Da Nang International Fireworks Festival: The untold story of the adventure of more than 45,000 fireworks
Báo Tổ quốc•18/06/2024
(Fatherland) - Known as one of the largest events with an investment of hundreds of billions of VND, few people imagine that the journey from selecting "talents", conceiving ideas to each stage of importing, transporting, assembling the "battlefield" of fireworks to create 10 light shows at the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival is so elaborate.
Da Nang International Fireworks Festival – DIFF 2024 creates a fever for Da Nang tourism
Fireworks travel around the world The selection started nearly a year ago. The organizing committee will look for big players in the fireworks industry, set out standard conditions, the competing teams will arrange schedules, sign cooperation agreements and become part of DIFF. During that process, Sun Group and Global 2000 - a fireworks consulting company will support the competing teams with all the best conditions, including the difficult stage: working with leading manufacturers to import fireworks, ensuring the quantity and type of fireworks. The competing teams only focus on creating the shooting scenario and implementing the final details. More than 20 of the most prestigious factories were selected, rushing to produce because the progress was quite tight. However, the difficulties have only just begun: the fireworks have been made, but how can they get to Da Nang?
After an incredible journey, 3 fireworks containers are ready for the competing teams at DIFF 2024 by Sun Group and Global 2000.
The journey begins at the factories, the fireworks spend 7 days floating on the sea to Hong Kong port - the only place that can export dangerous goods like fireworks to Vietnam, then continue on the only train to Hai Phong. Finally, it is 800km of road from Hai Phong port through more than 10 cities to reach Da Nang. "All stages must be precise and absolutely rhythmic, no errors or delays are allowed for any reason. We tell each other, "lifting like lifting fireworks" is accurate with our mission" - Mr. Tuan, a member of the DIFF 2024 Fireworks Subcommittee, recounted. Simply because, no one wants to "play with fire". With the characteristic of high explosion, even if just one firework or an accessory in a firework is at risk of exploding, it will affect the entire container of fireworks, and the level of danger is unpredictable. Finally, two weeks before the first fireworks team arrived in Da Nang, more than 45,000 fireworks with approximately 180 different types of fireworks were imported and transported to a warehouse in Vietnam so that the competing teams could be ready to perform the most explosive "light dances" in the Da Nang sky. Turning the dream of the lighting "designer" and hundreds of people into reality. That is part of the shining journey of the DIFF fireworks. From the warehouse of premium materials to the eye-catching performances, the idea was actually conceived 9 months earlier when the 8 competing teams accepted the invitation from the organizing committee. According to Ms. Nadia Shakira Wong - Director of Global 2000 - the unit in charge of the fireworks teams participating in DIFF 2024, the strategy is that among the 8 participating teams, there will be 4 strong teams and 4 new teams. Thus, when paired together, the organizers can ensure that each night will have a special, eye-catching performance and at the same time will have a performance that promises many surprises for the audience.
Ms. Nadia Shakira Wong and the French fireworks team at the DIFF 2024 shooting site
“What you are looking at now, we started preparing and researching them months ago. When we received the theme from G2000, we started choosing the music first, because it is very important. Then we continued to implement the idea, trying to choose the best colors and shapes of fireworks for the show,” said Damiano Baraldo, captain of the Martarello team (Italy). According to the experts of Global 2000, choosing the music first or creating a script first is up to each team. “But most of the teams will do the music first according to their ideas because sometimes the music will create its own language, deciding how the teams will script the fireworks display.” Choosing the music is always really important. But the soul of the fireworks teams is definitely the “designer”. “He will use our scripting software. Then, create a virtual program to implement all the ideas. Unique colors or shapes. “That’s his ‘stage’,” said Nancy Rozzi, captain of the Rozzi Fireworks team from the US, about how to create an impressive fireworks scenario.
Careful preparation helped the Italian team have an impressive performance on the second night of DIFF 2024
After having the music and the shooting script, the next difficult step is to find the right fireworks products and combine and assemble everything. This is not easy. There are fireworks teams that have to mobilize up to 400 people to work, including experts, technicians, and even people who are knowledgeable about fire safety... The most difficult things must be completed in more than 9 months since the teams accepted to participate in DIFF. Because the teams only have about 5 working days before the competition night and nothing can be changed on Saturday morning - the official performance day of DIFF 2024. While everything is ready, the weather can still be a big obstacle for the teams. Working conditions in the scorching heat of Da Nang are a challenge for members from cold countries. But the sun is not the biggest fear, the rain is the nightmare of the competing teams.
Weather is always an unpredictable factor that affects the teams' performance.
In fact, at DIFF 2023, the Italian team encountered a heavy rain, causing flooding, so many fireworks could not be used. This was a really bad incident, and became a painful lesson for even experienced teams, fireworks families with hundreds of years of experience like the Italian team and the American team. Whether it rained the day before the show, during or after the performance, rain is always a nightmare. Rainy weather makes the sky gloomy and windless, leading to a lot of smoke in the performances. "When the teams shoot, they will shoot low-altitude fireworks first to wait for the wind to blow away the smoke and then wait for the right time to be able to shoot fireworks with special effects. Therefore, the lack of wind can be a big obstacle, a big problem for the competing teams," explained the Global 2000 expert. Once they overcome this “nightmare”, the teams will be ready to create miracles, the most majestic and spectacular “light symphony” in the Da Nang night sky. The mission of the fireworks will end in the seemingly endless applause of 10,000 spectators in the stands and hundreds of thousands of spectators along the roads along the Han River. The most satisfied people are the lighting “designers”, experts, technicians and hundreds of people from the teams, accompanying units and the DIFF 2024 organizing committee.
Comment (0)