Norwegian fireworker: We tried to mirror the tone and complexity of Nesbø’s books
Brno – They won the competition in 2019 and took home four out of five prizes. This year, Norwegian team North Star Fireworks return to Brno with a Nordic Noir show, inspired by the literary genre of the same name. The show designer Andreas Helle explains how they came up with the topic and what can the spectators expect.
Four years ago, you took home four out of the five awards of the international Ignis Brunensis competition. This year you will be competing with other winners. With what feelings are you returning to Brno?
First of all, we are very excited to be back to this fabulous competition! This time, we know the other teams very well and we are good friends, so we're competing on friendly terms. We will arrive happy and leave happy no matter what, and we’re aiming to give the audience a good time and also to have a good time in the process!
For your Nordic Noir show you have chosen only Norwegian musicians from the electronic music genre. How did you select the songs?
We decided early in the process to be a bit bolder with the music selection. We have wanted to showcase Norwegian artists, as there are so many good artists emerging during the last few years and all of us are listening to these artists every day. There are a couple of songs we have been itching to use for a long time and we made them the “backbone” of the soundtrack. With those songs, the theme was quite clear, and then it was just a matter of “filling in the blanks” with other songs that fitted the theme and our ideas.
Which book of the Nordic Noir literary genre has inspired you the most to create the fireworks?
The main inspiration is not necessarily only one book, but more the novels of Jo Nesbø about Harry Hole (The Snowman amongst others). The dark tone and the complexity in themes and story of his novels is something we tried to mirror with the selection of songs and especially the lyrics of the songs. Of course, this is contrasted by the splendour of the fireworks and the happy sound of some of the songs. We like contrasts.
In 2019, you brought a lot of magnificent effects to Brno, with grand shells that filled the sky. Have you prepared a similarly grand show for the audience?
The show this year is certainly going to be spectacular! The show is as grand as possible within the competition rules, with just as many big shells as last time. The finale is going to be awesome, perhaps a little bit louder than last time…
How do you plan to use the water surface of the Brno Lake for your fireworks show?
We have planned a lot of effects that will shoot over the surface of the lake. However, we will not put too much into the lake – one huge aspect of having a show on the water surface is to enjoy the reflection of the fireworks in the water.
What are you excited for this year?
Just one month after this show, we are doing the first show in the gold final of the Cannes fireworks competition (on 14th of July – the French national day). That will also be a spectacular show! For both shows, the main source of excitement is the opportunity to entertain thousands of people with our fireworks shows, both home and abroad. That's what we are most excited about this year!
Norwegian fireworks show will shine above the Brno Lake on Saturday, June 17, and will be preceded by drone show.
Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
for more information from students of the faculty visit Stisk online
Photogallery: Robert Vystrčil
