It is a considerable shame that something I worked meticulously at for weeks came down to a scrambling, harried finish. Can't help but think it could have brought more satisfaction had I properly budgeted time, and had enough of it to double check every connection. Every rack should have been built prior leaving only visco connections for the day of. I really have no excuse for not completing these except that the sheer scale of the endeavour should have warranted some kind of record keeping or 'to-do' list that could have been checked off.
The few I've confided this concern to, stated they wouldn't have noticed any difference had I been 100% ready. It's likely I'm my own worst critic. However, small gaps in the show and the fact I could barely understand the instructions I wrote for myself, meant timing deviated from plan more than I wanted.
The self-instructions I created to prompt cue ignition were based on having a complete understanding of which item was active at any given time during the event. This is more difficult than it sounds, the time goes by very quickly! I got lost twice. Having reviewed videotape, I was lost once because two items were nearly simultaneously ignited (visco error or ignition via fallout) and another because I didn't know which item was presently being fired. This led to me looking at my cue sheet far more than I wanted to, drawing my attention away from the display.
The Canada House fountain was lit up manually, crackled for a bit and promptly fizzled out, not exploding violently as planned. Going up to manually light the circus wheels that should have led away from the Canada House wreckage was a bummer.
Eight total items failed to ignite. Six due to visco connections that didn't take, and two that took but didn't explode (duds). Three of these were fairly integral items, a Big Bertha cake (solo firing, leaving a hole in the show), a Silver Shrapnel mortar and Jumping Jelly Beans, a pretty cool fountain. We exploded a couple of these after the show.
Back to the B grade; Why so high?
While the mad dash to the finish line was aggravating, some of the time consumption was beyond my control. Some slack must be cut.
The show was an experiment of sorts, and the audience seemed quite entertained by the result, which I am very pleased about. I'll allow myself more slack as it is a first time using electronic ignition. If I were a spectator unconnected to this project, my grade would probably be considerably higher. Perhaps I shouldn't force mathematics upon what is essentially an art form. Paul put it in perspective by saying it is near impossible to rehearse. Very true.
That said: I predicted a show lasting 17 minutes and 15 seconds. The result was 17:06. Not bad, actually pretty damn good!
The eight total ignition failures represent less than 2% of the total, a number I can live with. The Schwartzvolcker system worked perfectly as well. Every cue called upon to fire did so, and quickly. This I am proud of.
There were some very intense points during the show that awed me, and the reaction from the audience during these points made up for the issues.
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Two cameras were set up at the site. A wide angle GoPro was set back almost 50 feet to capture aerial effects; the same camera used last year. Like a year ago, it was not angled sharply enough (Grrrr) to capture all of the highest items, though it is much better than 2011. The other camera was set up just far enough outside ground zero to view every rack while they blast away, about 15' from the nearest one.
The result is two videos. One shows the overall show presented with a picture-in-picture of the exploding racks, the other will be a subtitled narrative of the items going off, more for my own use in post-mortem but to be posted here in a while.
FYIs: The steady burning flame on the right is over the fence in the sewage treatment plant.. Due to the lens convex it looks tiny, but it's 15-20 feet of poo-gas flame! An apropos backdrop, if a bit gross. The fireworks being blasted off to the left throughout the vid are the folks who brought some items to donate - we couldn't use them since the show is planned - so they decided to blast away right there intermittently throughout the event. Unfortunately what was a thoughtful gesture became an annoying and somewhat disrespectful distraction.
The camera trained on the racks appears to have an autofocus problem. Though ok for 95% of the show, it went fuzzy right as the 60-shot air bomb rack blasted off. Bummer.
I recommended arrival between 9:30 and 9:45, but we didn't get going until 10pm for two reasons. In my opinion darkness is requisite, at 9:45 deep dusk still lingers. There was also a professional show that started at 9:40 about a mile away that was clearly audible and visible - this was welcome to prevent the audience at this show from getting too impatient!
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Post show there was a small amount of excitement. During my goodbyes to the audience, and a full two minutes after the last item ignited, a mortar in the finale rack blasted off, surprising all. This highlights the inherent danger in approaching duds. The plan was to leave the racks alone for 12-15 minutes, ensure all were extinguished and pack up. About 6 minutes into this plan though, one of the Detonator cakes erupted into flames, getting the kids pretty excited. No big deal. It was fully extinguished (along with a few other smouldering items) and left to sit.
Wiring was rounded up, racks tossed into the truck, cameras and kit were packed and loaded. Got some curious looks driving home.
I returned in the morning to clean up the site. Being made of paper and clay, fireworks ejecta is typically bio-degradable (with the exception of the plastic plugs in some mortars). However it is common courtesy to return in the a.m. to clear up the little bits and pieces. Why give more ammo to the naysayers and zealots? It is a public space after all.
I spent some time hammering clay out of items made only with paper; the clay was swept into a dead zone behind my shed, and the paper got recycled. Ran the last load to the end of the driveway just as the truck pulled up; after looking at the stacks of fireworks the driver asked if I was the reason the bomb squad was out, having seen the commotion on the evening news. We shared a laugh as I watched the husks of my labours tossed into a heap in the back of the truck.
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This post was late since I worked hard on a continuous video of the show; unbeknownst to me YouTube accepts a maximum video size of 15 minutes. It was re-done to post here, but not quite as polished...
Special thanks to Paul for his help.
