After a fairly wet June, weather patterns quickly shifted to more Summer-like standards to appropriately start off the month of July. In contrast to China’s performance, typical Summer weather was the backdrop for the Czech Republic display, with very warm evening temperatures of 25-26 C, high humidity, gentle winds from the South to SSW at roughly 9 km/h, and a generally partly cloudy sky of cumulus cloud clusters.
In general, this was a decent performance by the Czech Replublic. The display featured an extravagant opening piece (probably the most enticing piece of the entire display), and some high-quality products, including the farfalles, shells of silver strobes and the shells of crackling pistles. Synchronization, albeit simple, was nicely demonstrated, and the support between low and high altitudes was excellent, which created good symmetry and balance from all firing angles of the display, including from the left to right, and vice versa. The colors were not tremendously diverse in nature, but they were rich in appearance, most notably the beige. Although I had little understanding of the theme that was used for this display, after doing some research, I was able to somewhat comprehend the approach, including the justification behind the music selections, which, after realization, were all relevant and well suited the thematic framework. My personal favorite track was "Ode to Joy" (used for the finale), as it was greatly reminiscent of the concluding piece of the closing display in 2003. The opening music, "Tarantella", was also very enjoyable and went well with the fireworks in that segment.
This display, however, suffered heavily from redundancy under many respects and, therefore, lacked complexity. While the show offered some good balance between low to high level, I personally found that the firing scheme and overall design witnessed through multiple segments exhibited many similarities in appearance, particularly in the manner by which mid levels of the display would support high level activity - this often gave the impression that the fireworks did not always justify some of the key signatures of the soundtrack selections. This display also seemed to often appear monochromatic, especially towards mid way into the show and onwards - in particular, the beige, white and gold colors were excessively used, and this was the sort of repetition that showed the most. Certain effects were similarly used with high frequency, particularly the kamuros, horsetails, and the shells of go-getters. The lack of complexity was also reflected upon, as Fred stated previously, the general approach taken in representing the employed theme. That said, in addition to a repetitive firing scheme from one segment to another, the display offered little creativity, perhaps because there were few significant low level effects, or potentially because, like China, there was not too much interplay between effects. Synchronization was generally good, but there were some points where it was a little off, and there were a couple of moments of silence that took place while music was in progress (one example being near the beginning of the second segment). On a music-related note, I felt that, periodically, the transitions between segments were a little too abrupt in nature (at least for my tastes), particularly for the first third of the display.
With the approach taken, it is certainly understandable that most of the display would principally follow a slow pace, but, in my opinion, such an attempt can quickly lose the interest of many spectators. For myself, I had a difficult time being drawn into the display beyond the first two segments, mainly because of the overall pace thereafter. There were some fairly good sequences in between, but, unlike China, did not really provide that mesmerizing delivery, as the Chinese demonstrated, at times, in their display at low level, with the rapid sequences of gerbs, candles and nautical flares. As most have expressed so far, the finale was disappointing - I was readily awaiting something along the lines of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rueDFnCiTQ&feature=channel_video_title
Overall, this was absolutely not a bad attempt from the Czech Republic, as the display had generally good choreography and a tight connection with the associated theme. The product quality was also high, but there just was too much reliance on certain effects, colors and a similar firing scheme, making segments bare close resemblances in their execution. For now, I would put this display a little ahead of that of the Chinese, merely because of a more supportive thematic premise, better synchronization and recognizable symmetry, but with the lack of complexity seen in both displays, it might prove to be difficult to compete with the upcoming participants.
Other than that, expect July-like weather to remain dominant through most of the week, although severe weather is possible tomorrow (Wednesday).
Trav.
