Please post your reviews of the Canadian display here!

Trav.

What an incredible performance by team Canada, and what a magnificent finale.... My ears were still ringing for about two and a half minutes after the closing (which did help a little to forget the cooler ambient air). I was also so happy to finally see a display begin so dramatically after the countdown!

Go Canada!!!!

Trav.

Stunning, simply stunning. I'm at a loss for words, but I'll try my best to write a few while the show is fresh.

This was the show that I was most looking forward to seeing in this competition year. As I've said before, when the spectre of another "all-star" 30th anniversary season was raised some years back, my immediate reaction was "oh man, I wish Royal and FSC could compete together". It always remained a dream until I saw the list of competitors for this year, at which point I completely freaked out at the prospect of seeing it realized. While Spain presented an outstanding traditional display, what we saw tonight was, in my opinion, a truly revolutionary show. Like the Pyroemotions show from last year, we saw the possibilities of the pyrotechnic art blown open - the sheer variety of novel firing angles made possible by Royal/FSC's arch setup, combined with the multitude of effects that I (in my admittedly limited experience when compared to most on this forum) have never personally seen before, established a new hallmark against which I'll always be comparing future shows.

Virtually nothing in this show was not notable in some way - even in the most relatively tranquil or otherwise mundane moments (of which there were few), the products used had some "twist" on their most commonly-seen forms to maintain audience interest. The show opened powerfully, rather than with yet another spoken narration, synchronization was outstanding (though perhaps not quite the razor-sharp precision saw from Pyroemotions), the theme was clear and well-represented in both music and design choices, repetition of effects was minimal, and the whole sky was used to glorious effect.

Some things, particularly the use of bright, short-burst "staccato" stars that disappeared almost as soon as they lit up, were shocking. As a composer, I've always been somewhat let down by the lack of brief pyrotechnic effects that can serve to highlight short punctuations in the music. Not all musical attacks gradually fade away, so why should their pyrotechnic representations? Truly, until tonight that had never been answered. I don't know how those effects were designed, or who produced them, but I would be deeply surprised if we did not see many more of them in years to come. The first time one of these effects occurred tonight, I literally could not believe my eyes - it wasn't until its second use that I actually knew I didn't just hallucinate its emergence.

Of course, the firing angles, alone, could merit a lengthy discussion. I'm not technically qualified enough to discuss it in depth, but I can say that - in plain terms - I think it will be hard to create an outstanding show (in the literal sense of the term) in the future without some sort of structure that expands the possible firing angles in a manner such as what was shown tonight. This may be a misinformed statement coloured by my response to tonight's show, but I think we're reaching a point where, at least in Montreal, we have seen the majority of the angles possible without auxiliary structures. This is not to say that it's not possible, or that shows without structures are not enjoyable - quite the contrary, as demonstrated by Caballer's quite traditional show last Saturday - but that it's become quite apparent how much can be added to the show through the use of specialized structures that are deeply integrated into the display, rather than as a single set piece.

This was the first show in a while with a strong false climax, and it was well received by the crowd on Notre Dame (and I imagine in the park, as well). Many around me seemed to think that the show was complete, but were audibly pleased when it continued onward. The finale, itself, was sustained and powerful - perhaps not as fantastically apocalyptic as FSC's 2010 display, but certainly memorable. Honestly, though, for me the real "guts" of the show was what came before the finale - the strong finale was simply an added bonus.

My jaw was literally held open in awe for the vast majority of the display, and I desperately wanted it to continue. I became lost in it and remained captivated until the last colours faded away. To Brad Dezotell and Yannick Roy I offer my sincerest congratulations - you have more than earned all of the accolades that you will undoubtedly receive for this display. Thank you for putting so much into this show, and we were all so, so lucky to have seen it.

My footage (from De Lorimier/Notre-Dame street) can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OZ0aP2rQlo

You will have to forgive the dog barking occasionally! Be sure to turn up the volume accordingly!

I truly echo Duncan_S's comments in the above post. I do have much to say about this display (especially in terms of vertical/horizontal depth and firing angles), but I will state, for now, that this will likely be the display to beat (I had that feeling bottled up inside since hearing that these two particular teams will be working together). After seeing the display, my expectations have been virtually fulfilled.

Beyond today (the 17th), be sure to enjoy the upcoming potential heat wave (as described briefly previously in the weather thread), which should begin mostly on Saturday (July 19th). Humidity significantly increases later Sunday (July 20th) and onwards.

Trav.

This anniversary edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition continues to dazzle and is being one of the best since several years. Following Caballer's performance, the Canadian team made by Royal Pyrotechnie and Fireworks Spectaculars Canada did another excellent show. To paraphrase the thread of our in-house meteorologist, I am not sure whether the weather cooperated (or not) but, thanks to wind direction, the Canadian extravaganza was a very immersive experience for the audience in the grandstands, to say the least! Fortunately, the velocity was high enough to clear the space and to allow a good visibility.

For this first show displayed on Wednesday this summer, I left the office and then arrived at La Ronde, still concerned by professional issues instead of being excited by the upcoming delight. Thankfully, these concerns vanished once I sat in the Ferris Wheel and my anticipation grew as the ride gave me an overview on the firing ramps. The setup was even more complex than what we saw from pictures posted by Paul early. A phoenix-shape set-up piece was located at the far left of the second ramp, two lifted platforms were also located on the same ramp, and a tower was installed in the middle of the fourth ramp. More stuff was located closer to the audience, on the fifth ramp. I was also excited by all the mortars oriented toward the lake. Consequently, the extravaganza was absolutely massive.









I would not be surprised to learn that Canadian designers have done exactly what all contestants in all competitions should do, that is, to start by taking a careful look at the criteria and to keep them in mind through the creative process.

Let's begin with the quality of pyrotechnic pieces. For sure, we enjoyed an extremely broad range of pyrotechnic effects. The 30-minute display basically ran without any repetition. I am not going to list all the effects made - they are countless - but many of them were also very complex. For instance, on the music of Avatar, stars' luminosity of angled mines decreased and then silently burst in another colour and a slightly different shape (21:50-->22:20). Of course, as many other people (including above posters), I was very impressed by the "laser comets" (thanks to Paul and Mylène who taught me the right name), of which luminosity suddenly stopped, note-synchronized with the music. I am pretty sure that we had never seen a such effect in this competition. In the same way that chiefs in 5-star restaurants work hard to find the right products, I suspect that Y. Roy and B. Dezotell did a lot of efforts to find all these pyrotechnic ingredients. While the velocity was strong enough, the smoke may have impacted the vividness of the colours from our point of view. However, I believe that Caballer was slightly better on this specific sub-criterion. Nonetheless, the richness of colours was very good (e.g., the successive barrages of falling leaves, in clusters of various colours, as the phoenix came into life).

Synchronization is another very good aspect of this show. As Duncan wrote, the design wasn't "razor-shape", as some people do like. However, several sequences were note-synchronized and other parts of the show were synchronized in a "looser" way (or with a human-touch, as some people say). This approach fits especially with the artistic choice of previous shows made by Royal Pyrotechnie. (On a side note, the show was very unified despite the co-design process.)

The soundtrack was also a great achievement. We may like or dislike the musics, of course, but the soundtrack has been designed in a such way that all segments perfectly fitted together. The result was close to a 30-minute uninterrupted performance. Some narratives emphasized the storyline, without any disruption. Firstly, the show actually began at the end of the countdown with a massive introduction, The initial narrative was heard only after that opening segment. Secondly, it was always augmented by corresponding pyrotechnic effects, like the red theme as the narrator explained relations between the devil and the fire.

The pyromusical design was also excellent. That is not a surprise from these designers. In the same way that choice of colours or pyrotechnic effects supported the narratives, the fireworks followed the musics throughout the display.

Many things could be written regarding the technical design. The setup outlined above indicates how much efforts were done to make the most of the available space. The show was especially broad, from the lake surface to the highest levels. There were some innovations or rare effects. In addition to the aforementioned laser comets, cakes were installed on each lifted platforms in a such way that they appeared as unusual spherical cakes (at 16:50). Comets and stars erupted from devices launched on the lake. And rare fireball appeared in the sky. There was almost no empty spot during the whole display. And the finale was absolutely amazing : the combination of large nautical shells and wind direction created an apocalyptic moment.

However, I wonder to what extent the show was too intense during the entire display. A suspect that more serene segments would have helped for more subtle or emotional feelings. It is also likely that another contestant may engage more the audience with a soundtrack better known and less atmospheric. (On this point, I think the designers have decided to remain within the same type of musics than the award-winning soundtrack from the 2009 show.) From a personal point of view, I didn't feel so much engaged by this show, but it may be explained by factors exogenous to the display. I felt more emotional during the Caballer's display, but the Spanish display suffered from minor weaknesses. The Canadian team deserves excellent grades on all the criteria and is a serious contender for a Jupiter.

Fred

That was a good show by Royal Fsc! They'll definitely get a jupiter for that. It was exactly how i thought a collaboration between royal and fsc would look like. Their styles are so similar that its hard to tell that they don't collaborate regularly. The show definitely looks like a bigger and grander version of both royal (2014) and FSC (2013) 's shows in the philippine competition. However that sparkly music that royal used both in montreal and here in the philippines was more effective in the philippine version because of the use of parachute. Those would have been the perfect effect for that song however parachutes are not allowed in montreal The mix of products were great but there was a bit too much suppliers and therefore the colors and quality of the products had a big variation.

I'm not sure how effective the use of the arches where in the show since the effect they achieved most of the time could have been employed with just a regular fan with 13 angles. That said, There were 2 usage of the arches that they could have explored more and both had them using smaller fireworks effects such as gerbs or flames. Thats when they used the inner side of the n arch and when they used running flame effects inside the u arch. More effects like that could have shown the full potential of the arches.

The effects really suited the music well most of the time i love how they made a phoenix form using the falling leaves in the phoenix part of the show. That was really clever. The finale definitely looked like an FSC finale with the color changes and big barrage of shells in succession.

Overall that was a well rounded show that's nice to look at as a whole rather than just having a few really good parts. My favorite part however was definitely when they used what we'd call laser comets/mines. Those were the bright and fast burning comets and mines in different colors. I think they were used in the chicken little song. That part definitely had a royal signature

Best Regards,
Vander

Here is the link for the 2014 videos.

http://www.burchcom.com/2014/index.html


To download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... the file is 1.23 GB

http://www.burchcom.com/2014/2014canada.mp4

What a show! I didn't comment on Germany's, Italy's, and Spain's displays but I must say Canada's display definitely deserves my praises! During Italy's and Spain's display I was continuously checking my watch to see how far in I was. But for Canada's display, my eyes were glued to the wonderful sequences of music (I like the "epic" teamed soundtracks used by both Italy and Canada) and immense variety of materials used. My favorite part was the bright "laser" shots, was original to see! It's also nice to see the full color palette being used, unlike some countries this year who had too much silver for my liking. The finale almost had me in tears due to the continuously ascending buildup of shells fired in connection to the increasing emotion flowing from the music.

Canada truly deserves an award this year. Well done Les Boys

1) Canada
2) Spain
3) Italy
-) Germany

Dan

Salut les pyromaniaques


Celui-là je l'ai vu vraiment live devant moi.
Je n'ai pas été décu...Thème sur le FEU .....Nous avons été bien servis ...vraiment un feu roulant du début à la fin. Impossible de décrocher. C'était très INTENSE . Cà venait de partout en largeur et en hauteur.Impossible de décrocher . La syncro était aussi très à point.
Encore une fois , Royal nous a donné un spectacle de haut niveau aidé en cela par la firme FST
J'aurais bien aimé quelques moments plus tendres mais ce soir le Ciel ne pouvait attendre. Il avait le feu au....
Et que dire de ce bouquet FINAL...Wow!!! en plus précédé par une fausse finale comme si le feu ne voulait pas lâcher prise.
Cette prestation menée de main de maître dans toutes les phases de sa réalisation vaudra assurément un Jupiter à Royal et FST.

Mon classement:

1- CANADA
2- ESPAGNE
3-ITALIE

Roger

I'm not sure how effective the use of the arches where in the show since the effect they achieved most of the time could have been employed with just a regular fan with 13 angles. That said, There were 2 usage of the arches that they could have explored more and both had them using smaller fireworks effects such as gerbs or flames. Thats when they used the inner side of the n arch and when they used running flame effects inside the u arch. More effects like that could have shown the full potential of the arches.

I do agree with you, Vander. I thought the same thing once the show was over. Someone who disagreed told me that such structures allow for a wider diversity of angles, but I am skeptical. More serene segments would have helped to make the most of these arches with smaller effects. In the same way, beyond the "semi-spherical cakes", I am not sure the two lifted platforms were so useful, and the same applied to the tower on ramp 4. Royal did better use of such structures in previous shows. But this remains a minor criticism in the whole scheme.

Fred

It is very difficult to get extra angles from a semi-circular arch firing on the outside. Firing on the inside is also difficult due to the ground being in the way! What the arches do give, though, compared to fans on the ground, is much more space to place the fans as the ground area is increased by the circumference of the arch. For a 5m wide arch, now you have a circumference of almost 8m - giving you 57% more space to put your products - plus you can still use the space under the arch for yet more effects (as Royal/FSC did). You might think raising a structure into the air gives angles beyond +/-180 degrees, but it really doesn't as those now just look like the reverse angle fired up from the ground!

What Royal/FSC did do well, IMHO, was to use the three-D space which included firing towards the audience - there being at least one sequence where the entire lake was covered with effects fired from ramp three at the crowd. This gave a very 3-dimensional effect.

One thing I did find novel was firing cakes at angles from structures above the ground - tis lead to some interesting merging of effects in the centre of the display.

I must comment about the finale. The nautical shells were simply tremendous, being felt as much as seen. As the final barrage finished and the audience was enveloped in smoke, suddenly it started to rain. Whether this was wrought from the air by the explosions and the smoke or water lifted out of the lake, it was a unique experience for me and added to the drama of the finale! I will write a report later - but Fred and Duncan_S have already described in beautiful detail this most excellent display! This is clearly at the top of the pack of the first three competitors and I would normally state that it's a certain Jupiter. But we still have three strong contenders to go! This is a very tough act to follow, though, as, in a normal year, I'd be sure this one had the Gold!

It is very difficult to get extra angles from a semi-circular arch firing on the outside. Firing on the inside is also difficult due to the ground being in the way! What the arches do give, though, compared to fans on the ground, is much more space to place the fans as the ground area is increased by the circumference of the arch. For a 5m wide arch, now you have a circumference of almost 8m - giving you 57% more space to put your products - plus you can still use the space under the arch for yet more effects (as Royal/FSC did). You might think raising a structure into the air gives angles beyond +/-180 degrees, but it really doesn't as those now just look like the reverse angle fired up from the ground!

That is an interesting analysis.

What Royal/FSC did do well, IMHO, was to use the three-D space which included firing towards the audience - there being at least one sequence where the entire lake was covered with effects fired from ramp three at the crowd. This gave a very 3-dimensional effect.

Yes. It also occurred during the finale.

In 2010, a noteworthy sequence of effects fired at the crowd was made of comets note-synchronized on piano musics, at the beginning of the Polish display (see the 2nd paragraph of Paul's report here).

Fred

Another amazing show by the joint Canadian teams! Totally agree with everyone else's comments. There were many new effects that I had probably never seen before. My favorite part was also when the "laser comets" were used. Really cool! Synchronization was almost flawless. The song selection was ok.

I really enjoyed the mini faux finales, so well done! The finale was awesome! For a split second, I felt like I was in the 90s!

My rankings so far:

1. Canada
2. Spain
3. Italy

This was a great show by Yanick, Brad and their team from Royal / FSC.

The firing angles were extremely diverse and great use was made of the lake, with numerous nauticals like higly unusual "jumping comets" (that must have startled some folks in the Bronze section when a green comet almost got to them fully lit), high caliber color shells and powerful kamuros.

The colors were also vivid, and I must admit that the Dancing products that were used were really effective and had colors that were particularly rich. The deep red crossettes near the end comes to mind here, among others.

The music was skillfully edited by Serge Péloquin, who also provided the narration. Although the narrative segments were kept short (and there was action on the ramps at all times), I found it a little difficult at times to see the link between the narration we'd just heard and the display itself. I had the same criticism about the Italian display, though. Therefore, I feel that those segments should have been expended a little (but of course not too much) just so we could better understand the legends they referred to, especially the devil and the Feu Follet segments.

I also felt more connected with the 2009 Royal entry "Voilà", where some segments would have me laughing out loud. I only felt this during the "laser comets" segment this time, but boy was it successful. I do hope to see that kind of effect more often (and of course the "jumping comets" as well).

This display was a massive endeavour, with north of 5000 cues, while the two previous displays by these companies were around 3000 each. Fortunately, everything went well during the set-up, and only very minor errors were observed (unlike a display from Portugal a few years back where the 32 cues of a front module had been wired backwards by mistake). Congratulations to everyone involved !

All in all, a very solid entry by the joint team. Let's now see how the remaining companies can top this, because otherwise these guys will bring Gold home again !

STL

Hey guys!

As always I am behind the internet reading you and watching the great videos Burchom has for all of us (I have a question for you: have you ever think about uploading the videos in youtube or vimeo? I just think more people should enjoy this awesome competition)


Don't get me wrong if I say that I am not as exited as you with the last night performance. Let me explain my feelings.

Watching the show I just felt that they were trying too hard to do a big show. And yes, it was big, and yes, of course it was a GREAT show, but I don't think it's my kind of fireworks performance.

I don't know how to say it, it was overproduced, sometimes for me "uncontrolled", there was no space for subtle things, the music was too epic all the time, in fact at the minute 10 I started being a bit bored. I felt like if they were more focused on doing something big and impressive than something artistic or truly beautiful.

I guess it's just a matter of taste, and as a fireworks fan I prefer the fireworks focused on the subtileness, but not only in terms of quantity but subtilness in terms of ingenuity. Of course I like big finales, loud fireworks and intense moments, man! I am from spain! But it's not about that, i don't know if you get me.


Some examples of this are:

Jupiter in 2005

Pains Fireworks and IP in 2007

Weco in 2004

Aoki in 2012


For me the Caballer show was more close to this style than the Royal and FSC one ( I am not a big fan of the nightime fireworks designed by Caballer, but the pyromusical in Montreal had that old and new feeling, human and technology, serenity and loudness)


So my podium right now:

1- Vicente Caballer

2- Royal FSC

-----

3- Morsani




Anyway the finale was MASSIVE, really great. And also comment the laser mines and comets, that part was very very clever.