April 2012 Blind Nightmare Pyromusical

[Rare_Breed]

New here and thought I'd share the show I shot a few weeks ago with you. It didn't go off exactly as scripted, lost 1 of the firing modules but it still turned out decent. Hope you enjoy ;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqBQREbVpv4

[indianahx]

Loved the Korn opening! Who is "you" that you shot this show with a few weeks ago? Welcome to the forums, and thanks for sharing the video.

[Rare_Breed]

Loved the Korn opening! Who is "you" that you shot this show with a few weeks ago? Welcome to the forums, and thanks for sharing the video.

LOL, guess my wording wasn't the greatest.

Thought I'd share a show with you that I shot a few weeks ago.

The show was choreographed and funded by me. I obviously had a lot of help setting it up, a show this size takes an enormous effort.

I didn't think it was bad for my first try, hopefully I can improve next time around.

[nrubmx]

thats an awesome show!

[Rare_Breed]

thats an awesome show!

Thank you ;)

Don't know when I'll be able to put together another big production like that again, but I look forward to doing it again some time. I'd like to think that maybe Mid Atlantic Fireworks Festival Nov 2013 will be my next big endeavor by myself. That is definitely the premier stage to perform on for the east coast. Pretty cool to perform in front of over 2000 people and to have CNN there was cool too.

I hope to shoot a pyro musical for the 4th this year too, but nothing on the scale of my MAFF show. Won't be nearly as intricate but if I can get everything together it won't be your normal backyard show.

Thanks again for the compliments, even if it's only 2 of em. I was hoping to get Dave's opinion, I know he's witnessed a lot of shows. It'd be nice to hear what he thought about a normal guy trying to put together a show of a lifetime. I know my show was nothing compared to the big budget productions shot by large display companies but considering this show was choreographed, funded, and set up by a commercial electrician (fancy name for construction worker)... I thought it was decent for my first attempt.

cheers!!!

[VTcakeBOSS]

GREAT SHOW MAN!! For your first Musical you must have a musical background... that was really well scripted korn intro was doooope.... Love the way you put it together and would love to see your 2013 show in person or even help setup... I gotta join some clubs this whole doing my own thing thing isn't as much fun as I could be having!:cool:

Im sure if dave saw this he would love it you did a great job aside from modules not working thats just something you couldnt fix at the time... BRAVO!!

[mrmikemartin]

This was all done with consumer fireworks? What did you use for the salutes? I have never seen those in consumer. BTW... I loved the video. Great show!

[VTcakeBOSS]

Im guessing he used 1.75" salutes and a few baby B cakes... no question this not consumer specific but it is however in the consumer section :-)

[Rare_Breed]

This was all done with consumer fireworks? What did you use for the salutes? I have never seen those in consumer. BTW... I loved the video. Great show!

The show was primarily consumer product but there was some 1.3 in it, there was 2.5" salutes, 2.5" ground salutes, 30 4" white strobing peony's and 4 6" white strobe peony's in the first song. The second song contained 4 5" Red Kamuro Chrys (not caught on video, broke above the frame), and a bunch of 2.5, 3, 4, & 6" Nishiki Kamuro Niagara Falls. All that might sound like alot but that made up a very small portion of the show. The reason it's posted in this particular forum is cause that's where Dave wanted it posted. I described the show and asked where to put it since there isn't a "show gallery" type section which would cover shows using both C and B product.

Thanks for the compliment ;)

VT, if your ever at MAFF look me up. I'll be easy to find... I'm the ugly fat guy with a strong southern drawl ;) Thanks for the compliment!!!

[displayfireworks1]

It looks like you had a large audience for this display, that is always nice. The timing on some of those firing was pretty exact. If this is one of your first efforts, you did a good job. This is a great post; I wish more people would post videos of their displays. Thanks

[Rare_Breed]

Thanks Dave, that was indeed my first attempt at a pyromusical and only the 3rd time that I had used the firing system. The other 2 times I used it I didn't do anything special. First time was to try it out, some comet sequences and a few shells. The second time was a 4 minute New Years show and I use the word show very loosely there... lol no music just went one cake after another, had some nice mine to break shells racked in a V cued in pairs and Finale racks (145 excals in 10 seconds or less). I scripted it in less than an hour... that pretty much tells the tale. Having my own firing system that can manual fire, step fire, semi auto fire and full auto computer fire... I had to try it out.

I spent 4 months choreographing this show, I'd spend literally hours on a sequence getting it as exact as I could and playing with different angles. I'd work all weekend on a 30 second segment. My 13 yr old son would watch me at the computer for hours then I'd call him over to show him my progress and he'd just shake his head saying the only thing different is those comets... lol Now he's scripting shows and does the same thing, brings me his laptop to show off his new sequence or segment and I know he worked all day getting it just right.

As for the size of the crowd, it's a pretty amazing feeling to see 30 acres of parked cars (not visible in the video) and to know that well over 2000 people are there watching and CNN is filming. For lil ol me to be allowed to step on that stage is what makes MAFF so special, I can't think of any other way to get that kind of exposure. Like I said earlier, I don't know when I'll be able to afford a show of that size again but I sure do look forward to that day. Sitting on the sidelines and watching is cool but there's nothing like getting out on the field and being a part of the game.

I've got a decent script started for the 4th, if I can get everything I need to shoot the show I'll have another video to share real soon. Won't be as grand as this show but it'll be decent.

And I agree, post up some vids!!! Don't shoot without a camera rolling, I've done it and I regret it.

[brian_peterson]

How many cues on your firing system did you need? Also what was the approx cost of the Pyro? I always wanted to do a Pyro musical but always felt it was out of reach! Sweet show!

[Rare_Breed]

I used 11 32 cue modules with chainable slats, without chainable slats it would have taken 27 32 cue modules. It would have taken 61 18 cue modules to fire the show according to Finale Fireworks Software which is what was used to script/choreograph the show.

Cue count is imo the most over used term out there. Unless your firing from one position, module count is much more relevant. I had 6 main positions and 20 positions for the mine wall.

The way I set the show up, one module could fire the same cue across 5 positions thru cables and chainable slats. Anytime you see more than one device firing at the same time from multiple positions, that was 1 cue from 1 module. ie when you see 5 mines pop at the beginning of Nightmare, that was 1 cue on 1 module, not 5 unique cues on 5 different modules. This can only be done using a system with external slats and chainable slats. That 1 cue for me would have been 5 cues for most, so depending on how a show is set up determines what the "cue count" would be and it would also determine how accurate of a description that "cue count" would be. Setting a show up the way I did was a ton of work, some would say it's insane... but I don't see them shooting shows like this either, simply because who can afford 27 professional digital fire modules? Not very many of us. I know I can't.

All the class C product was bought wholesale, total cost of all product including matches was over 3 grand. That's not counting the firing system itself. I own 6 of the 11 modules that were used in my show, hoping to have 10 by the end of the year.

IMO, if your going to buy a system... don't invest a penny on a system that won't do what you know your wanting to do. Don't settle with something else for now, that's just wasting money. Find a system that does everything you want to do, even if that means you'll only have 32 cues the first year before you can build up the amount of modules, you'll be far better off slowly collecting modules than you will if you settle for something a little bit cheaper that your not going to be happy with in the long run. Regardless which system you buy, to have enough cues to be able to really do anything your going to have A LOT of money invested in it. Don't invest in something that your not going to be happy with in a couple years. There are affordable digital firing systems out there for us hobbyists, you just have to do your research. If you hope to shoot a pyromusical one day, make sure your system can do more than just fire a script with one button, make sure it has the capability to SYNCHRONIZE the cues with the music. Nothing worse than spending all that time and money only to watch the show firing out of sync and there's nothing you can do about it. Finding a system that offers the most flexibility is also important imo, some are very flexible while some are painfully limiting. Research is key, it's a lot of money to spend so do your homework.