On 11th March 2021 James Newman launched his new song “Embers”, the United Kingdom’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, Rotterdam 2021.
Fully Fused Fireworks were thrilled to get the call to provide the pyrotechnics for the accompanying video.
As you can imagine with new music releases and video concepts, the details were kept very tightly under wraps. At the beginning of the project we were only given the section of the music we needed to work on and were asked to come up with a concept visualisation for the pyrotechnic element of the track. At this point we didn’t know who the artist was or what the video was for. Working on a design brief of red, silver and gold, and having been given the location for the shoot, Cliff set about designing a dramatic 40 second finale. As is the nature of the beast with filming, he needed to build a lot of flexibility into the design and the selection of product. There was a tight timescale between brief and production, but we always keep a wide variety of effects in stock so therefore this wasn’t an issue. The material used also had to be carefully considered from a safety standpoint because it was to be fired close to the artist and also 10 dancers and 7 luxury cars (including 2 open tops). The resulting design was such that we could fire the sequences twice and have material available for additional shots or modified sections as required on the night. We used a combination of strobes, star mines and comets at ground level which were complimented by larger calibre mines and roman candles fired from above.
At 3pm, following a negative COVID test, we were permitted on set and began putting our pre-built pyro plates in position. Once the set was clear we ran comms tests between the plates and the control panel and waited for our 10:30pm turn on the Call Sheet, aiming to finish at midnight. A most welcome pizza was delivered for dinner and plenty of hot coffee kept the chill at bay. It was a lovely clear evening, perfect conditions for an outdoor shoot and a slight breeze, ideal for the pyro.
As always for technical, music based, work we created a timecode track which meant that we could send a music feed to the audio desk and the pyro would fire precisely on the beats as required. The FireOne firing system we use, has almost unparalleled flexibility so we were able to set up wireless communication with the ground level pyro plates and hard wired up to the upper-level material. This way we could set up additional long shots without having to adjust any wiring or change the pyro configurations; all valuable time savers when there are 50 crew, the dancers and the artist waiting for the next shot to be set up on a cold February evening. We fired some test shots for the Director and cast so they knew what to expect and so that the camera crew were able to visualise effect heights, ready for positioning the camera and drone. When the Director called “Go” we pressed play on the laptop, the monitor speakers came to life and the countdown began. We gave 20 seconds of feed prior to the first cue firing so that James and the dancers could get into their performances before the first hits lifted. It must be noted that James was given a radius to stay within for his safety and wore foam insert ear plugs and the dancers were told to stay in line with the cars.
If a performer is new to working with pyro their first experience of the noise and colour often makes an impression. This was no exception with plenty of cheering and laughter after the take. They had all taken the pyro lifts in their stride and carried on with their performances. They were true professionals. After adjustment to the positions of some of the dancers, thereby creating a change of aesthetics, and a consideration of different camera angles we went again. We reset the track, re-armed the firing system and shot again.
For the last take the Director wanted to see James finishing the song with some mines fired from the upper level in the background. They had some specific notes they wanted to hit. The design flexibility meant we already had product in place and ready to be fired manually. It was suggested that Jerry, one of the creative crew who knew the music intimately, fired the shots. After a quick briefing he was at the firing panel and we played the track. He danced behind the desk, finger poised, ready to press the Fire button. The brocade mines lifted perfectly to the beat every time. He was clearly enjoying the experience and they got the shots they needed. At just after midnight the Director called “That’s a wrap” and the various crews got to work disassembling their equipment.
Having had a great evening there was definitely a sense of achievement and pride knowing that we had made a small contribution to this project. Our thanks to Lightening Productions for engaging us.
We haven’t disclosed the name of the location and we aren’t going to give the name away here. You’ll have to watch the video and see if you can work it out.
This project was a fantastic way to say farewell to the troubles of 2020 and for Fully Fused Fireworks to embrace the opportunities that 2021 will bring.
There is a lyric within the song which particularly resonates with us:
“Nothing can stop us now
Out of the embers you and I gonna light up the room!”
Be warned; “Embers” is a real ear worm and you’ll be toe tapping and singing along before you know it. It works really well as a pyromusical track and we look forward to hearing audiences singing along. Don’t be surprised if you hear it used in a display near you this year!
www.jamesnewmanmusic.co.uk
