Fife shoot - October 6
October 6 was another Wolverine shoot, this time for the Fife Harvest Festival in Fife, WA. Setup started on Friday (the 5th) but I couldn't be there because I had work, so I arrived about 10am Saturday morning to help out.
I didn't really get a shell count or budget, but it was a pretty good sized show. We had two large sand boxes plus numerous other racks and a mine front, with shells from 2.25" to a few 10". By the time I got there the racks and boxes were all set up, and they were dropping and wiring shells (the show had maybe 200 cues and was efired with a nailboard).
My first task was wrapping 2.25" shells in tape to fit in 2.5" tubes. It wasn't much fun and uses a lot of tape, but you gotta get those shells fired somehow, and who has 2.25" tubes?
The weather was pretty overcast and gray, but not too cold. After getting rained on last week I was a bit wary, but in the end the worst we had was light drizzle. We ended up covering everything in plastic to protect it, but it wasn't a problem and wasn't even really uncomfortable.
(Left - Overview of the main site.)
We were shooting in a field, the spectator area and the rest of the days events were happening on the other side of the train tracks at the local high school. In the interest of variety Andy planned the show to include some additional stuff on the baseball field closer to the crowd.
The second area was fairly small, with three cake firing positions, each with a United Pyro Bad Dude and Wolverine Rainbow Crunch, Pyro Picasso, and Coconut Rings. Behind these were mine positions, 1.75" 1.3G shells, and two 1.3G cakes. We also had a ridiculously long set piece, which said "Golden Jubilee City of Fife 50" which we mounted to a fence.
The weather is iffy this time of year, but the good part is that it gets dark a lot earlier, so there is less waiting. We started the show just after 8:30pm! I got to back up a bit, pull out my folding chair, and just enjoy the show. I tried taking a couple pictures without putting much effort into it, obviously it didn't work very well if the picture below is the best one I got...
We had very light drizzle during most of the show, but nothing serious. I never saw the assembled crowd, so I have no idea how many people actually stuck around and risked the weather to see the fireworks because they were on the other side of the tracks and some vegetation, but I heard at least a few cheers!
The show was set up pretty nicely, with a lot of complementary effects and angled pairs, though no themes/segments followed for more than a couple shells (something easier to do on much larger shows). There was a nice variety of effects and all the shells looked good, with a couple very nice shell of shells, crackling kamuros, and color changing peonies. Near the end Andy started up his stuff closer to the audience, which seemed to be well received.
[Edit - The spacing below got screwed up, but I don't feel like fixing it... Each clip number corresponds to the comments on the right side...]
Clip 1 - The end of one of the nice mine fronts, a shell of shells, and some other bits.
Clip 2 - General stuff...
Clip 3 - Crackling kamuros and the second position firing. You can't see it all that well in the video, but I figured it was worth showing at least...
Clip 4 - More of the second position, plus a few shells from the main position.
Clip 5 - Finale!
So that was the show. We had a large crew (oh yeah, we also went to a Mexican place for lunch, crucial detail!) so breaking down the show went pretty fast. The show was over by about 9pm, and we had all the boards, tubes, racks and garbage packed up by 10:30pm, so I got an earlier that usual start on my drive back to Portland...
