Bookworm91

Great show! Very fun to watch. I loved the laserwork going on in the center ring. I do wish I had more context to what was going on, story wise. The titles on the bottom and the story points in the middle helped but I had no idea who these people were that kept being named. Is it possible to provide a character guide? I can see the story but I can’t understand the story if that makes sense. But, like I said, the show was fun to watch and was engaging the entire time 15 minutes, which is a triumph in of itself.

Ooo, daytime pyro! That looks fun!

So I was looking into my old files on my laptop and I found 3 word files that I had downloaded a back in 2009. One is a pro color tutorial, another is a smoke tutorial, and the last one is a bunch of how-to info on different aspects of the AFE and firework making. Advanced_Pro_Colour.doc Mikes_AFE_Tuturiol_To_Pro_Colour_Smoke_And_A_Tail[1].doc Firework Editor Guide.doc

Your mixmasters are so organized 😂 I don’t even want to know what mine look like by the time I’m done. I just find blank space and put effects that will fit in it, haha

Where to begin with this one… First off, congrats on finishing another stellar Bite! It has been so much fun watching the progression of you getting back into show making. Also seeing such inventive ways of using lasers always amazes me. The show is definitely a feast for the eyes in color and depth. I really loved watching how the outer ponds played with the show in the river. Your use of fire effects are also really cool to watch! One thing (and honestly it’s just because I’m Mr Over-Synchronize) I would say was missing are during some of those rapid fire drums, there isn’t enough chaos going on. But I also know your vision was to let the fountains and lasers be the star of the show, not the pyro. I loved watching the show from both of your videos. The helicopter one was great for seeing the entire set play together and the other was great just to feel like you are part of the show. I’m so happy you didn’t give up on this when the file size was giving you issues. My theory is the multiple levels of reflective water, haha. Nevertheless, you did it! You prevailed! Now on to the next one 😜

Aww, thanks!!

A minor update, if anything just so this project isn’t forgotten, haha. This is the intro to the show! Just to help give an idea of what I’m working with. Everything is still subject to change but, enjoy!

Those are some pretty colors there! Can’t wait to see what the ride looks like in motion!

Haha, gotta have a parking lot. Not the most glamorous part of parks but definitely essential.

The paw prints are cute! Overall the structures look good and believable 😊

Those are pretty! I’m interested to see how they look in-game!

That looks really good! The circular pond feels like it needs a centerpiece or big fountain, but that is the only thing I’m seeing. LOVE the swamp area with the trees!

The foliage is so pretty! The entire area in that shot looks great!

The apartments are looking good so far! Gotta to have a place for people to stay! I know nothing about Planet Zoo it looks really cool 😊

I would take out the fog. I think the lasers accomplish the effect you are going for well enough. That fog isn’t really meant for that angle of viewing either. It’s meant for close up and ground level.

You know I always have 1 or 2 shows cooking at the same time, haha. This show has actually been in my lineup for years. The set was made just before The Creator’s Lounge shut down. Yes, this is my first video game show and I made about 5 or 6 soundtracks for this before settling on the finalized version. I am not using music from the different worlds. I’m using the more…cinematic stuff. So think intro music, character themes, battle scenes, and credit music. I also used some stuff from Kingdom Hearts Re-orchistrated. They took the music from the first two games and the side games and gave them a full orchestra overhaul. This soundtrack would not have been possible without them and the KH3 soundtrack that was released after the game.

I would say during show building, turn off the reflections. Then when you want to do a test run, turn them back on. No need to crash the game every time you do something haha.

"May your heart be your guiding key”

If I remember correctly, water reflection only works on the lowest body of water in the game. There could be mods out there but that is just the way they programmed it. 😞

“Frequently delayed and changed” 😆 Looks great! Can’t wait to see more!!!

Thank you so much everyone for the amazing comments! It means so much that people are enjoying my show. As for my next show…I hope to have something for you soon! I have a couple ideas cooking in various stages of development. One is further along so it might be the one that gets announced…May your heart be your guiding key…

Every myth has a strand of truth.... A daughter of Poseidon fell in love with a sailor of the sea. Her sister, filled with jealousy, disguised herself to trick and drown the sailor. Watch as a myth unfolds and tells true story of The Siren

Okay, hopefully the final update before release. I had to take a break due to the holiday season and working at Magic Kingdom. I’m currently working on fine tuning the show and making sure that it is up to my standards and getting feedback from a couple people to have fresh eyes. Final recording should be happening soon!

Long post about Luminous: The Symphony of Us incoming. The show message: We are more alike than we are different because we are all connected through the human experience. The show opens with a tribal feel through drums and wordless singing. With a large ground effect and lights forming the logs of a bonfire, we are welcomed to the “Great Gathering.” This leads us into an Epcot tradition we haven’t seen since 1999: The Welcome Ceremony. We are welcomed to gather around by each of the pavilions in their respective languages. The last time this was done in an Epcot show was Illuminations 25c, the show before Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. The last individual welcome we hear is from Walt Disney himself become everyone says it one final time. Comet shoot around the center and as they meet in the middle, we get our first aerial effect of the show. Like I said, in depth analysis, haha We then move into the first portion of narration that sets up what we will see tonight. “Everyone on this Earth is part of the great symphony of us” throughout this narration you can hear a heartbeat and the lights on the lagoon pulsing in time to it. “A rhapsody of rhythms that unites us and connects us through commonalities of the heart.” And with three taps of a conductor’s baton to catch the attention of all the musicians (us), the symphony begins. First strings, then winds, and finally voices come together. At first it is discordant and clashing but in a matter of seconds everyone comes together just as we do in life when meeting someone for the first time. The next section, titled “Heartbeat Symphony” is one of the original songs written for this show. It does everything you want in an introduction piece in a firework show. It allows the barges to give you a taste of what they can do without giving too much away. It also musically cements the message of the show. “You are a part of me, and I am a part of you! Just like a symphony, different melodies live in harmony. So go ahead and sing your song, I’ll be there to sing along. And all of the world will become a symphony.” Throughout this section, the small barges release different ground effects synchronized to the music and drum beats. We also get a really cool double release effect in the center with gold mines and blue aerials just above them that then reverse on the never phrase. This section really sells that this show is very color based and will give each part a unique feel. This number is predominantly blue and purple with gold accents and willows. We then look towards the center as the narrator talks about how our song as we enter this world is a raw noise and we begin to tune ourselves to the world around us. They then release an effect I have only seen in video prior in a Disney show called “LuminAria,” a slow rising sparkle effect. This is accompanied to a baby’s cry. This is when we are introduced to our first IP song of the show “You’ll be in My Heart” from Tarzan. It starts off as a solo in English then it begins to change languages and representing mothers all around the world cradling their newborns. It slowly becomes a five part harmony of female singers all singing in different languages while occasionally switching to English. All the while we get bursts of blue and pink fireworks. As the song ends, we reach our first transition section representing the passage of time. There is a shift with the lasers, a child laughing, and the new Epcot theme playing. The narrator talks about how we tune ourselves and learn what our instrument can do. We learn how we can add to our family’s melody and pass on our song. This moves us into “Proud Corazón” from Coco. This section is a beautiful representation of the different countries around the world as the fireworks burst and quickly change to different flag colors. Once again using pyrotechnics that Disney has never used before. The section with the Coco music uses the colors of the Mexico flag. We then return to the Epcot melody and the green, white, and red are joined with fireworks of red, white, and blue. Not only are these USA and Mexico colors but also many of the other countries in World Showcase share these colors. The next section is my least favorite song choices but the tight firework synchronization is a sight to behold. The narrator talks about how as we go into the world, we improvise our song as we meet other people with unique melodies “music becomes play.” This leads into You’ve got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story and “Never had a Friend Like Me” from Aladdin. The songs aren’t bad, they are simply overused. Disney puts them in nearly every show. This section is SUPER colorful and organized chaos at its finest. Every mine and aerial effect is timed perfectly to the beats of this section and create beautiful layers of flashes and sparks. I love how they hide the launches and pre-bursts of the orange and green fireworks so that they appear in the sky out of nowhere. Now it is time for the love section. Opening with “Can you feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King, the narrator talks about how sometimes we will meet someone and our melodies blend and we become a duet. This is my favorite IP choice of the entire show. “So Close” from Enchanted begins and the fountains dance together on the water. Gold comets with white and pink sparkles circle the barges. The music swells and we get two white comets shooting and crossing each other in the middle. Aerial fireworks with willows and more pinks and whites sparkle above as the song takes a melancholy turn and the section ends with a thunderclap. THIS is why I love this song choice. So Close is a love song and a song of loss. It is the perfect song to transition us into one of the saddest loss sections Disney has ever made. “Inevitably in life the accompaniment drops out and we experience great loss. We find that the melodies we cherished are gone. And for a moment we are playing alone.” The show then plays “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2 and “Recuérdame” from Coco overlaying each other. Most people hear this section and think it is only about death, but it is more than that. This also represents the end of a relationship. Disney really did not pull any punches with this section and the only firework in the entire section is a lone white comet that streaks across the sky as if looking for someone to cling to. The fountains that were once moving together are now individually moving. As the two singers sing their own songs, the smaller fountains become candles on the water and the only instrument playing is a lone piano. As at section ends and darkness, the narrator reminds us that we are never truly alone. “Sing out so others can hear you. The music we make echos back at us in chorus, in concert, in symphony!” This is accompanied by “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2. The fountains slowly come back and the countries light up to echo the call from the center. And the narrator says that we can come together if we listen to the sounds of each other. While she is saying this, copper comets and aerial bursts are coming from the center with blue lighting. This is a recreation of the section from Harmonious when the comets shoot from the arms in the finale. The section ends with “At Last I See the Light” from Tangled. Comets soar into the air from every barge and the country perimeter comets shoot to the center. “How miraculous that we exist on this planet at the same time. And yet it’s the human connection that unifies us.” And we have come full circle and returned to the hearbeat of humanity. The finale begins and a new original song begins: “The Beating of our Hearts.” The lights on the lagoon imitate a heartbeat in time to the song. The first part of this section has some really pretty harmonies and pyrotechnics but nothing we haven’t seen before in an Epcot show. The lagoon really takes its time to build into the finale, slowing increasing the number of effects. You can feel it is building to something as they start shooting comets to the center and then the center explodes with a barrage of comets. If you look closely, you can see the box that houses this never before seen effect rise up as the music swells. It shoots off 5 sets of comets before the next unique effect shows up. Out of each of the center barges, around 10 to 12 mines are shot out towards the audience forming the shape of a heart. This effect happens while the music is singing “the beating of our hearts.” Once this is over we get glittering fans and heart shapes aerials as the music continues to grows and stops as two red fireworks explode to a heartbeat rhythm. Then a lone firework shoots toward the sky as the narrator states “In the great symphony of us” and the perimeters shoot into the lagoon one last time. The sky is then filled with comets shooting from the small barges and white fireworks explode overhead in a classic Epcot finale using the Epcot theme to close out the show and one final “We’ll become a symphony” from the into song. Luminous: The Symphony of Us is a unique show that has firmly established itself in the upper ranks of Epcot shows. It takes what I loved from Reflections of Earth and Harmonious and put them together. I truly hope this show sticks around for a long time.

When all seems lost, listen to your heart