My 2017 4th of July Video

[Bazerk]

well its finally done but its far from perfect. I had a couple people help me with the wiring and that is why 120 3in shells decided to take flight 2 minutes before the finale. I also had a match not fire mid show which caused a 1:12 delay in the middle of the show. My drone operators didnt get their cameras in frame for the first 3 mins of the show and I forgot to hit record on my GoPro. I was not happy, but in the end, the crowd still enjoyed the hell out of the show. I learned a lot and will apply what I learned to next years show. Let me know what you think.


https://youtu.be/qgMveezbT7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgMveezbT7A&feature=youtu.be

[WithReport]

Very impressive. The earlier tease video was a show in itself.

I really like the continuous editing of all the various cameras (I like the ground zero footage and noise just as much as the reports) - nice job. Was this all done in Adobe Premier Pro as mentioned in your teaser post?


The flaming cakes at the end are a nice touch.


At 24:57 there is a ground zero shot that looks to be a milk crate rack with 25 DR11 tubes and shells with slow green visco leads (Maybe the same milk crate at the intro and teaser at 00:03). What was used to fuse them all together; e.g., quick match, fast visco, etc? My 1.4G show had a bunch of mortars fused with quick visco at a few points. A disappointing percentage didn't ignite - although only I noticed. You seemed to get everything skyward. Curios what I could do better next time.

[Bazerk]

Very impressive. The earlier tease video was a show in itself.

I really like the continuous editing of all the various cameras (I like the ground zero footage and noise just as much as the reports) - nice job. Was this all done in Adobe Premier Pro as mentioned in your teaser post?


The flaming cakes at the end are a nice touch.


At 24:57 there is a ground zero shot that looks to be a milk crate rack with 25 DR11 tubes and shells with slow green visco leads (Maybe the same milk crate at the intro and teaser at 00:03). What was used to fuse them all together; e.g., quick match, fast visco, etc? My 1.4G show had a bunch of mortars fused with quick visco at a few points. A disappointing percentage didn't ignite - although only I noticed. You seemed to get everything skyward. Curios what I could do better next time.

You are very observant. I made sure to include certain elements in the teaser that you would also see again in the final cut. You picked up on the subtleties perfectly. To answer your question, yes this was all done in premiere pro. We bunched up as close to 10 at a time as we could. We zip tied them so they would stay together. Then we took quickmatch and exposed 6inches or so of it by removing the paper. We the. Wrapped the quickmatch around the trunks of visco and then taped it. Then I was able to put an electric match in the ends of the quickmatch in order to ignite everything. As for doing better....I will take better car in getting the video equipment framed properly. I will wire everything myself next time to ensure the finale goes when it's supposed to and I will chain my 3s differently in order to spread them out a lot more through the show. Overall, I think I M the only one who was disappointed and that's because I am the only one who knew what went wrong. Either way, I will improve and put on a much better show next year.

[WithReport]

We bunched up as close to 10 at a time as we could. We zip tied them so they would stay together. Then we took quickmatch and exposed 6inches or so of it by removing the paper. We the. Wrapped the quickmatch around the trunks of visco and then taped it. Then I was able to put an electric match in the ends of the quickmatch in order to ignite everything.

I will wire everything myself next time to ensure the finale goes when it's supposed to

I will chain my 3s differently in order to spread them out a lot more through the show.

Overall, I think I M the only one who was disappointed and that's because I am the only one who knew what went wrong. Either way, I will improve and put on a much better show next year.


Thanks for the response. I'll have to try that approach to fusing a bunch of tubes together. I'd be using 1.4 quick match and MJG initiators - as I did this year, but I'll try your approach in exposing the black match and wrapping it around bundles of visco.

My show was much smaller, but I went an bought a DYNAMO labeler and labeled everything by module and cue - cakes, racks, and ends of wire. This took a lot of extra time, but it allowed a much quicker setup time. We loaded and unloaded everything by position/module so it also provided a check that we had everything. I stayed up all night labeling everything. It paid off in the set up. I had someone else help me, but any mistake was on me as long as he followed my labeling.

I needed to fan out my items too - my finale was mostly straight up - big dynamic sky puke! That is on my list for improvements next time.

You should be very pleased with what you put together. I'm glad you posted it for everyone to see. I'm quite impressed - show, filming, and editing. The designer (you) will be the one that finds the areas for improvement. I have a few disappointments in mine, but the crowed still loved it.

[djsmurf]

I read comments before watching and I can assure you that you are the only one disappointed. Heck of a show man! I think we all learn and hope to improve on next years show. I can't even watch most of mine as someone volunteered to shoot video rather them me setting my stuff up and they ran out of SD card space :/ Your show for sure still makes me want to make a trip down there to check out the setup and shoot. Congrats on a show well done!

[bohicarlp]

I must say, I agree with Withreport and djsmurf. That was one hell of a performance. You may be disappointed, however, we all make mistakes and we grow and learn from them to make the next show even bigger and better. I am pleased at the video I watched. Now in regard to the milk crate, I have never used them because I feel they are not secure enough. Did you do anything different to secure them in there, or leave them free floating?

[Pyro Paul]

Ok Bazerk, after watching it (3 times) I only have one thing to say. THAT WAS (expletive deleted) AWESOME!! I see you're kind of kicking yourself but don't. You put a lot of planning and blood,sweat and tears into that and it showed. Excellent job on the editing and nice video setup for taking shots from different angles. I bet that was almost as much work doing the editing as it was setting up for your show. What were the fan cakes at 14:31 that did the white sprays with the red tips, I like that effect. Also kind of wondered who the drunk guy wandering around through the display while you were firing was... lol. Anyway, just wanted to give you a pat on the back for a job well done!

[Bazerk]

I must say, I agree with Withreport and djsmurf. That was one hell of a performance. You may be disappointed, however, we all make mistakes and we grow and learn from them to make the next show even bigger and better. I am pleased at the video I watched. Now in regard to the milk crate, I have never used them because I feel they are not secure enough. Did you do anything different to secure them in there, or leave them free floating?

Believe it or not, they are very secure. The only thing I did was cut a piece of plywood out and put it in the bottom. If you saw my last years video you will see why. ��

[Bazerk]

Ok Bazerk, after watching it (3 times) I only have one thing to say. THAT WAS (expletive deleted) AWESOME!! I see you're kind of kicking yourself but don't. You put a lot of planning and blood,sweat and tears into that and it showed. Excellent job on the editing and nice video setup for taking shots from different angles. I bet that was almost as much work doing the editing as it was setting up for your show. What were the fan cakes at 14:31 that did the white sprays with the red tips, I like that effect. Also kind of wondered who the drunk guy wandering around through the display while you were firing was... lol. Anyway, just wanted to give you a pat on the back for a job well done!

I'll have to double check but if my memory serves me right I would have to guess that it was Home Team by world class. This was my first year using their product and I must say their breaks were enormous and the colors were great. I was happy with my produce. I am going to try Spirit if 76 next year so hopefully they are prepared. �� The drunk (not drunk) guy was myself or my buddy rich. He was my helper and like me likes to get in the thick of it. I was walking around in there trying to figure out what wasn't firing.

[Mattp]

Awesome show. I thought you were gonna blow up the drone a few times.. that footage from the air with the breaks happening all around it was great.. and yes. Id say you were definitely the only one disappointed

[Bazerk]

Awesome show. I thought you were gonna blow up the drone a few times.. that footage from the air with the breaks happening all around it was great.. and yes. Id say you were definitely the only one disappointed

I appreciate the kind words guys, I really do. The more I watch the video the happier I get. There were 5 drones in the sky and I decided that one of them needed to be in harms way because I wanted that type of shot. It paid off I think. Next year we are going to sacrifice, or try, the phantom 3 by intentionally flying low and through big breaks because it needs to be upgraded. We had my Phantom 4 Pro, and 3 Mavic Pros and a Phantom 3 out there. Three 4K ground cams and 2 GoPro Hero 5 Blacks. I forgot to record on those. �� All in all we were able to get some decent footage and angles you can't see otherwise and that's what makes my videos different. It's a ballet in the sky trying to capture the ballet on the ground. I've learned a lot from this year and I promise you all, next year will be ground breaking.

[Bazerk]

Ok Bazerk, after watching it (3 times) I only have one thing to say. THAT WAS (expletive deleted) AWESOME!! I see you're kind of kicking yourself but don't. You put a lot of planning and blood,sweat and tears into that and it showed. Excellent job on the editing and nice video setup for taking shots from different angles. I bet that was almost as much work doing the editing as it was setting up for your show. What were the fan cakes at 14:31 that did the white sprays with the red tips, I like that effect. Also kind of wondered who the drunk guy wandering around through the display while you were firing was... lol. Anyway, just wanted to give you a pat on the back for a job well done!

Trying to choreograph that many cameras, both flying and stationary, as well as picking up good audio, is indeed a task in itself. It puts a lot on my plate and very quickly becomes overwhelming. We actually have meetings a couple times before shoot day to try to iron out this kind of stuff so I don't have to get side tracked by figuring it out on the day of the shoot.

[pistolus]

Excellent display and video, the birds eye view of the drones is great!! In the background you can see all the other fireworks going off in the area.. really nice. lol

[Bazerk]

Excellent display and video, the birds eye view of the drones is great!! In the background you can see all the other fireworks going off in the area.. really nice. lol

Thank you very much. I try really hard to refine my skills with every show. This show had plenty of lessons to be learned, but I cant harp on that now. I just need to avoid the mistakes in the next one.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Great show as always Bazerk!! I absolutely love the drone footage! Did you have any issues with any of the drones taking hits? It looked like some of the shells were traveling right under and over the drone at various times throughout the show. Besides yourself and your helper(s) I'm sure no one else knew anything went wrong. Did the burning cake cause any issues? My buddy lost a mod this year because of cake fires. Once again, great job!!

[Bazerk]

Great show as always Bazerk!! I absolutely love the drone footage! Did you have any issues with any of the drones taking hits? It looked like some of the shells were traveling right under and over the drone at various times throughout the show. Besides yourself and your helper(s) I'm sure no one else knew anything went wrong. Did the burning cake cause any issues? My buddy lost a mod this year because of cake fires. Once again, great job!!

The drone was placed where it was on purpose bud. I wanted the effect of things flying by the viewer. The burning cakes didnt cause me any issues other than making some of my antennas a little mis-shaped but that shouldn't effect anything. All in all it went ok and I will learn from the mistakes that were made. Thanks for watching Rick!