Final fireworks show will feature superheroes
On Wednesday, 25 June, spectators can look forward to the superhero fireworks finale Guardians of the Galaxy, featuring music from the film trilogy of the same name. Four successful designers – Jaroslav Štolba and Daniel Černý from Flash Barrandov SFX and Christian Czech and Kristin Werner from Pyrovision – are working together as the Ignis Brunensis Team to prepare the final show.
The designers are building on their previous successes in Brno. Last year, Flash Barrandov SFX and Pyrovision took home all the awards, including the audience award. Together, they previously impressed the jury in Brno with another film-inspired pyromusical. In 2021, Czech, Štolba and Cargnelutti (Cargnelutti was then part of the Noctiluca team, this year he prepared a provocative pyromusical for Ignis Brunensis under the name Luci di Notte) jointly won the award for best music for their tribute to spaghetti westerns called Once Upon a Time.
In an interview, Jaroslav Štolba revealed how the idea for the superhero fireworks display came about and what Flash Barrandov SFX plans to do next.
Your fireworks display this year has a stellar production team – Flash Barrandov SFX and Pyrovision together won all the awards for 2024. When and how did the idea for a joint fireworks project for 2025 come about?
There have been and will be more joint projects. The world of film and the world of fireworks are very cosmopolitan at a certain level. And collegiality sometimes turns into friendship, then cooperation is welcome. We enjoy meeting and enriching each other with professional news, opinions or stories that we have encountered in different countries.
Who on the team is the biggest fan of superhero films?
We are primarily a special effects company, and action films are our domain. In recent years alone, we have worked on projects such as The Gray Man, Extraction, and Ballerina. Under our Czech SFX supervision, we have realised All Quiet on the Western Front (our colleague was nominated for an Oscar for this), Cliffhanger, Foundation (the first and second series) and others. After the Ignis Brunensis festival, our crew, consisting of dozens of SFX technicians, will throw themselves into preparations for the third series of Foundation; the scripts are already being read in Brno... Our relationship with action films is therefore natural for our team, and we also have a decent overview of film music. It is often a source of inspiration for us.
How did you choose the final six songs from a total of sixty ‘candidates’?
We tested the theme and some of the compositions in real life and got feedback from audiences on projects for Benátky nad Jizerou and Děčín. The popularity test for the compositions was more or less uniform, and the final processing and editing is a matter of dramaturgy and the work of the designer.
How difficult is it to translate superhero themes into a pyromusical format?
It is easier for the audience if they know and like the musical themes. They are better oriented in the show and expect the display in the sky to remind them of the tension, emotions or humour they have encountered. Or, on the contrary, it may surprise them...
Cristian Czech from Pyrovision in Austria, who prepared the design for the theme song, added a short message:
Although my design for the obligatory music The Race is only a small part of the fireworks show, I am very happy to be a part of it. It is an honour for me and also a great opportunity to meet friends from Flash Barrandov SFX and visit Brno again.
Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
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