does Mondial Saq (or another other major fireworks companies) put a limit on how much light and sound there can be in a display (usally in the ending)

i was wondering is there an effect on the eyes if u put a huge huge amount of light in the skies?

and the audio, if theres a very very huge sound (like the one in 1995 i think, the USA display at the end that Paul said and also Smoke for France) is theres an effect in the ears? how about if u double that amount of sound or triple? r u allowd and is it ok for ure ears?

im asking this question but we did an experince in Science Physique, we burn 2 times du magnesium (which is used in fireworks) my teacher said not to fix our eyes on the magnesium when we light it up cuz it can kill some cellules in our eyes/retine whatever

i know that we r near the thing but is it the same for fireworks?

There is a limit to the amount of chemical that can be put into a sound shell, which I think is 75g according to NFPA 1123. I don't have a copy in front of me to double check. In Canada the maximum size sound shell that can be used is 4" (100mm). But for the SAQ, the rules are different for the size.

Otherwise, a company putting on a display can fire as many sound shells in the air that they want. There is nothing in any Canadian display manuals or NFPA 1123 that indicates this.

When I visited the PGI convention in Gillette, Wyoming this year, watching some of the home-made sound shells burst in the air, you would see spots. After a day you would not watch this shells burst, it was too hard on the eyes.

Did you find it the same way Paul when you attended 2 years ago?

Sean

I've never been to a PGI convention!

As for limits in Montreal, I've seen salutes used containing 900g of flash - I think they were 6" cylinder shells, but could have been 8" perhaps. They were very loud as you might imagine. As for other limits, really the limit is the amount of time available for setup. It's difficult to do shows with more than 5000 shells in Montreal. As for number of cues, the Pyrospectaculars show 2 years ago had around 7600.

Cheers,

Paul.

I'm sorry Paul, my mistake. I thought I read that you have been to the PGI Convention. Now that I think about it, it was Clint Busuttil that went two years ago. Sorry.

As for the 75g, I was referring to regarding the sound shell, I'm not sure. I'll have to look that up.

The sound shells they were firing at the PGI were 6" "Peanut Shells". They looked like huge salami's flying into the air.

The Pyrospectaculars show you are refering to, is that the show with the dancing gerbs synchronized to the Lord of the Dance?

Sean

Hi Sean,

I think the 75g limit is for 3" salutes ... though as you know, the rules are somewhat different at the Mondial SAQ.

You're right, the Pyrospectaculars show did include that Lord of the Dance segment, choregraphed by Alberto Navarro and it used 1110 cues in 45 seconds!! Fabulous wasn't it?!

Paul.

Paul,

I think your right, I know that I have read 75g and sound shell in the same sentence before.

Unfortunately, I have never witnessed a Monidal SAQ show, I just read your reports regularly. Plus friends of mine were at the show.

Mr. Navarro was representing the USA at a competition in Hong Kong this past October. I was there helping in the Hong Kong team with their entry. Italy(Panzera)ended up winning the competition. Their product is just plain beautiful.

Have you had a chance to see the new Visual ShowDirector? I'm dying to see it. I heard that Mr. Navarro had a copy at the syposium.

Sean

i dunno what u guys r talking about

but Paul when u say: "really the limit is the amount of time available for setup"

what u mean exactly?

Yeah, I'm a little confused about what you guys are talking about.

Anyway Paul, is there a limit in how much intensity should be used in an ending or is it ok to go all out with what they got? To be more specific, is there a limit in the capacity of fireworks used in an ending or is there a restriction that allows you to go so much? I fine that interesting. I hope there is no limit, to tell you the truth! lol!

Trav.

There's several issues which limit the size of a display in Montreal. Firstly, there's the container in which the fireworks are shipped - this can only hold so much! Secondly, there is the time it takes to set up all the mortars etc. on the actual site in the time available - there's 2 days for fusing and pre-mounting and 3 days out on the ramps actually setting up.

In a display, a company could, if they wanted to set everything off all at once - but that wouldn't make a good display. So there has to be a balance between the finale and the rest of the show. It could be that 25% of the total number of shells fired are in the finale. But care has to be taken that this is in proportion to the rest of the display. Also, sheer volume of shells fired is not always the best indicator of the visual and aural impression such a barrage gives. Tools like Alberto's visualization software can help in this regard. Alberto did a fabulous demo of this software at the Symposium. Even the "amateur" version, PyroCreator, is very impressive since it uses the same particle animation engine that the pro tool uses. I have a copy of this and have had a lot of fun designing displays with it. More info can by found at http://pyroinfinity.tv

Anyway, back to the topic. There are practical limits to what can be fired in Montreal which are really dictated by the time needed to set up the display, not really by any rules on the loudness or brightness of a finale. The only other limit is that no shells of larger calibre than 12 inches can be used.

Paul.

Thanks for the info, Paul.

Just out of curiosity, but you remember the faux finale and the real finale of Spain in 2001, right? Well what I want to know is how many salutes or titanium salutes were actually fired, I mean an estimation? That would be neat to know!

One more thing, what do you think we would do if all the endings were like that? That would be insane and intense! I think people would have a heart attack!

Regards,

Trav.

I'm not sure how many were fired. But I did a quick calculation for Panzera's finale this year. At the end, there were 51 ten-shot salute candles, each firing five salutes at once. That means there were around 2500 salutes fired in just over 6 seconds ... and that was just from the candles, never mind all the hundreds of salutes fired from shells!

In Atlas's finale, right at the end there were 300 4" salutes fired in a fraction of a second.

Paul.

Are you serious? 2500 salutes in 6 seconds??? That's crazy! So that means there must have been over 2500 salutes for Spain in 2001 in their finale! There was also quite a bit in the faux finale, I don't know if you remember, but there was a lot being fired, not to mention other shells being fired a while all that was going on!

They really did it that time! That's why I'm hoping they'll come back next year and do it again. That was Pirotechnia Igual! Imagine an ending like that, that goes on for 3+minutes? That would something else!

Trav.