was kinda dissapointed in my city's show this year:

[Icooclast]

they seem to choose the same kind of shells and the same colors of the same effects... is there just not as much even the pro's can get in the US or is somebody just not being creative or just getting by with the same format almost every year? what do you guys think?

[jamisonlm3]

Sounds like it was a very basic and inexpensive show.

[AxeElf]

People tell me every year that my show is better than the city's. Well, ok, but you're like a mile away from the city show, while you're 50 yards from mine.

But yeah, city shows seem to be pretty generic effects for the most part, relying on the size of their shells for the oohs and the aahs--but with the distance most viewers are from city shows, those big shells lose some of their impressiveness.

[Salutecake]

Hi Icooclast, I only shoot the pro stuff as a hobbyist and mixed in with consumer stuff, but I bought some really nice stuff this year. Basically 3 and 4 inch mortar shells and a couple of different cakes. I picked those only from a web description, cause no video was available from the place I bought them and also a lot of demo shows changed dates this year and I could not attend to see the actual product go off, but the description I read on the web site did them justice.

So if I could pick some really nice ones out by a description alone, a pro show person should be able to pick out and shoot off some great stuff.
My take, is that they probably have a couple of levels of standard shows and pricing for each level. I have only worked a few show with different companies but even if they were very small shows they all seemed choreographed, even choreographed to the point to just add the right song to it and now you have your pyro musical.
Really most shows are fired with some kind of system be it Cobra or another, and you can with the right equipment and understanding, almost easily, compose your show, set it up, push a button and let it rip. So unless they are operating like in the caveman days like when I was a kid (shoot one shell wait 20 seconds shoot another shell, same but different color, and so on) then they either have no creative people, are still hand firing, and sorry to say will be out of business soon.
That's my take.

[Icooclast]

People tell me every year that my show is better than the city's. Well, ok, but you're like a mile away from the city show, while you're 50 yards from mine.

But yeah, city shows seem to be pretty generic effects for the most part, relying on the size of their shells for the oohs and the aahs--but with the distance most viewers are from city shows, those big shells lose some of their impressiveness.

distance likely matters, since before they did them at the field behind the football stadium... with everyone sitting in the football stadium and the baseball field's bleachers besides the field. and, yeah: it was awesome. they shot them from a different location a little far away this year will do so for the forseeable future, because the football field is getting astro turf and it i'm told is highly flammable. don't know, not really into sports. but yeah, it makes sense being closer, as to being farther away..

[Scotty Rockets]

I like to have angled racks with rows of mirroring effects. I’ve seen leads that are particular about setting up a design and I’ve seen ones who randomly drop shells and fire them all straight vertical 0. Average small medium city’s don’t really care, it’s all about shell counts and price. It’s all cutthroat and it’s all based on shell count and pricing for bids.