Hi guys,

Felt a little like the 4th of July as well up here in Montreal tonight! Though cool, I still had a fairly enjoyable night, especially with the fireworks display being so beautiful and dazzling.

Firstly, I just wanted to know if the smoke did in fact frequently blow towards many of those positioned at La Ronde? I’m asking because winds maintained their Westerly status (occasional North Northwesterlies) throughout the evening and eventually died down somewhat to the speeds I had posted (9-16 km/h) – they were recorded at variable speeds between 14-17 km/h at 10:00 p.m. with occasional brief sudden breezes. From Notre-Dame, my cousin and I sometimes looked towards the park during the display and it looked as if it were covered in a dense fog, so this was some indication of wind tendency. Temperature (16 C) and humidity levels also followed closely to what was stated earlier, as were the partly cloudy skies. The only thing that deviated from what I expected was that the winds had taken slightly longer to diminish during the evening.

Turning my attention to Australia’s display, based on my vantage point on Notre-Dame, aside from the slightly early start, the display got off to a fairly active start during the first song I thought that this was a beautiful performance and, much like Spain and England, had some awesome sequences towards low level, though in their own respective way. We were treated with a wide variety of effects, including shells of go-getters, shells of crackling pistils, shells of multibreaks, bow shells, horsetails, photoflashes (though I was expecting more of these), farfalles, fountains, mines, screaming serpents, shells of screaming serpents, candles, cakes, huge chest-thumping shells towards mid to high level and plenty of z-cake variations.

Synchronization was really nicely done throughout the entire show and I thought the fireworks almost always flowed very well with the selected soundtrack, especially at low level with the z-cakes and mines from right to left and vice versa – this was very artistic and creative in the various ways that were implemented. The music connection also made the display very enjoyable since things were virtually right on cue. The music choice, for the most part, was appropriate and enjoyable.

The finale was simply powerful, at sufficient length, colorful and had good crescendo! However, it just finished off just a little too abruptly without a sufficient final bang with the usual volley(s) of thundering salutes at the very end. Still, though, this finale was fantastic and enjoyable and was similar, if not somewhat better than their 2006 finale. Good stuff. What a way to conclude after an overall wonderful performance!

To close, I thought that this was a successful and very enjoyable display, which never lost its symmetry from top to bottom and left to right despite how active and broad the display was at times. The sequences at low level with the candles, mines, comets and particularly z-cakes, to me, offered some of the most important and critical aspects of the show, merely because the timing came with such precision. Some of my personal favorite parts were during the Xanadu and Nella Fantasia, One Vision and Magic segments. The quality of the pieces was fairly good, and I thought the multibreaks and farfalles were simply stunning, especially those with the green stars mixed in. The horsetails were also very delicate and most admirable when present – a good depiction of one of the slower parts of the show. The music was well introduced for each segment, with one song flowing into the other in good harmony without many delays. The music choice itself was carefully considered for this sort of theme, “Dream Catcher”, but I felt that maybe three of the selections didn’t quite do it justice in terms of feel or just overall representation and relevance to the theme. Also, though synchronization was very well done, I found that, much like during England’s display, a number of segments would end a little too abruptly without a sufficient finish in accordance with the music concluding. In addition, many parts of the show became a little repetitive with firing patterns towards mid to high level with the various shells being fired. The smaller shells towards low level often forming a sort of rainbow-like pattern also sometimes became a little redundant. Finally, I felt that there were times where the rates of firing between segments were somewhat identical, so I didn’t occasionally quite grasp the transitional points as I was expecting to.

The colors were clearly diverse, dazzling and, occasionally bright - I was particularly fond of the light pink and deep purple stars that were seen at a couple of points. The effects were carefully implemented to support much of the soundtrack that was used by reflecting upon certain key aspects of those tracks, such as the heart shells during “When You Wish Upon A Star” or shells of strobes in combination with star-shaped shells during “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. The theme itself seemed to have been well represented throughout the display, and I believe that much of the soundtrack indeed served to portray the key components of the theme that Foti wanted to present in their performance to begin with. Many of the effects were quite beautiful, especially when in combination. I also didn’t notice as many nautical shells as what was mentioned – they probably were sometimes hidden behind the smoke, or I just simply overlooked most of them altogether (I did notice a point where there were nautical strobes, though). Aside from a few music choices, the display, in general, wasn’t too deviant, and so things remained on track with good fluidity in terms of pace. However, at times I felt that the display didn’t have much of a thematic direction to work with since the components depicting the theme weren’t always grouped together on the music list. Therefore, I felt the display could have benefited from a little bit more organization (especially compared to England’s display) with respect to its critical points, just so to keep things in better perspective. As for the finale, I really loved it, though it could have ended with a nice thundering close after all the chaos!

All that said, this was a wonderful and mystical display that often possessed a magical feel to it – I believe this was the intention on team Australia’s part. In general, the show was enjoyed by the vast majority of individuals tonight, including yours truly. Foti put on a fabulous performance, and although I liked their 2006 display a touch more, this show was well delivered in many regards, most notably, again, with respect to the low level sequencing. Despite my criticisms, my personal rating for this display is not too far from England’s show, but I really liked Australia’s simply because of the overall balance, liveliness, vibrancy and design of the display, particularly at low level.

As mentioned in the weather thread, we're looking at generally much better weather this week.

EDIT: Paul, could you please edit the title and add "Australia - Foti's International Fireworks reviews"? I pressed enter before I could finish. Thanks!

Trav.

A very powerful display from team Foti - it was good to see the quality of their pyrotechnic pieces after the shipping problems they had in 2006. Amazingly vibrant colours, particularly the strobes, the video really doesn't do them justice as the smoke was coming right at the silver section. Despite the cold weather, the grandstands were almost full - I don't know where the people materialized from at the last minute. Full report to follow. Hopefully someone will post some video shot from Notre Dame so we can see the colours of the shells in all their glory.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the post, and thank you for editing the title as requested. Indeed, I imagine that the smoke was causing a problem (I could see it) for some folks at La Ronde (winds, again, were mostly Westerly). Fortunately, for those on Notre-Dame and the rest of the Western banks of the St-Lawrence near the site saw the display very well, and let me tell you, as mentioned in my review, that it was simply beautiful and powerful at many points.

And, yes, I do have a video of the last 5 and 1/2 minutes taken from Notre-Dame. You'll have to excuse the post on the left there - I had a hard time finding a perfect spot free of obstructions as I got there a little late. As was the case at La Ronde, I, too, was surprised to see so many people just suddenly come in the final 20 minutes or so, despite the weather. That should tell us something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Q1tn4uIC8&feature=channel_page

Trav.

Nice and powerfull display. Some sequences were great, for example the " A kind of magic" and the end of the "Shanadoo" segments.

I have some criticism: first of all, the display was very symilar to the Fotis display in 2006. The sequences at low level were great, but for me too simples and a bit repetitive (especially the angles and the effects). Some cakes were great, like the falling leaves cakes, but not unusual (we saw a very similar sequence in 2006, with a lot of falling leave cakes). The colors used were awesome, some dazzling colors hard to see currently, I guess they are very expensive. However the display in some way was a bit basic, and sometimes repetitive. The theme was good, but not laboured, the word " magic " appeared too much and I don't understant the relation between the "dreams" and "magic"... The use of different levels was really good, but as I said not the use of different angles and effects.

The finale was great, long and loud and with a very good use of different leves and different intensities. Probably it could have been great to close with some salutes or bigger shells just at the very end, despite this it was a very good finale.


It was a powerfull show, well done and with very good material, but I just didn't feel it.



My rankings so far:

1- Pains - England - despite the finale ;-)

2- Spain - Igual-

3- Australia - Foti -

Bonsoir

A la fin de la présentation du spectacle de la firme FOTI mon premier mot a été " MAGISTRAL"
C'est vraiment le premier feu qui a su maintenir mon intérêt de la première à la dernière minute et encore mieux les artificiers de Foti ont su produire l'émotion ce qui n'est pas le cas pour toutes les firmes qui présente un spectacle pyromusical..

Une mise en scène très efficace, de belles pièces bien choisies dans chacun des segmnents avec une belle richesses de couleurs bien agencées et quelques une fort originales.
Un synchronisation vraiment a point non seulement pour les tirs à basses altitude mais aussi à moyenne et haute altitude.

Toutefois j'ai trouvé que le concept était une trouvaille assez facile , peu original. Bref du déjà vu.
Le rêve permettait un large éventail quand au choix des pièces musicales et j'ai bien apprécié les choix du concepteur.

Foti sans nécessairement innover outre mesure a su présenter un spectacle dynamique, un feu bien équilibré avec une intensité progressive bien gérée et le souci évident de maintenir l'intérêt du spectateur. Et que dire de ce bouquet final....

Dans l'ensemble une présentation formidable des Australiens...et c'est sans hésitation que je les met au premier rang. Bien hâte de voir les autres. La compétition sera féroce cette année.

AUSTRALIE
ANGLETERRE
ESPAGNE

Roger

Despite the rainny and unseasonably cool weather, there were surprisingly a lot of people at the park. It turned out to be a good day for La Ronde! The winds weren't too much of a problem.

This was a very enjoyable display, but unfortunately, I felt that it was lacking some originality. Those who like a strong link between a fireworks display and a theme were disappointed, whereas the average viewers probably liked it. Still, there was something missing, but then again, I reminded myself that each competitor (or country) has its own way of presenting a show. The theme was too vague and maybe a bit unoriginal. Some parts were a bit repetitive... I like it when each segment is in general unique with different pieces being used. The soundtrack was ok, and synchronization was pretty good.

It's time for Foti to take their displays to the next level and reach the top. Overall, they did a very good job as always!

The finale was also great and lengthy, but not powerful enough. It seems that people have forgotten the good old monstrous finales that would leave you trembling, like France 2005! The complaints again!

My rankings so far - rated from La Ronde:

1. England
2. Spain
3. Australia

J'ai trouvé que ce 4e spectacle de Foti à Montréal était très bon. Je suis cependant en accord avec certaines critiques qui ont été soulevées et je m'interroge sur ses chances d'accéder au podium.

Ma principale réserve réside dans la conception thématique générale du spectacle. Bien que la conception des tableaux auraient pu gagner en originalité (certaines séquences étaient un peu répétitives, des segments plus complexes auraient pu être imaginés), il m'a semblé que chacun des tableaux pris isolément les uns par rapport aux autres étaient excellents. Cependant, le fil conducteur était un peu mince. Le thème "Capteurs de rêves" étaient bien rendus dans certaines pièces musicales: dès le départ, avec "Pure Imagination", j'étais replongé dans l'atmosphère du feu "Wishes" présenté au Magic Kingdom de Disney World (vérification faite, seule la pièce "When You Wish Upon a Star" fait partie de "Wishes", mais il me semblait que l'esprit de Disney résonnait à plusieurs endroits dans ce feu dont le thème était familier avec les axes marketing privilégiés par la multinationale américaine du divertissement; heureusement, ce feu était d'une envergure bien plus grande que ceux plutôt convenus présentés soir après soir chez Disney). Il l'était cependant un peu moins avec d'autres pièces musicales (i.e.: Les Yeux ouverts) et, surtout, il était difficilement répercuté au plan visuel à travers la performance pyrotechnique. (À l'exception de quelques allusions faciles à des paroles, notamment les étoiles scintillantes sur "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" et les bombes en formes d'étoiles ou de coeurs sur "When You Wish Upon a Star".) La thématique était beaucoup plus évidente dans les feux précédents. Par contre, je peine à mesurer le poids véritable de cette considération et je ne suis pas certain que les membres du jury y accordent autant d'importance que moi, ce qui peut être une bonne nouvelle pour Foti!

Je tiens à souligner la qualité du matériel pyrotechnique. Il s'agissait d'un spectacle riche en couleurs. J'ai particulièrement été satisfait de retrouver les gâteaux en éventails (z-cake) de comètes électriques se terminant par une éclosion produisant des nuages d'étoiles très fines et multicolores sur les tableaux de "One Vision" et "Harry Potter". Je ne crois pas que nous ayons vu ce produit à Montréal depuis le dernier feu de Foti en 2006. On note aussi l'abondance de produits nautiques, souvent des fusées éclairantes ou des strobes qui finissaient par exploser près de l'eau. C'est le troisième feu consécutif où nous retrouvons cette forme de pièces nautiques (phase de flottaison avec luminosité suivie d'une éjection puis d'une explosion), précédemment beaucoup plus rares. Je note aussi la réalisation de diverses séquences semi-circulaires autour de la 4e rampe (lancement de comètes; éclosion de bombes d'étoiles), aux 7e et 9e tableaux. Un peu plus de diversité aurait cependant enrichi la performance.

Les pièces nautiques, combinées à d'autres pièces situées sur des plates-formes au centre du lac, ont permis de produire plusieurs effets de proximité, amplifiés par les vents qui soufflaient vers les gradins. (Oui, Trav, nous avons reçu des débris, de la poudre et beaucoup de fumée transportée rapidement vers les gradins avant qu'elle n'ait le temps de prendre un peu d'altitude pour passer au-dessus de nos têtes. Certaines personnes, peut-être incommodées par cette fumée intense, ont quitté les gradins avant la fin du spectacle. Personnellement, j'ai senti mes voies respiratoires légèrement affectées pendant la nuit.) On peut dire que l'espace a été assez bien utilisé. Le spectacle était dense (un trait caractéristique de Foti). Aucun problème technique n'est venu le perturber.

La synchronisation a été excellente du début à la fin. Il n'y a pas eu de séquence dont le synchronisme pouvait être aussi saisissant que dans le feu d'Igual, mais la relation rythmique entre le feu et la musique ne faisait pas de doute.

La firme australienne a-t-elle misé sur l'amnésie des spectateurs au moment d'atteindre la finale? En 2006, elle avait utilisé le même procédé consistant à remercier les spectateurs juste avant d'entreprendre le tableau ultime, laissant croire pendant un instant que le spectacle était déjà terminé. Pour ce faire, hier soir, Foti a utilisé à cette fin exactement la même narration qu'en 2009.

Mon évaluation:

Pièces pyrotechniques: 8,5 (+ pour couleurs et qualité des effets, - pour répétition)
Conception pyromusicale: 8,5 (thématique un peu fragile, tableaux peu complexes)
Conception technique: 9,0
Bande sonore: 9,0
Synchronisation: 8,5

Total: 43,5/50 (87,0%)

Mon classement:

1. Pirotécnia Igual
2. Pains Fireworks
3. Foti International Fireworks

Fred

Roger, je suis toujours heureux de lire les commentaires d'un autre participant francophone sur ce forum! Mais les lecteurs vont finir par s'interroger sérieusement sur le bon sens des anciens membres du jury si nos appréciations continuent de s'opposer d'une façon aussi remarquable!

Une autre ancienne membre du jury, croisée en fin de soirée, m'indiquait qu'elle classait elle aussi le spectacle de Foti au premier rang, mais plusieurs autres mentionnaient plutôt qu'il s'agissait de leur 3e choix. Je crois que cette diversité résulte en partie de la pondération différente que chacun accorde à diverses considérations (ex.: l'importance du thème) et que les critères généraux ne précisent pas à ce point. Une telle hétérogénéité peut permettre à un participant de se faufiler vers le podium, mais les deux premiers feux ont été excellents et il reste encore de bonnes pointures à venir...

Fred

That was a great show by foti... I was expecting their show to be more chaotic (in a bad way) before i watched it but surprisingly it was more organized unlike there 2006 show.

The music choice for this show was well done. I thought that most of them were enjoyable and were related to the theme one way or another. Most of the time the music flowed well but one or two of the transitions were too abrupt such as the transition between fantasy and the next song...

The products used were really good... There were some special yung feng shells somewhere in the show, called lantern shells they appear as a colorless shell then the color of the stars appears from one side of the sphere to the other... Really cool effect Although they were really nice to see, I was a bit disappointed with the nautical "shells", because when i saw the interview i thought that they would be large caliber nautical shells but it appears that they were just caked xD I think that they relied a bit too much on the fanned comets, crosettes, and mines....

The synchronization of the display was really well done.As i said earlier, the lower level effects relied too much on fanned effects and there was less use of one shots. Most of the time the shells were left hanging alone without any low level support. So far i think this show has been the widest show this season... the shells were exploding in different places in the sky. The synchronization of the shells to music was really well done, i think that in this show they mastered the shells synchronization more than the ground effects' synchronization.

Overall the show had enough interesting parts even though some of the segments felt long because of the same firing patterns and effects used. Some of my favorite segments were "its some kind of magic" and "magic" both of these segments showed really good synchronization The finale was well done, before the finale, the same narration was used in their 2006 show.

So far this is my ranking, the 2nd and 3rd places i had a hard time deciding on...
1 - Pirotecnia Igual
2 - Foti Fireworks
3 - Pains Fireworks

Vander

I find it very interesting to read these reviews and observe how appreciation for Foti's 2009 display varies a great deal. As you may have come to know, I place a great importance on 'theme' in a display. With that being said, I think my feelings about the display are quite obvious. The Foti family told Paul that they'd been crafting the "Dream Catcher" theme for approximately 3 years. It was meant to be a display about dreams, magic, fantasy and mystery; two days after having viewed the display, it is still a mystery to me what Foti was trying to accomplish.

Part of the disappointment I felt can be attributed to the fact that the display was mis-titled. It had nothing to do with the idea of a dream catcher. Dream catchers, as mentioned in the official press release, are a "Native North American object designed to protect its owner from nightmares." To properly present "Dream Catcher" Foti should have presented a dream threatened by the intrusion of nightmares - I think this would make for a fascinating display. Instead, they took the easy road, collecting songs that included buzzwords (dream, magic, etc.) or had a feeling of mystery about them and synchronized some fireworks to go with them. In a pyromusical competition of Montreal's calibre you need to do more than that - Foti knows better.

Many segments were also very simplistic for my tastes. Despite strong synchronization, the firing style and even use of products (ie. the fans of gold with colours at the peak) became repetitive early on in the show.

The finale, for what it is worth, was possibly my least favourite of the season so far. In terms of music, message, pacing and anything else redeeming, it was hollow. There was no use for it except as an excuse to close a fireworks display as is traditionally done. I know a lot of fireworks enthusiasts love big finales, ones that blow up the sky, but to quote Morrissey of the English punk/rock band The Smiths, "Hang the blessed DJ, because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life." Much in the same way, a big finale that has no message is just drivel... it's the electro-pop you hear in dance clubs.

On a positive note, even through what was, at times, thick smoke, it was apparent what wonderful product was being used. I was particularly in awe of the lime green observed mixed as part of a golden palm-shaped piece used in the earlier portion of the display. The nautical shells were a nice touch, as usual, really grounding segments and creating a beautiful image with the reflection of the lake - it seems to expand the canvas on which pyrotechnicians are working.

I wish there were another positive note that I could think of...

Alas, considering the mixed bag of reviews here on the forum, let me say that the International Des Feux that I come to observe each year would not have Australia reach the podium in 2009.

Bring on Hong Kong/China!

Tyler

Salut Fred


Ce forum est un peu à l'image d'un jury. M. Panzera disait justement que chacun regardait et appréciait un spectacle pyrotechnique à sa facon.
Que les opinions soient divergentes je suis à l,aise avec cà et quand on met tout cela ensemble ..cà peut donner un résultat somme toute assez exact.

Malheureusement mes jugements ne sont pas complets car je regarde les feux du pont. Même si je vois ce qui se passe sur toutes les rampes je sais que je manque bien des effets et je recois moins bien tous les "feelings" générés par le spectacle.

Je suis toutefois d'accord avec ton point de vue. Je crois que le meilleur est à venir.

Mes salutations Fred.

Roger