Hello everyone,

Please share your reviews/comments for the Mexican display here!

Trav.

Hi. Long time follower of the forums and this will be my first comment/reaction for a competition show. I'm really glad that the
festival is really back and I'm somehow amazed that event is in full
swing given what is currently happening around the globe...anyway here is my review after seeing mylene salvas's facebook livestream earlier...

Sirius Mexico's first Montreal show is unfortunately awful. There were so many mistakes that the display becomes chaotic most of the time. The only proper single shot sequence I remember is the run boy run segment. All the rest were just too error laden. Most effects were too repetitive or were just mixed all at once making the rather decent effects arsenal look like it had less variety. There were sooo many shells that exploded on their mortars on the right most position - probably the most flowerpot shells I've ever seen in a fireworks display. The Finale felt like it was screaming "sh***t! We're screwed...Sorry".

Unfortunate it is but this is probably the weakest Montreal show I've seen in video on Montreal Competition in the recent years, and I don't remember any recent entrants show to this aweful.

melvin

I normally start my reviews with a qualifier of the display, typically “good,” “very good,” “excellent,” and sometimes “outstanding.” Tonight, a different adjective came to my mind: mysterious. Fifteen years and two days after the previous Mexican show in the competition history (“Chocolate”, Lux Pirotecnia, July 7, 2007), I found this one below the average on a number of criteria. Assigned to Sirius Pyrotechnics of Mexico, 100th entrant in the Montreal International Fireworks Competition since its beginning in 1985 (a milestone which went unnoticed), the show had intriguing theme and soundtrack.

I found the concept “Bells and Drums” attractive. The descriptive emphasized the Sunday processions and parades, with church bells, cymbals and drums. I thought that it is an uncommon theme to start with, to develop some kind of storyline, and to create vibrant visual effects (I had imagined some bell-shaped shells...). The show had a promising start with atmospheric strobes across the firing area and well-synchronized mines and comets, on the famous Bells of Notre Dame. As we moved to the second segment on the Muppets’ Ringing of the Bells, a cake of whistles suddenly erupted on the right side of one of the main ramps. At first, I suspected this disruption to be a concept surrounding the Muppets’ style! Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case : there were a lot of asymmetries, as well as parts where pyrotechnic devices were mixed in a pretty chaotic way. Generally speaking, the design appeared to be disorganized. Furthermore, I was surprised by the large number of shells which blew up close to the ground.

The theme also allowed for an original choice of musics. Indeed, the bells and other percussions were prominent in the soundtrack, with a variety of interpretations of Carol of the Bells. However, I soon realized that some musics listed by La Ronde in its official communication were played in a different order during the show. For instance, the Muppets’ performance played in the second tableau whereas it was listed to be in the third one. I think the 10-piece soundtrack could have been improved with more editing. Moreover, I don't really like when live performance with applauses are part of a soundtrack: it fuels the illusion of an actual reaction from the audience and I don't appreciate such fake perceptions.

The list of musics also revealed a very odd pyromusical choice : whereas AC/DC’s Hells Bells was the background of the penultimate segment – which were very active and loud, ending with a large number of salutes – the Luis Marino’s Chanteur de Mexico was the last part. I had imagined AC/DC’s song was going to be the actual finale, followed only by the famous Mexico lyrics at the very end. That was not the case and it led to an anti-climactic finale.

On the technical side, the show was mostly displayed from ramps 1, 2, and 3. There were no pontoons in the centre of the lake. A carpet of nautical flares came into life on the lake around the midpoint of the performance; that was the one and only appeareance of nautical products. That being said, the size of the show was more impressing than what I had perceived from a public area close to the ramps, around the ferris wheel.

I was not very excited by a large part of the material used during this show. Many of the shells, comets, mines and other products were not particularly bright, they had few or no colour changes, and they did not create complex shapes or effects. I did not see a single bell-shaped shell! However the synchronization of this material with the musics was generally very good, with many note-synchronized sequences.

A such outcome in the Montreal International Fireworks Competition is rare, and I don’t expect to see this contestant on the podium this year. Furthermore, I noticed that only four crew members were introduced to the audience during the ceremony (while a fifth appeared in the Salon des artificiers for the photograph). None of them was introduced as the designer of the show : there were one “chief pyrotechnician” and three “pyrotechnicians” (I quote the speaker) – the last one had been a member of the GFA Pyro team for the opening show last week. When the crew entered the Salon des artificiers after the display, the speaker introduced “the pyrotechnicians of tonight show” without the name of the 100th entrant. It appears to me that something has happened behind the scenes, but it is very difficult to clarify what.

That was definitely a mysterious night.

Fred

It's been three years since the last competition show in Montreal, I'm really happy the competition is back. And very happy to have the videos in HD in the forum since I couldn't come to Montreal this season.

That said, I really hope this show is not an indicative of what is still to come this season. I'll try to be benevolent, but its hard to be indulgent when the show had so many problems in so many points.

Lets start with the best; the soundtrack. Recognizable yet not too tacky or plain, a good range of styles and genres. The bells sounds here and there were appreciated to give a more cohesive theme appearence. Althought the last song choice was from my point of view a mistake being anticlimatic after the ACDC one. Maybe the problem wasn't the song but the lack of force and power in the finale, I couldn't tell.

On the negative side I couldn't put the accent on one aspect only. Show design, material and most probably the set up were all part of the problem.

Material looked plain, very repetitive with no complexity. I can't remember a show in Montreal were so many shells were breaking on the ground.

The show was too messy considering its simple design, suggesting the main problem was the set up and not only the design. Most of the patterns were super simple, right to left, left to right and some angles on the single shots yet they couldnt make it clean. When material is poor and the set up is poor its quite impossible to get a proper show. And last night was an example of that. The show was so awkward at times its hard to tell if the problem was that some shells were not firing or the design was simply non existant. For example, I'm not sure if the finale was designed like this or if they had technical/material issues and thats why most of the time there is only one or two shells breaking while the song is playing. One of the most anticlimatoc finales I remember.

Overall I'm quite disappointed that this is the first show in years, but I'm sure the ones comming will be much better. I really dont know how the high inflations rates will impact the competition and I really hope this show is not an indicative of what is still to come.


Ps: I find it funny how the designer of last night show is yet unknown. If it was me I wouldnt reveal my identity either haha

Ps: I find it funny how the designer of last night show is yet unknown. If it was me I wouldnt reveal my identity either haha

As per my interview, the designer was Patrick Brault - I just didn't see him at the ramps when I did the interview. As far as I know, the finale fired perfectly as designed. A bizarre choice IMHO.

My report is here: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=1680

Very unlikely to be on the podium.

For a third consecutive display day, dry and pleasant conditions graced this region. Indeed, the temperature during display time faithfully clung to the 20 C threshold, and with low humidity. Winds, however, were largely in the form of light WNW, causing the smoke to blow towards left-hand and central sections of the on-site audience (at times, narrowly capturing right-hand sections). This then created a hazy/murky appearance for the display when accumulations of smoke became more abundant during notably active sections. Fortunately, wind speeds were marginally suitable to clear some of the smoke at times, and the low humidity prevented the display from being potentially almost completely unseen.

The Mexican display, represented by Sirius Pyrotechnics, was, overall, quite entertaining in the sense that it brought with it many sequences of higher activity by using many fairly rapid bursts of shells. The segment that had featured cakes and mines also captivated the audience when they did appear. Together, this often kept the audience engaged as the show progressed, even though it soon became clear that the range of effects used would evidently be quite limited. Apart from the concluding minutes of the display following what appeared to be the faux finale, the final 33% of the display was the most enjoyable for me with its more energetic demeanor. Another aspect that I enjoyed from time to time was some of the musical selections used to showcase the theme of “Bells and Drums”, as we often heard the sound ringing of bells and the beating of drums, under a variety of forms, from one segment to the next in the music.

On the technical side, as already articulated in the previous reviews, the display was significantly flawed under several respects. In particular, the design was loosely structured and appeared to, unfortunately, have no distinct connection to the thematic premise governing this particular show. Of course, a strong thematic connection, as we have seen, is not always necessary to stand out, but there were other aspects of this show that very much made it unclear as to what was being portrayed through the pyrotechnics. Once previously becoming more familiar with the cultural aspects that this display intended to illustrate before the audience, I quickly envisioned much promise to visually demonstrate what this concept could look like. Being a fan of (relatively) dichotomous themes, I was eagerly awaiting a show that could effectively (and creatively) separate the elements of bells and drums in such a way that would evoke the correct range of emotion. Sadly, I did not feel emotionally drawn to the display, for there were too many moments of redundant firing patterns from one sequence to the next. To that end, even though most of the soundtrack selection used to enforce the theme was, indeed, relevant, the choice of effects and firing style prevented the right type of representation and transitions that would otherwise probably be expected from a theme not unlike this one. The transitions themselves frequently were unclean, where the pyrotechnics would continue after the music would terminate. It was also an enigma as to some of the songs utilized – in particular, the opening songs and that of the finale seemed random.

Related to the above-mentioned points, the display also was not always visually robust. It struck me that the range of effects, as specified previously, was surprisingly reserved for such a conceptual design, as was the palette of colors chosen. The vibrancy of the effects was also generally limited, and so the colors and effects used lacked richness and quality. Although our vantage point was not affected by the smoke, and despite the low humidity present, the color richness still appeared to be quite restricted. This was further not helped by the often-adopted rudimentary firing patterns. As well, there many periods of asymmetry along notably low-level, where the firing position to the left (our left) would mostly come to life without any support towards the center and right-hand side (and perhaps other positions in between). Such a problem became apparent early in the show, but I was hoping that the opening would be the only piece that would suffer from this issue.

The finale itself was, for me, among the most disappointing attributes of the display, especially after seeing a strong penultimate piece and, thus, missing out on an opportunity to really capture our hearts during those dying minutes. As everyone had pointed out already, this created a powerful anti-climactic feeling and a deep sense of emptiness as we desperately waited for something more to happen.

Overall, this was a display that entertained, and the audience seemed to enjoy much of what the show had to offer. I personally enjoyed the abundance of shells during several segments, as well as at least some interesting firing patterns distributed along low-altitude. However, the lack of color richness, excessive periods of asymmetry, and a lack of a more complex exploration of a theme like this really affected my ability to take the degree of enjoyment to the next stage. In particular, the finale really disappointed, not just for the lack of intensity that we would come to expect, but also that its approach seemed haphazard.

All that said, I hope to see a much stronger delivery from Sirius Pyrotechnics in future participations at this competition!

Trav.