Hi guys,
Well, I must say that I was quite enamored by the fabulous weather conditions that have presented themselves last night, which was only leading to an equally enjoyable display, though a lack of wind (at times) would have been welcomed, but they were predominantly from an Easterly direction. Of course, like last week, things were getting a tad nefarious just about an hour, or two, before the show was set to begin. However, these clouds were only sort of an introduction for setting the stage of the big rains that are yet to come, which is why today was mostly cloudy. The reason(s) why it didn't get cooler at around 9:30, Enkil, is simply due to the increase in cloud cover (or even partly cloudy), which re-radiated the outgoing longwave radiation emitted from the surface. Also, being at or near the city, the "urban heat island" effect comes into play in increasing temperature at night time hours, so things remained incidentally comfortable. Indeed, the temperature remained at 26 Celsius with some moisture, so I'm sure everyone who attended were really happy, although the crowd wasn't as large as it was for the Swiss team, as Fred mentioned. I suspect that this is because of the Grand Prix and the extended St-Jean Baptiste weekend celebrations. In any case, we were quite fortunate to see the display when we did since some big rains and possible storms could have spoiled everything if the show was set to fire a day later.
The Italian team did an excellent job in starting off their opening with some elegant and attractive red flares that illuminated brightly at ground level. To accompany this, many shells of red at the mid to high levels of the sky split into smaller subsequent ball-stars leading up to a fabulous close of the starting segment, which was almost the same idea of how the Swiss team opened up their show, though more extensive with the standard red color.
Synchronization was very well done and it was very important in how this display was demonstrated to us, though much more distinctive in its entirety. The attempt of rhythm in mixture to pace and flow of the music preferences was totally excellent and made the fireworks look like they were dancing at times, which sort of in strong correlation with the choices of extravagant colors used in appropriate spots. One of the greatest attempts at rhythmic flow was during the segment with the red and blue mines that created a specific establishment with the man and woman in the soundtrack while in combination when both of them were singing, as I mentioned last night, but I don't know what the song title was. (I should give my brother credit for this since he pointed it out to me last night). It was quite spectacular, especially when the mines went rapidly from right to left in between. The serenity in this display was superb and it was clearly shown through the variety of effects used throughout the show while the more exciting parts would typically be deployed very abruptly and surprisingly, which kept many quite focused.
The essence of this display, like Switzerland, was the
transitions between paces, but what's different about that of the Italian show was the stunning variations of pace during the entire show, but it was more intrinsically valued with a combination of slow to rapid motion within some soundtrack, which led to some rather quick surprises during the songs, such as the frequent use of salutes. In this sense, the choice of music was excellent since it permitted this sort of exploitation between segments. The "Only Time", by Enya, soundtrack was a classic example of the dramatic pace variation.
The effects used in this display were very nicely used, spaced out and were not at all redundant. As mentioned, these effects were devoted entirely to either the type of soundtrack or just the mere dependent rhythm. The silver girandolas, as I was hoping for, that concluded one of the segments represented tranquility and caught everyone's attention while also backing up the more serene parts of the segment. The way they rose was breathtaking and I simply love the lasting effect that they possess, not to mention the small pivot. Perhaps we can also look forward to other types of girandolas from other entrants, particularly the gold glitter double-ascension types. I enjoyed these silver types to the fullest in this display, though it was brief. It's amazing on how much this attracts the audience by contrast to other effects. In general, a lot of the shells were VERY loud, especially those blue, white and red combination ones.
The UFO sounds, as Dan mentioned a couple times before, were truly welcomed in the creativity sector. I personally loved this entirely since it's a less common effect used. The shells of shells along with the concluding salutes in some areas were, no doubt, the more exciting parts of this display and went very well with the music for which they were used in. Moreover, these shell of shells were in variety, such as with the multi-breakers, while making it ideal with the more massive shells that were present, which made these particular segments seem more like faux finales. The orange photoflashes in one of the segments also went well with the more rapid paced music and simultaneously making the atmosphere intense. I also personally loved the departure attempt when Michael Buble's "Save the last dance for me" came up, not to mention the rate of fire for the rest of the song. Just after the beginning of the show, there were quite a bit of shells of swirls along with individual swirls coming from the bottom as well as with different movements. These were used extensively.
The construction of the display was excellent since there was different idea approaches. For example, there were many segments that concluded with extremely loud salutes, which I'm sure Pierre and everyone enjoyed! Once again, these salutes also relate to the pace and more active parts of the show (obviously). The balance between differing heights in the sky to ground level was in equilibrium since low level cracklers, mines and fountains were sporadically used while matching the more active high altitude shells, so things worked out well here.
I was most fascinated with those lasting fan-like shells mid way in the show. The three main colors were green, red and then yellow that lasted for quite some time before they trailed towards the river. The part with the massive/loud shells of glitters were beautiful, especially when the pace increased leading to a huge brilliant umbrella-like structure as it moved downwards; it had quite a lasting impression as well.
Those double- heart shells were also used, though I would have preferred to see more of them. There were also some shells of with two colors in one, which was blue and yellow. I was more taken up with the symmetry of the effect, though.
The bottom effects are also to be commented on. The red flares at the beginning were used with much zeal at the opening giving way to more active parts in the sky. Near the ending parts, the massive red shells directly at ground level were simply AMAZING since they made a loud, though different, sound. These were excellent for correspondence with the upper action of multi-colors accompanied with equal massive red shells along with some white colors within the reds. Finally, I noticed some very quick red horizontal movement of rockets at the bottom near after the middle of the show. I thought that these were quite stunning from a distance while accompanied by some middle level cracklers and comets.
The colors were also in perfect harmony with the music while they usually ranged in an adequate variety. The red colors were nicely introduced at the beginning of the display while they also made a dominant entrance in the latter parts. The combination of colors were also used fondly, especially the blues and reds. Another factor of consideration was the focus on the lower effects building up with the intensity of the higher points within segments. Some dramatic colors were also nicely shown, such as the green mixed in with the reds and blues.
The finale was incredible along with plenty of noise and plenty of loud/bright salutes. In fact, there were times when I thought it wouldn't stop in hopes that everything that was supposed to be fired would successfully be executed. Anyhow, as Fred said, there's sure to be a lot of material for the Pajama display. I just wish we could have seen the Italian finale to its full potential considering that this could have been one of the best endings this year. In any case, the ending still seemed intense with the massive shells and lower salutes along with loud crackling mines, but it would have felt more intense if the music went with it as expected. I can only imagine what the Italian team was thinking when that little computer crisis occured. And, of all times, it had to happen dead smack in the end.
Besides the technical difficulties towards the end, my criticisms are small. First, I thought that the colors were not in much variety and transition as they were in the Swiss display. Like the Swiss display, I found the reds at the beginning a tad repetitive, though the effects were more expressed. I also felt that there was a feeling of anti-climax with the slower start since the impeccable countdown is, as always, a part that moves you into a more anticipated noisy opening. Of course, the ending was "crippled" because of the computer related problems. I believe the problem persisted into the latter part of the second to last segment where the music kept going and nothing was happening for a while. I would have to agree with Enkil on this since I similarly feel that this ending has much potential while judging from the intensity of most of the display (the shell of shells in particular). Finally, I am not so sure of the relation of some of the music with the theme of the show, but, like the Swiss display, some of the music matched better than the others, but I seriously loved the music, perhaps even more than last week's choice.
There was also one small moment when some of the mid altitude glitters were somewhat obscured by a bit of smoke accumulation upon exploding in one of the segments, but this was not notoriously prolonged. Finally, I think there was a little less in the way of originality here, but the differentiations in pace were more distinctive than that of the Swiss display, so things were more enjoyable in this area.
Travis' personal rankings and display criteria rankings:
-Synchronization: 8.5/10-This would have been near perfect if it weren't for the ending problems. Otherwise, synchroniztion was excellent all the way through.
-Color: 7.7/10-Though not quite as distinctive as the Swiss display, the colors were nicely expressed in variations and quite glamorous, nonetheless!
-Creativity/Originality/Concept: 8/10-I thought that this wasn't a totally original display, but the creativity was amazing, especially with the pace variations and the rhythmic flows. The concept was in utter elegance in many areas, but the thematic link was somewhat missing with some of the choices of music. The variety of effects did alleviate possible redundancy.
-Choice of music: 8.5/10-The music was excellent and I enjoyed it to the fullest, but some of it didn't quite fit the theme appropriately, well, personally. The music, in general, worked well with the pace fluctuations in this particular display, so it was quite successful, especially with the effects that made a perplexing yet brilliant impression.
-Finale/Overall Appreciation: 8.5/10-The lasting appeal was excellent but the sense of anti-climax sort of took away the concluding excitement, especially since "Hung Up" was an ideal song for a scary ending. The overall performance, however, was fabulous.
-Overall: 8.2/10
My predictions for the winners (so far):
1-Italy
2-Switzerland
My reasons for Italy being placed in first is simply because there were many strong points during the display that held more slight advantages over Switzerland. I'm also partially guessing that perhaps the jury may be leniant with the errors via the end, considering that the rest of the display was truly excellent, but I think even errors are taken into account, unfortunately.
Regardless of the problems in the final part of the show, this was a very enjoyable and traditional display and we all seemed to enjoy it to its fullest. The quality of the materials used was simply fantastic while much of it was well exploited before us. There was so much action in this display that everyone was delighted to a maximum, especially with the series of mini-endings in the second half of the show. The colors used were excellent and fitted the approach taken here. The effects reinforced the impeccable balance of creativity, especially in the red and blue mines segment, for example. Many of the effects themselves were very much admirable ranging from the girandolas to the creative use of the shell of shells. Overall, this was an incredible and well prepared display, but it's shame that the ending was ruined. Everything else in this display was very nicely done and I'm sure a lot of people who witnessed such a fantastic display would say the same since most of the show was, in some respect, ostentatious and had good crescendos.
In the long run, I wouldn't rule out the chance of this display not being on the podium since I do recall many incidences like this in the past and yet those displays sometimes won something. But the only problem here was the a more problematic climax, which tends to give the final part of the general appreciation sector and the final appeal. As Fred said, it is quite likely that people are paying more attention to the last 3-4 minutes than the rest of the show considering the what happened in the conclusion.
Well, Fred, it's only logical for something to happen in the ending on your 100th display from La Ronde! Bad weather was the story for Paul back in 2003 for his 100th. I just thought it was ironic, that's all.
In any case, I had an enjoyable evening.
Regards,
Trav.
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