Designing A Fireworks Display - Show Design
Show Design
The aim of the design is to go beyond more than a few arbitrary bangs and lights - a fireworks show is designed to create a mood in the spectators, producing a coherent, meaningful, and artistic fireworks display.
The Strategy Behind Display Design is explained more in depth here.
A Display Design Example is explained here.
Who the audience will be dictates in large part what kind of fireworks you'll be using - huge, loud explosive shells are good for an adult audience, but not for young kids or older people who prefer more visually pleasing displays. Also the location of the display will play a part in what you can safely and considerately use, barrages of loud repeaters set off near a hospital for instance is not a good idea. For these reasons the design of each show will be different, but to make any display successful and effective, there are four main considerations to take into account when choosing fireworks - the distance, the amount, the size and the timing of the display.
DISTANCE - The spacing between the different elements of a display is critical to how it will look when fired. It's very poor planning to have all the fireworks ignited from the same spot- the fireworks overlap each other and the audience don't get to see the full effect of each element.
The display should be spread out enough to fill up as much of the sky as you can - it's a huge, three dimensional canvas, and as much as possible should be painted with fire. Professional displays will ignite shells, candles, etc. from multiple locations. The key is to have a huge, long "wall" of fireworks going off, spaced just far enough apart to give each firework room to burst and fill in the space in between.
Rockets & MissilesAt the very back - Rockets tend to fly a more erratically than shells. |
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Ariel Shells / MinesAt least 15 meters apart to keep the large burst diameters from overlapping too much. Shells tend to go offline a little rather than traveling up in a perfect line. |
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Mines / Roman CandlesUse to fill the space in between, or put farther away / closer than the cakes in order to give the display a little depth. |
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CakesAt least 5 to 10 meters apart. The wide effect from the fountains & the aerial effects from the rcakes will fill the space between. |
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Fountains / WheelsGround effects go closest to the Audience to provide more depth and balance to the display. |
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AUDIENCE |
AMOUNT - As well as increasing the size of the fireworks as time goes by, the density should be increased. For example, if starting off with 4 fountains, move on to 6 repeaters, 10 roman candles, 30 shells, etc.
SIZE - A good methodology for building crowd pleasing shows is to start low and work high, beginning with smaller ground based or low level fireworks, and slowly building up to larger and higher ones. Fuse the stations so that fountains ignite first, followed by increasingly more powerful fireworks such as aerial repeaters, mines, and shells. Do not go the other way around. Fountains are very beautiful if used at the right time - but they lose all there effectiveness if they are ignited after a large volley of shells. The only exception to this rule is if doing a musically synchronized display, with a quiet passage of music after a crescendo.
TIMING - The final design consideration is how to space out the ignition of the fireworks during the display. There are many possible timing layouts, however there are some general techniques and rules of thumb that apply to all shows to make them highly effective. Remember, if an electrical control box is used to ignite the display, anything can be fired off at any time!
Cakes - A fireworks display in and of themselves, cakes are great for use both as time and space fillers. It's important to know the overall effect of a particular cake as some are designed to fire off lots of effects over a longer period of time, while others have fewer but much larger effects and can be used as part of a finale. The size of the individual shells rather than the number of them is the best indicator as to whether to use a cake as a show filler or finisher.
A critical "rule" regarding cakes is to always have at least two firing at once. This provides more depth, excitement and beauty to a show. They are highly visual even when used alone, but for larger displays or more demanding audiences, they can be used to form the backbone of a show when used in conjunction with larger fireworks such as shells, mines, rockets and roman candles. Generally they are best fired at the start of a show, although they are great ground fillers when set off at the same time as a barrage of larger ariel fireworks.
Ariel Shells / Rockets - The "big boys" of the fireworks world, ariel shells and rockets travel to an altitude higher than cakes before bursting. There are thousands of different types of shells in every colour imaginable, some with crackles, whistles, spinners, and or loud reports. When dozens are ignited at nearly the same time it makes the display extremely intense and bright. Shells are a finale item, fired near the end of the show when cakes, mines and other fireworks reach their most exciting point or start to burn out. If plenty of shells are available, a few mid sized shells or rockets may be fired during the body of the show provided that you follow the size rules to continue building intensity.
Candles / Fountains - Roman Candles ONLY look good when fired off in large groups. One candle shooting a coloured ball every couple seconds is not at all impressive. The most effective and visually pleasing method of using Roman Candles is to fire them at angles - usually at the start of the show where they act as a good introduction when followed by larger diameter cakes.
Mines - Similar to shells but with a rising effect rather than an ariel explosion, mines are excellent if used with the same guidelines as for Roman Candles, always fire in multiples and ususally fanned. Another great way to use mines if firing with an eletrical system with a stepper functrion is to ingnite a long row of mines one after another in rapid succession. They can be fired off in any part of the display as a transition from different elements of the show and are very effective when used as part of a musical synchronization.
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The Fireworks Company Thailand accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any injuries or accidents that occur as a result of attempting any of the displays or projects mentioned in this site, or as a result of use or misuse of any pyrotechnic products purchased from us. We highly recommend the use of professional display service for anything other than consumer 1.4G Fireworks with shells 1.75" or less in diameter.