Hi guys,

I noticed that your complaining about the finales. Canada and Sweden should of had tremedous finales similar to Panzera but both experienced problems. After talking with the creator of BEM's display at the party and with Sweden's on this forum, the finales were severely crippled. According to Mr. Hildeberg from Sweden, they "had a bunch of salutes and multibreak salutes lined up for the finale that did not fire" due to a bad firing module. The same is true for Canada's display. To tell you the truth, the canadian team seemed to be disappointed for getting the 3rd position, the designer said it should have been much better then it was. Well sorry for him, but the jury can only judge what they see and not what could have been. I'm surprised they made it on the podium since they had numerous errors and misfires. What a year, many are disappointed!

Dan

Hi Dan,

Thank you for bringing this information to all of us. Sweden had problems with their finale? Wow, I can only imagine what it would have been like, if those salutes would have worked all right. I think it was a GREAT finale anyway and I am sorry to learn that they had problems. I think they deserved a place on the podium for their great work!

Sorry for the Canadian team too......as I thought their display was great......and by what I just learned, their finale would have been pretty intense too!

Pierre

Of all pieces, it had to be salutes!

But I imagine we'll meet those during the Pyjama fireworks?

Your right, despite the excellent displays, I was a bit disappointed this year.

I already can't wait for the next season to start!

Pierre,

Sorry for the late responses! I was in Cornwall, Ontario 2 days ago and then ended up at my local park the following day with my family and spent pretty much the whole day there. I was actually quite busy!

Anyways, I agree with you about the endings. They were not exactly the greatest, but at least we were treated with innovative displays.

Well, Pierre, I look foward to your videos! Once again, we are all very thankful for your efforts, especially myself! To be honest, it must have been hard at times!

Finally, as I was telling Enkil the other day, you must have been disappointed with the majority of the finales this year, especially considering that you made the effort to record them. I remember last year how enthusiastic you were about them, but unfortunately, not the best results. But, on the bright side, at least you caught the 4 best ones! Although, the Panzera was not the best climax ever, despite the catchy title "Big Bang."

Enkil,

I feel your pain! Well, there's always next year! However, we did experience great efforts from all the firms and I'm positive that this was highly appreciated, though everyone looks foward to the finales the most and ended up being disappointed often.

Dan,

It's too bad that there was difficulties with those particular finales. I can only imagine what it would have been like, as Pierre pointed out. However, at least the shows were pretty much on the creative side and there were huge attempts made at choreography. Also, we had plenty of nautical effects and other lower effects that really put a great impression on the audience, and you guys, I'm sure. As for you being a judge, I can imagine what it feels like. I'm also your age and I can see that it must have been hard! You had to have been the youngest, I think. Jeeze, I can't imagine myself as a judge!

Best regards,

Trav.

Hi Trav,

Despite what people think, it's not that hard to be a judge. Just trust your heart. If you love it, you love it. If you hate it, you hate it. That's it. Now regarding the quality of the pieces, a good eye is needed. The pyromusical concept section requires, for me, the most amount of concentration since you have to analysis the materials used, the theme, and the music all in one moment. The first show was the hardest test I ever did! After that, you get used to it. To tell you the truth, I can't watch a fireworks display the same way anymore. I'm analyzing every part of it without me knowing about it. It' fun! You should apply to be a judge. It's a blast!

Regarding the displays themselves, they were extremely creative. Portugal had the sphere, France had the flame throwers (which I loved, BTW), Spain had the incredible synchro, Argentina had the dancers, Canada and the USA had the rotating structure (forgot the name), Sweden had the dancing fountains, ...etc. It was a great year for originality. Now for the finales, it was not the firms fault; they had technical problems. Out of all the segments, it had to be the finale! Who knows, next year well be great!

Dan

Dan,

thanks for your post. Unfortunately, what some of the judges think of as original is not really since, for those people who have been attending the competition for several years, pretty much everything we saw this year had been done before. Hop Kee used the Maltese Irdieden in 2003, as did Ampleman in 2004. So the two we saw this year were, in that sense, not original. The dancing fountains, though done very well by Sweden, were first done by Pyrospectulars (that segement choreographed by the renowned Alberto Navarro) in 2001. The Portuguese hemisphere was certainly original, though even it was an evolution of the ring they used in 2002. Concept Fiatlux used propane flame projectors in 2001 also, though not quite as extensively as Groupe F did this year. To my mind, the only new effects we saw this year were the MagicFire salutes in the Portuguese show segment entitled Ritmo and also the MagicFire effects used by Rozzi - specifically the crossed sky-mines and the rapidly sequence ascending effects. We also had one or two new colours this year too. Other than that, the only other original features were the human performers - though, of course, Ampleman's opening show last year had Circus Orange doing a lot of performance.

It is for these reasons that long time enthusiasts become frustrated with the Jury's rankings since we *know* what has been done before. Perhaps the Jury should have to read all the reports on this site before the start of the competition so they can see what has been done before!

Cheers,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

I've been reading your reports for many years now (except this year, of course), and I find them absolutely incredible. How can you keep up? I've been writing a couple of pages of notes per display but I can't imagine the quantity and the precision of your notes. In that regard, I take off my hat and salute you! You should seriously get a special Jupiter for the great coverage of this fireworks competition.

Even though the originality was somewhat of a repeat of the past years, the quality was excellent. There were not many incidents or errors this year, showing us that the competition was rather high this year. The only big accident I remember was during Canada's display. For those who remember, there was a tremendous detonation at around 10:15. This was certainly due to a mortar that exploded on the right side of ramp 3. After this occured, the blue mines were firing towards the ground instead of sideways (can be seen on the video from official site). I pretty sure this also affected the firing modules on the right side since there were many misfires and errors after the detonation occured. Correct me Paul if I missed anything. Any questions are welcomed, I'll try my best to answer them.

Dan

Dan,

thanks for the vote of confidence. Most displays I end up taking around 25-35 pages of notes (it's a small notebook).

Despite the overall originality not being so high, you're right that it was an excellent year quality-wise. The lack of visible technical problems was a good thing, though I'm surprised that the problems in the Canadian display didn't count against them more. Perhaps they had the opposite effect!

The only other technical problems were due to setup errors - the usual sort of thing, a wrongly wired candle or cake here and there. It's only to be expected with the size and complexity of the displays this year.

Since you mentioned you didn't read any of my reports during the competition, how many of the other jurors are aware of my site? I've often wondered if they do read the reports and, if so, if they only do so afterwards (like you).

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul,

During the training day, Martyne and Paul said to not look at other websites regarding the displays (yours and Mr. Lamon's site's were mentioned). Therefore, the other judges are well aware of these sites. But not all of the judges have been to La Ronde to view the displays in person before.

Dan

Hi Trav,

Don't worry about the time you take to reply. I am often late myself.

Funny that you were in Cornwall a few days ago, because I had family who came to visit from Cambridge, Ontario for a full week last week and they came along with one of their friend from Cornwall!

Recording those finales was a great pleasure for me once again this year, and I am only happy to share them with you all.

You were right to tell Enkil that I must have been disappointed this year, about the finales. I enjoyed only 4 of them, out of 10 and I can only say that I have seen much better finales in the last years. Still, I am happy about this season and I think we are quite lucky in Montreal, to have an international competition. Now, I could not imagine if they stopped presenting those displays, by canceling the competition in Montreal......my life would be shattered... So I will stop complaining about this season that just ended, because I enjoyed myself standing on the bridge and watching those wonderful shows.

I might prepare the dvd this weekend and then, send it to Paul.

Take care Trav. and have a great weekend!

Pierre

Hey Pierre,

I understand the way you feel! My life would also be shattered if this competition should end.

And yes, despite the lack of good finales this year, at least we saw a few good ones, especially France! I'm still thankful that you got this one perfectly! I'm really looking foward to it!

As for Cornwall, well, that's one big coincidence for you and I, isn't it? By the way, I was went back there again and then as up and down on highway 401 for some time!

Best regards,

Trav.