I got the rare opportunity to shoot a show less than 15 miles from my house. I don't even have a place to shoot consumer items that close to home, and most of the displays I've worked on are a 2-3 hour drive each way. Of course, I had to work until 7am the morning of the shoot and naturally we were busy most of the night. 400 miles in the ambulance and a few mugs of coffee later, I got off work late, but was still able to make it to the shoot site on time. I survived the morning with even more coffee and some energy drinks, I can always sleep later.

The show was an approximately 20 minute pyromusical, e-fired with a FireOne system. We had cakes, comets, strobes, and shells ranging from 2"-6" to set up. The sun was out and it wasn't terribly hot so we were able to set up the racks fairly quickly. E-fired shows have a lot of extra set up, so we would need the time. The bad thing was most of the 2" and 2.5" shells did not have e-match ports. The QM was just a little too small to accept the match head and shroud, so we had to be creative. It is not wise to remove the shroud around the match head, but you can cut the visco or BM leader off, slice the piping of the QM lengthwise about 2 inches, then insert the match head still in the shroud, fold the QM to secure the match and use the match wire to tie it off with a half hitch. I am probably making this sound more difficult than it is, Pictures would help, but these extra steps were slowing us down enough already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChMuuKX7LY

An hour before showtime, we finally had the product dropped, secured, matched, and placed into the proper cues for the script. Continuity testing went well and we only had to make a few minor adjustments. We used a lampare as a "5 minute warning" to get the crowd warmed up. The town had all sorts of entertainment during the day and a parade, so the crowd was ready for the show.

The show went well, and the crowd and the sponsor loved it. It was nice being able to watch our show for a change rather than ducking down when you are hand-firing. My video did not turn out all that great from the firing line. I was looking almost straight up and the effect from fanned mortars was lost.

For the first time this year, I had good weather for a shoot. It was humid and the mosquitoes were out in full force, but at least the rain, sleet, and thunderstorms stayed away unlike my previous shoots this season. As always, I learned a few new things and have a list of more small items to add to my tool box I always bring on shoots. I think my next show is a barge show, so that will be another learning experience. Right now, it just feels good to be home, my muscles are all sore in a good way from humping racks and I'm too pumped up from the show to get much needed sleep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkGw5DmrEWo