out was the rainbow-colored smoke effect that made an appearance briefly during “My Heart Will Go On”, as well as the interesting patterned shells during “Friend” and the segment that followed this. Another interesting effect, which grew in popularity in 2008, was the tail-ring shells. My favorite sections were definitely the “James Bond” and “Best Show” segments. The transitions were not always clean, but they were obvious at several points, particularly the segue between the James Bond and Titanic segments

While the display was enjoyable, there were some aspects that made it stand out lesser than I had hoped. I firstly envisioned that a traditional approach would have served as a more functional thematic framework than the all-film direction chosen here. The actual theme was instead broad and vaguely articulated through the pyrotechnics at several sections of this show. Conceptually, the musical selection made sense but did not always seem to flow effectively from one section to the next. This may be partly due to the length disparities between tracks (i.e. some enduring disproportionately longer/shorter relative to others), making some songs more or less noticeable than others. It could also be that some of the selected coloring schemes and effects appeared dimmer in some areas. To that end, synchronization did not exercise a high degree of complexity and was loose in many sections.

A more significant point is the sense of imbalance, as has been described by forum members previously. Notably, the show often steered towards a quieter tendency during moments where it did not make sense for it to be so quiet. One particularly striking segment where this occurred was during the famous “My Heart Will Go On”. Here, comparatively little was unfolding to represent this track, and there were clearly many components of this song that easily required more energy in order to be represented profoundly. To lesser degrees, such a pattern also appeared in other segments, but these were still substantial enough to feel that more could have been done (especially at low-level) to really bring these popular songs into all of their glory. At many points, I would feel disappointed when the energy did appear (as it should have during those moments) but would suddenly fall flat seemingly randomly to keep the arguably correct pacing. As such, the conceptual design appeared fairly rudimentary and, thus, much less explorative than I otherwise would have expected from an approach like this.

Overall, this was an enjoyable display by the Japanese theme, especially with the soundtrack chosen. I enjoyed the sequences offered by several sections, but really with respect to how the display suddenly came to life by the time the finale arrived (the finale itself needing to be longer). The James Bond portion was also enjoyable, even though more representation would have been welcomed. Unfortunately, the lack of depth characteristic of this show did reduce the level complexity that would have been expected from a technical design that could be explored in a show such as this, and in light of the broad thematic premise.

Trav.