Bookworm91
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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.
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Well that was fun! I know little to nothing about roller coaster design but that was really cool to watch. I liked your use of foliage throughout the area and really helped bring to life the feeling of being a place you could actually visit. I also liked your lighting placement for the night time ride. It’s nice to see everything with a soft glow and not too much lighting that it makes it too bright. Overall, loved the coater and the environment it was placed in!
Just a slight update, I’ve been working hard on The Siren but my family is in town last week and this week so I don’t have my laptop with me to work on it. Maybe when I get back home next Saturday, I will be able to put out a picture or video for y’all. Just wanted to make sure y’all knew this project wasn’t dead, haha 😊
I honestly don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like that before, haha. Your use of LED effects were really fun and innovative considering what their original use was for. The show left me wanting more, in a good way. Only thing I thought was off was the syncing. I don’t know if it was from the editor or within the show itself, but it felt like some of those effects didn’t go off at the right time. Overall, though, great job!
It took a while, but I finally sat down and watched the show. It was VERY beautiful. I had little to no idea what the story was but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. I feel like if I understood the language, it would have been clearer. I really liked what you did with the fountains. You really made them feel alive. The overall show felt a little repetitive at times with the firework design but there is also only so many ways you can shoot off pyrotechnics in 12 minutes, haha. The colors really matched the mood and feel of the music and I can see you paid a lot of attention to the entire effect from launch to ending smoke. It was fun seeing you play with the middle piece but it felt a bit flat at times, like a chorus line. I would say try bringing some of your ground effects forward sometimes to really give a sense of depth to the set. From your screenshots, I know it had depth, it just didn't come across in the show. In the end, these are all nitpicks in a very solid show. I really enjoyed watching and I can't wait to see what your next project turns into!
Create your own castle of fantasy and wonder with Ezee's Cinderella Castle set. This contains two folders, one for the inner castle and one for the outer castle.
I did make Epcot Forever, I have it in a post on here as a completed work 😊 As for Harmonious….we shall see 🤐
So I know some people have done this already so I thought I might as well join in. I have made many shows over the years (most of them Disney one way or another, haha) and I would like to have them all in one place. I’m going to put everything up until the shows I have already made posts on. If I had to recommend some select shows, I would say watch the following: LuminAria The Flower, Sanctuary, Disney in the Stars, and Disneyland Forever. Those are my personal favorites and you can see my evolution in show making. Anyways, here are the shows in release order! Illuminations: Reflections of Earth: Disney Spectacular Part 1 and 2 Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams Part 1 and 2 Will You Be There (competition entry) Remember the Titanic (competition entry) Carol of the Bells Dreams and Wishes One Magical Year (Yes, by this point I had only been on vPyro for a year, haha) Poseidon’s Battle (competition entry) LuminAria: Let Your Light Shine The Flower (competition entry and winner) Sanctuary! Peace on Earth Second Star to the Right Heart of Liberty Winter Dreams HalloWishes God Bless Us Everyone Disney in the Stars Disneyland Forever Congratulations if you made it through all those shows or if you just enjoyed going down memory lane like I did! Would love to hear if you have a favorite!
So, when I made this show back in 2006/7 maybe 2008, I had no idea that other people made virtual firework shows in RCT3. I was in high school, the internet was still a weird and unusual place for me, and I lived in Mississippi. I felt like no one except one or two people understood my love for firework shows. My family went to Disney World for Thanksgiving in 2006 and I saw Illuminations: Reflections of Earth for the first time and it was love at first sight. My friend, who visited Disney often had the soundtrack for that, Wishes, and Fantasmic. We would listen to them on the way too and from football games on the band bus. I saw RCT3 Gold in the Walmart and I had to have it because I had only ever played the original game. Eventually I discovered the mixmaster and I played around with the in-game music and learned how to synchronize the effects to the show. I thought I was being original and clever. Then I figured out through the ReadMe file that came with the game that I could put my own music into the game. My friend loaned me her CDs and, with my dad’s help, put them on the computer. That was when I started working on RoE in the game. I didn’t know how to record and I took great care to avoid all the lag so that I could play the show straight through for my parents. In 2009, after high school graduation we were getting ready for another trip to Disney as a graduation present for me. I was looking up firework shows at Disney and I stumbled upon an RCT3 show called “Magic in the Sky Part I/II” which is still on YouTube. I was stunned. I was not alone. I spent hours watching shows and eventually found the website vPyro (RIP) and found a community that truly understood me. I say all that to set the stage for a show that was made by a boy who thought no one would ever watch his show except his parents. I present my first attempt in the virtual pyrotechnic world, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth
This was my way of showing just how massive the set is. Anyone that is familiar with the size of ID effects know how big they usually appear with CS pieces, haha. Thank you so much for all the compliments! I’ve really only shown pictures from the first minute and a half of the show out of almost seven minutes, so there is still lots to do and plenty more to reveal 😊
Very nice trailer! The show and colors look fantastic! Only thing I would say is watch for those pro color blobs that the ID effects love to create when you put too many together. I usually just make the colors really dim so that I can have the intended effect with the amount of pyro but the look doesn’t get lost in the blobs.
