Hello everyone,

Please post your reviews/commentaries of the Italian display here.

Trav.

Jusqu'à ce soir à 22h00, mes impressions de la saison 2013 étaient plutôt défavorables, comparativement aux années précédentes. Aucune présentation jusqu'à ce soir n'a su vraiment m'emballer. En somme cette année, certains feux ont été "ordinaires" et d'autres quelque peu plus "enlevants". De façon certaine, l'année 2013 ne passera pas à l'histoire comme étant la meilleure des Feux de Montréal! J'ai même, à un certain moment, crains pour la réputation de Montréal, qui se veut une ville où la competition est féroce et de haut niveau.

Par contre, ce soir, l'Italie est venue me redonner espoir et en même temps, redorer le blason de Montréal, en nous en mettant plein les yeux et plein les oreilles pendant plus de 30 minutes!!! Un spectacle haut en intensité, vivacité, couleurs et en originalité. Après 10 minutes, j'étais conquis! Et que dire de la finale époustouflante qu'ils nous ont servi! La dernière fois que j'ai ressenti un tel état d'euphorie pendant une finale, c'était le 24 juillet 2010 quand Fireworks Spectacular du Canada (Alberta) est venu nous montrer son savoir-faire en spectacle pyrotechnique.

Bravo Italie.....BRAVO!!! Je vous déclare les champions et je vous offre le Jupiter d'or.....et ce, sans hésitation!

Pierre

That was one heck of a way to close out the 2013 competition!

While I feel that other shows this year may have gone for a bigger "bang", there was nothing even remotely comparable to the accuracy of Italy's timings. They handed tempo changes, rhythmic subdivisions, and even speeding up/slowing down of the music with razor-sharp precision, and it was incredibly impressive to see. The ring structures really added to the show, too, and didn't just feel like a gimmick.

At this point, I'd be really surprised if Italy didn't take the Gold Jupiter. My feelings for 2nd and 3rd are much more divided, though I wouldn't be shocked to see Spain, Croatia, or Canada amongst them.

That said, now's the part of the year where I'm all bummed out that the competition is over. It always seems to go by so quickly!

Well, it could very well be that Italy will take home three consecutive Jupiters, including two golds, providing that a gold is awarded to the Italian dual-company this year! Really, the show tonight was simply awesome, with virtually flawless choreography, exquisite colors, a multitude of exciting pieces, and a very good diversity of high-quality products! The sequences with the two ring structures were outstanding and, as mentioned by Duncan_S, added great depth to the display, especially considering its extensive use. The low-level firing angles also seemed to make good use of the firing site and were remarkably precise! Unlike many other displays this season, the Italian display was hardly monotonous and featured very diversified segments. Though the finale probably could have been a little more enduring and colorful, it was VERY enjoyable/powerful and easily oversees all conclusions of 2013!

And, as expected, many folks around me were, indeed, dancing/interacting with several musical selections!

Also just to note: the word "reviews" did not appear in the thread heading, likely because the heading length was too long.

I had a great night tonight (minus the traffic on the way back to the West Island), and tonight's display, coupled with beautiful Summer weather, was a dramatic way to bring the wonderful month of July to a close. Really, July and August are the fastest months of the year....

Trav.

And some footage that I'd like to share (taken from Notre-Dame street):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35HALlmdlU

Just to add to the above post, I thought that, for a few segments, a little more representation could have been given. At the same time, less/shorter narratives would have been great, and some appearances of nautical shells would have really been the icing on the cake for the display!

Trav.

And there was the biggest and best display this year! Italy had superb synchronization. The shells had immense power. The choice of music, dazzling and the finale, made me tremble. Sadly for work issues, I couldn't film the entire display. I will need to watch Bob's video to see the first half. But the other half I did see, was breath taking. Also, due to the crowd and no way of me to get a good shot, the video I took isn't superb. The finale was by far more powerful than any other show I've seen this year. It had too much in it. The one shots lit up everyones faces, and the noise lit up mine. I might be wrong, but those mortars on Ramp 2 seemed to be different and had a very different angle compared to the other set ups. Having said this, as brief as it is, Italy is taking the Gold, no doubt.

This was a rather disappointing year for the competition, but I digress, the conclusion was superb (not including Panzera). I will be there to watch Panzera's closing display, and with that, I will spend another 9 months in hibernation waiting to see the next display. Congratulations to team Italy!

Here's my video of the intense finale. The crowd went WILD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZSZTNV0QE&

1. Italy
2. Canada
3. Croatia

Pat

That was an excellent debut display from the Pyroemotions & Pyrodigit team, the ultimate contestant of the 2013 Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Perfect summer weather conditions, large crowd, a popular soundtrack on the Jukebox Memories theme, more than 10,000 pyrotechnic pieces across five firing ramps and special structures, and a record-breaking number of cues : I had great expectations for this Italian show and I was more than satisfied!

Those who haven’t taken a look at the numerous pictures posted on Pyrodigit Facebook page should do it, in order to appreciate the particular setup of this display. Two massive sets of 20 vertical slices, each slice including 30 pieces, were installed 40m above the ground thanks to two lifts. Two sets of fans were also installed above each set of slices. Furthermore, 11 elevated firing positions were supported along the third ramp. These particular structures actually upgraded the quality of technical design as they create opportunities to launch fireworks in some innovative ways. While I can deplore the absence of nautical products, these structures helped to make the most of the firing area.

The carefully edited soundtrack was made of 24 segments, some of them being records from live performances, with recorded audience raving reactions. That was the case for specific segments where pyromusical design had been crafted to build enthusiasm among the actual audience, like the finale. I guess it is a strategy to generate or amplify reactions, and that was effective tonight. A narrative – always heard with music on background, as some pyros lit up, flew or bursted – introduced the theme and emphasized the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s parts of the show. Some words were sometimes difficult to understand, but I didn’t find the narrative too long, especially given the fact that pyrotechnic performance was not interrupted.

I think the Italian team used pyrotechnic products of high quality. We saw countless shells combining different effects, as well as change of colours : shells of kaleidoscope with pistils, shells of crossing go-getters, Saturn shells with colour-changing pistils (in the centre of the planet), multibreak shells of tourbillons, meteor-headed comets whose head changed of colour and bursted into crossettes, 4-colour shells (one colour per quarter) with pistils, shells of double ring with crackling pistils, colour-changing mines, etc. I was impressed by the quantity of changing-colour products, as well as by the richness and vividness of the colours. However, some products were repetitive, especially the one-shot comets with a bunch of stars appearing at the mid-point of the comet trail.

More serene segments would have been interesting (and critical whether Mother Nature would haven’t supply enough wind to move the smoke away) and, likely, would have contributed to broaden the range of products. The beginning (and only the beginning) of the Hey Jude and Without you segments were the rare serene parts of the extravaganza. Some people said, following the show, that it reminded the Swedish display in 2010 : that is true for the soundtrack, but the design was completely different because Göteborgs Fyrverkeri had more fine, sophisticated segments which slowed down the display and provided different sort of emotions to the audience. The pace of the Italian display was breathtaking, even more intense than with the show performed by Morsani in 2011.

Synchronization was absolutely perfect throughout the display, which lasted 33 minutes 35 seconds. It was clean-cut, note-synchronized. The only incongruity I remember are the large shells during the opening narratives, but I am sure that most viewers don’t remember that.

The pyromusical design was also a prominent component of the show. The elevated structures were very effective, allowing to add several outstanding sequences, reminding me the Grupo Luso ring in 2002. But this time, we had two rings, allowing great combinations between them. The very first pyrotechnic products to be launched tonight (thanks God, at exactly 10pm) were from these rings, which were involved into several segments, before disappearing for a couple of minutes, so they were not used too often through the show. It was also a great idea to shoot comets from fans installed at the top of each lift : we usually see these fans shooting from the ground, so it was enjoyable to watch a fan of comets appearing 40 meters above the ground! Elevated (about 3m) firing positions along the third ramp, while much closer to the ground than slices attached to the lifts, were also very effective, especially to shoot mines horizontally. I also liked some massive comets, cakes and mines which erupted from the fifth ramp : the size of these effects and proximity to the audience created some dramatic sequences. The finale was absolutely breathtaking.

With close to 10,100 pieces, I think that show was the largest one since the performance of Grupo Luso Pirotécnia in 2008. While it may have been improved with some nautical products, and more fine and serene segments, it was an excellent one, deserving good grades for all criteria.

My final ranking:

1. Pyroemotions & Pyrodigit Team (Italy)
2. Zaragozana (Spain)
3. Garden City Display Fireworks (Canada)
4. Mirnovek Pirotehnika (Croatia)
5. Merlin Fireworks (England)
6. Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics (United States)
7. Fireworks by Ian Riedle (Australia)
* Vulcan Fireworks (Hong Kong)

My final comments on the 2013 season and jury prediction will be posted soon.

Fred

I have posted the video of the Italy show here: http://www.burchcom.com/2013/italy.html

For those who want to download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... http://www.burchcom.com/2013/2013italy.mp4

The file size is 1.4 GB

Bob

Excellent video as always burchcom, thank you many times!

Cogratulations to Italy on a Gold Jupiter!

That has to be one of the best displays i've seen from the competition! The phase was just excellent throughout the show. The show was somehow what I already expected but I would not say that they surpassed my expectations. Most of the song choices were popular and definitely lifted up the mood of the show. There were some parts where the music cuts could have been much smoother but overall the soundtrack was well done. I was disappointed that there was not much Scarpato shells, most of them looked like chinese martarello shells which was a shame because Scarpato's shells seem much more brighter and intense in colors and ofcourse it's always nice to see shells made somewhere else other than China. But it is understandable that they had to cut costs one way or another. The single shots which was definitely the highlight of the show was well done. The effects were very nice with a lot of double layered starmines and the colors looked bright, definitely italian made The roman candles could have been of better quality. Technically, the show was very very impressive! with only a few minor mistakes, the only major mistake i saw was probably the module that had single shots firing to the left instead of right. More variation in the firing pattern would have been welcomed but that's being a bit nitpicky. The finale was very amazing, havent seen one that good since maybe pyrotecnico This show was a massive success and it almost beat my all time favorite show in montreal which is Ricasa's 2005 show. Glad they showed Montreal what they're known for and should they win the gold jupiter, they need to be invited for next year's competition right away!

Best Regards,
Vander

Wow!!!!!!! Un vrai délice pyrotechnique. Sans contredit le Jupiter d'or et par une bonne marge.
J'ai trippé pendant 30 minutes. Une performance exceptionnelle de cette nouvelle firme à Montréal.

Roger

EXCELLENT show, one of the best displays I've seen in a long time! Everything about it was awesome! Synchronization was flawless and very well done. Loved those two ring-like features. And finally, we got to see a REAL finale, although I agree with Smoke, it should've been longer. Definitely one of the best finales since France 2005. Hope to see a Panzera 2003 finale for this Saturday's display!

My 2013 rankings:

1. Italy
2. Croatia
3. Canada
4. United States
5. England
6. Spain
7. Australia
8. China

burchcom, would you mind telling us how far form the fireworks you are when you are filming? Also be great to know which camera and lense you are using.

Thanks

My report on this bound-to-be-Gold-Jupiter-winning display: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=817

Shrapnel: Bob's camera is 170m from ramp 3 in silver section 304 row K. I don't recall what type of camera it is.

Paul.

Thank you Paul. We are shooting a show in China at the ISF in October and the distance from the pyro to the spectators is 700m! I am trying to get perspective on different products at that distance and watching lots of video from the massive Orange Island site.

shrapnel, I am using a Sony DSC-HX9V (cybershot family)

The original files are .MTS files - that's 1920 x 1080 pixels. @60 f/sec

Half an hour uses 6.6 GB of memory card.

This camera automatically splits a file, so for each camera start there are two files.

I do one restart about 15 minutes in so there are 4 files.

I use Roxio video editor at home to reunite the 4 files and output it as .mp4 30 f/sec - same resolution. This reduces the final file size from 6.6 to about 1.3 GB.

My plan, however, is to get a GO-PRO camera soon and use this. Slightly wider field but it is a fixed lens.

Just to note that I did not write a review here for the Italian display, as I feel that I included everything that I wanted to state about the show in the prediction thread (and briefly in my post above).

Generally speaking, my sentiments echo what everyone had mentioned here. The show was a true pyromusical that comprised of many exciting segments, dazzling colors/color transitions, quality effects, and an unbelievable degree of precision, especially with the one-shots at low-level and, of course, from the two ring-like structures. My only negative points were that there could have been, as some have already expressed, one or two more serene moments, and narratives needed to be much shorter, as I found them somewhat disruptive, mostly when present for the opening (the narrative at the opening virtually occupied the entire soundtrack, making it difficult to enjoy the music). Some occasional repetition, but it was not nearly as prevalent as the redundancy exploited by many other displays this season.

Trav.