Hello everyone,

I realize that this is an off-competition display, but just in case anyone wishes to provide any reviews/comments, please feel free to do so here.

Trav.

C'était un beau feu ce soir, présenté par la firme Panzera, malgré le niveau de difficulté de créer un spectacle sur la musique du groupe U2. En effet, à l'écoute de leur musique, je me rendais bien compte qu'avec leur style musical, ce n'était probablement pas évident pour Panzera de monter un spectacle pyrotechnique.

On a eu droit à une finale typiquement propre à Panzera....une finale que j'adore d'ailleurs. Un bouquet blanc qui grossit de plus en plus avec des "Salutes" qui me font frémir de plaisir! Une finale beaucoup trop courte, mais que j'ai quand même savouré à plein. Merci beaucoup à la firme Panzera de clôturer les feux avec de belles finales.

Bon restant d'été à tous et à toutes!

Pierre

Some footage that I took of the closing display, as well as some of nature's fireworks previously:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYzduxIhrM

Trav.

I understand that this was a closing display and not a competing entry however, I thought this was a poor closing display compared to the others I saw (besides that Celine Dion tribute). I know Panzera could have done better. The weather looked quite terrible with signs of strong lightning from the west area and thunder heard from afar several minutes before the display started. The bouquets fired while the ceremony took place sent fallout towards the Rimabelle area with smoldering embers of burnt cardboard. This had me to believe it would move to our left. Little did I know wind changes occured quickly and throughout the display, sent fallout right above everyone in the crowd. Thick and large pieces of craft paper flew above us and some of the debris make my eyes water with tremendous urges to pause my video taping to tear my eyes out from discomfort. This experience was very torturing for my eyes and made my breathing quite difficult in the smoke conditions. Contrary to what Sergio and Maria had mentioned in the interview, there seemed to be a lot more smoke than some other displays, most likely because of somewhat slow winds heading to us. The crowd facing the front of the display were the unlucky ones this time (having been told here on the forum that fallout had reached Notre-Dame street during Canada's display).

The display had started with studatas and had a somewhat intriguing opening. Being a long time fan of U2, I anticipated the music more than the fireworks (with the exception of the finale). The choice of songs was a little picky, and I had a feeling Paul sort of based the live soundtrack mixed into the original music , similar from Italy's soundtrack (I know I am wrong on that one though, soundtrack was completed in May/June according to the interview). I hate to be the bearer of bad news on the soundtrack. Having experience with audio engineering, the songs were not mixed properly. Most transitions were fades and the transitions into segments was awkward with the strong music with soft and vice versa. I still congratulate him on a difficult task. Transitioning two songs with vocals mixed in between is not the easiest of things when it comes to soundtrack mixing. Having said that, Panzera had used a lot of the same product when it came to shells. The product was used all at once, but having skipped through a couple segments, you notice that you've seen the same shell before. The cakes on Ramp 3 and 5 had too much repetition. The cakes lasted to long and didn't fit in with the music, especially the ones with the whistles. A lot of candles and mines were present on Ramp 2, and Ramp 1 had good use throughout the display. I had hoped there to be some more one shots, although I could be still imagining Italy's use of one shots (something which might not happen for a good while). Synchronization could have been better at the chorus and verse parts of songs, were there would be nothing and then suddenly mines would erupt. Each year, Panzera has the same problem when it comes to their shells on Ramp 2 (even Ramp 1). I saw 2, if not more shells explode in their mortars. I doubt they would be mines if they had the exact same effect as the shells that went above it, while be set off at the same time. Either the shells are too tight in the mortars, or the mortar had a fault.

A lot of shells from Ramp 2 didn't have the power I had previously felt from the previous firms. The breaks felt weak, and did not sustain good lift. Some lacked colour, and others were as I mentioned, too repetitive. The larger shells had nice vivid effects of rings and spirals and caused some oo's and ah's from the crowd, yet did not have the power I expected. As for the finale, the song One by U2 was played with the very common shells with salute inserts. This type of song was already used by USA in 2008 (Pyrotecnico) but not used as the final song. It's a tricky song to use with the end of a fireworks show because the song has a nice soft melody. With the mix of salutes and noise, it's not always the best combination. Unless the finale was less intense as we had hoped, to keep the feel of the song, it is rather disappointing to see them use less product. The common colour to gold, then to silver finale was used but lacked shells. They were in volleys, but it could have been far more and far longer. A typical colour shell with salute inserts would last around 2-3 seconds. Having almost 5 separate groups of mortars alongside Ramp 2, much more could have been used. Ramp 1 did most of the work with the larger shells above. It was rather disappointing to not hear the thunderous Thunder Mine candles that Panzera is renowned for in their finales, this is what disappointed me the most. The finale could have used much more length and power to close this ascending competition for the summer. I hope Panzera does a much more splendid variation in another direction with new product and a much louder and more intense conclusion. Some nautical shells would have been nice too. Panzera still delivered. Everyone was satisfied and I couldn't agree more. It was satisfying, but not satisfying enough for a closing display. I might seem harsh on Panzera's effort to give us a closing display, but I've seen the kinds of european displays they put on that are far more variated in product, compared to what we saw.

I can't say I didn't enjoy it. The way I see it so far, Panzera is slowly declining their effort in closing displays. Still congratulations to teams Italy, Croatia and Spain for all your hard work. Now with some concluding words. I would like to say congratulations to Paul Csukassy, the set up crew, the firms and the employees involved, Panzera of course, the entire staff at La Ronde who always make this competition possible, the funding companies, etc. A huge thanks to Paul Mariott for keeping this forum ahead of any other of it's kind for 10 years and providing us with tremendous information regarding upcoming displays, Mylene Salvas for her blog with hours of splendid articles, members of the forum, Trav, Bob, Duncan, Fred, Vander, Enkil, Dan, and everyone else. The end of this years competition is finished, off to a long and cold frigid winter in hopes of a great line up to mark the 30th anniversary.

The display (first 5 minutes not included) and in these two links, marked parts 1 and 2 respectively. My position, once again was not in the best area but was rather in a safer area than those who were chased by fallout, so apologies for somewhat bad view of the large shells.

Part 1: [url=http://youtu.be/Z_wVHN79xUA
]http://youtu.be/Z_wVHN79xUA
[/url]
Part 2 (and finale): [url=http://youtu.be/e5ssecsFF-A
]http://youtu.be/e5ssecsFF-A
[/url]

Have a great summer everyone!
Pat

Regarding what Pat said about Panzera's finale:

"The way I see it so far, Panzera is slowly declining their effort in closing displays."

I agree with you, but I must add that my feeling is that all participants have done the same this year. Finales are getting shorter and this year, it was obvious. The main reason why my interest in this season's competition was at its lowest in years, is because of the shortness of all finales. On top of that, finales were weak in intensity (to say the least), except for Italy's and Panzera's. Those last two shows with strong but short finales, made up a bit for the feeling of total disappointment I had in the 2013 competition. No matter what you say, the finale remains the segment of the display which has the most influence on the majority of spectators. It is the closing segment and the one most likely to leave a positive mark.

I really hope 2014 brings more shows with really intense and lengthy finales with the build up they should be made of.....or else, the Montreal competition's status will start to suffer.

I am looking forward to the Old Port's winter displays in December....only 4 months to go!

Enjoy the rest of Summer!

Pierre

Regarding the finales (and the overall decline in the intensity of displays): I could be wholly off the mark, but I suspect it has a lot to do with budgets. The world financial markets have not been seeing great results for several years, now, and I can't imagine that Six Flags feels much need to devote a lot of resources to a competition that presumably doesn't generate much revenue for them. I haven't seen the profit numbers for the competition, mind you, but I just can't expect them to be all that significant, especially compared to the cost outlay of putting on eight large fireworks shows and one non-competition display, all of which rely heavily on products sourced from other continents.

Even assuming that the budgets for the shows haven't significantly shrunk over the years, shipping costs have risen immensely in correspondence with global fuel prices, thereby limiting the amount of product anyone can import per allocated dollar.

Particularly in the case of the closing show, I suspect that the budget has been cut quite significantly. I mean, for a few years the competition didn't even have a closing display designed by an outside firm. Paul Csukassy sure made the most of it, but just putting the resources back into a full-length closing show is going to take away a non-insignificant percentage of the budget from the other displays.

Couple these observations with the wholly indisputable fact, as raised by Fred in another thread, that Six Flags has dedicated virtually zero resources to promoting the competition this year, and it's easy to conclude that the competition just isn't the corporation's priority. It's rather worrying to me, frankly, but I'll be glad so long as they keep the competition running.

As much as I, and I'm sure everyone else, would like to see bigger shows, I just can't see that happening without a significant shift of corporate outlook. I feel like the best we can realistically hope for is that firms like Pyroemotions/PyroDigit make the most out of their allocated budget to give us the "most bang for our buck". The alternative, so far as I see it, is to reduce either the number of displays per year and/or reduce their duration. Personally, I don't think I'd like either option.

Please, anyone who might be more privvy to the behind-the-scenes numbers, feel free to correct me. This is all speculation on my part, and I don't know enough about the industry to feel wholly comfortable making sweeping pronouncements as I am.

I can't imagine that Six Flags feels much need to devote a lot of resources to a competition that presumably doesn't generate much revenue for them.

Six Flags has dedicated virtually zero resources to promoting the competition this year

I could be wrong on this one, but the competition is probably funded by Loto-Quebec seeing as how they make a lot of profit from lottery, as well as the competition is titled "International Des Feux Loto-Quebec". Les Grands Feux du Casino Lac-Leamy is funded by the casino in Gatineau and collaborated by National Bank. Six Flags has no affiliation with the fireworks competition whatsoever. Most of the promotion is done by the city of Montreal and the media. CTV, Rythme FM 105.7, and STM. I've seen ads on the metro promoting "Festimania" which lists the fireworks competition as part of the festival line up. The interest in the competition will never decrease because it's free to watch and it's nice to watch handmade craftsmanship at use.

Just adding briefly to the discussion, I noticed the decline in frequency for memorable finales as of 2005. That said, whether it is a case of potentially lower budgets (or a shift in concentration to other aspects of displays), we have seen some fulfilling finales still emerge since 2005, such as France 2005, Australia 2006, Canada 2007, Portugal 2008, Canada 2010, France 2011, Italy 2012 (to some extent), and, most recently, Italy 2013. So, perhaps about one occurrence per year. Panzera 2012 and 2013 were good, but they needed a little more in the way of endurance and crescendo. The most thrilling Panzera displays/finales that I've ever witnessed were during the 90s (especially Panzera 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997), and towards 2004 (with the exception of 2002). 2004 was the last year where I saw a truly memorable Panzera display/conclusion!

Here is the closing display's finale of 2003:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rueDFnCiTQ

And this is from 2004 (footage taken by Pierre/Salutes lover):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH1Sa_Noz78

For all members, I would also highly recommend viewing the finale from the 1999 closing display, which Paul had kindly made available in the "Member Only Videos" section (panel on the left side of the forum page).

Trav.

Don't forget the Pyrotechnico finale in 2008 - remember my comment that my camera suffered a "buffer overflow" and didn't record the last few seconds? Now that was a finale to remember!

Display style is quite different these days, compared to the 1990s, and is rather more "artistic". This tends to make it more difficult to do the type of finale that many on the forum love.

Paul.

Don't forget the Pyrotechnico finale in 2008 - remember my comment that my camera suffered a "buffer overflow" and didn't record the last few seconds?

Yes, I recall the American finale of 2008. Indeed, it was very intense, colorful, and the pace during the barrages of shells was simply incredible. However, I found that the shells ended much too abruptly, as the they could have gone on for at least another 20 or so seconds to have a real lasting impression! Still, it was a fantastic end, nevertheless!

Trav.

Here is another video of the 2003 Panzera finale:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS-Yl8zI18c

Ah, wouldn't it be neat if more and more finales from today were to compete with their "predecessors"?!

On another note, I recently learned that one of the jury members of this year's competition is from the West Island and, moreover, lives in the same municipality as me!

Trav.