[DOCU] "Passfire" van de broers Veverka

[Viva la Bang]

15 april 2013

From today's Passfire shoot in Thrissur, India - It may just look like a hole in the ground but what you see is actually quite interesting.

At the annual Thrissur Pooram festival held by two competing Hindu temples in the middle of the city, hundreds of holes are dug into the dry, clay-like earth and used as mortar tubes. No steel, no fiber glass, no cardboard liner - the earth itself becomes the mortar.

The temples have been holding this competition for over a century and the holes are carefully dug by experienced workers who make them just the right size: too small and the shell won't fit, too big and it won't go high enough, possibly falling on the audience and causing an accident.

If you look carefully you can see the remains of the paper cup for the lift charge. These are massive 12" maroons for day-time use and the concussions are deafening.

Today is just the beginning of the festival set-up (small "offerings" of fireworks are used in the lead up to the big event this weekend) and we will have more pictures and reports in the days to follow.



Bron: https://www.facebook.com/Passfire

[Viva la Bang]

16 april 2013

From today's Passfire shoot in Thrissur, India - The Japanese are famous for their giant ball shells, but the Indians make some too.

What you see here are not mass-produced display shells: these unique looking balls are hand made by small workshops for use in traditional religious festivals year-round in Kerala, the Indian state where Thrissur is located.

For the Keralan's it matters not if they are Hindu, Christian or Muslim (the state has populations of all three) - all faiths in Kerala believe that fireworks are a way of honoring the higher powers.

Rohit Vikhe holds a shell a little under 24" (the Keralan's use a traditional measurement system rather than inches) and sits on a shell around 30" in size and weighing over 330lbs (150kg) when fully loaded.

But besides the unusual look and consistency of their hard casing made from paper and a gum extracted from a local tree (they sound like a Tabla, a traditional Indian drum, when empty and struck by the hand) there is something very special about them.

You are looking at what are possibly the world's biggest maroons: that's right, these 330 pound giants are filled with flash powder and launched into the sky day or night for one purpose alone: a deafening boom. Store owners in the area tape up and cover their windows before festivals to protect glass from the shock wave.

We have heard the 12" versions go off already and earplugs are a necessity. Just imagine what these ones can do.

[Viva la Bang]

18 april 2013

From today's Passfire shoot in Thrissur, India - Here you see one of the massive, approximately 30" salutes being lowered by a group of Indian men into the hole in the earth that will become it's launch tube. This shell weighs over 300 pounds and took several pairs of men to lug out to the field.

Photos and videos really can't capture how loud and bright this flash salute is when it goes off, but earplugs where a necessity and even from several hundred yards away we could feel the thump in our chests.

Although fired remotely from a safe distance, no e-match is used. We'll show you how the Keralan's do it in the next post.

One piece of trivia: The aluminum powder from the factory where we took the picture of the aluminum ingots in our previous post was used in making this shell.

[Viva la Bang]

19 april 2013

From this evening's Passfire shoot in Thrissur, India - Tonight was the "sample" display for this Sunday's big fireworks bonanza for the Thrissur Pooram festival.

Jeremy Veverka films the opening barrage of "vedikettu", the Keralan word for fireworks. Look carefully and you will see a tree in the distance on the right side of the camera to give you a sense of scale (we are up on the rooftop of a nearby hotel.)

The cloud of smoke is from the fusing technique employed: open lines of black powder running between the launch holes.

More pictures to follow this weekend.

[Viva la Bang]

20 april 2013

Today's Passfire Update from Thrissur, Kerala, India - The big Pooram festival culminates tomorrow with elephants and drumming leading up to a giant fireworks display from 3AM-6AM the next morning.

In our previous post we've explained how giant flash salutes play a key role in honoring the Hindu deity Shiva. Now we'll share with you how the displays are set up.

In India the government does not officially permit the manufacture or use of e-match, so you won't find any precisely timed pyromusicals here. Instead the Keralan's do it the old fashioned way, a la Wile E. Coyote: with lines of black powder.

Here you can see an array of 4" holes loaded with salutes with hand-made quick match running to lines of black powder. The blue buckets are being used to ferry the large amounts of black powder needed out to the site. An entire launch area may be spread out over hundreds of yards meaning that hundreds of pounds are needed to make all the connections. This is "passfire" in its most literal interpretation.

When the show is lit viewers can watch the progress by following the flaring line of powder (and smoke) across the field. (Dry rice paddy fields are utilized before they are planted for the next growing season.)

Despite the lack of electronic ignition, by varying the distances and using bypasses, timing can be adjusted so that the salutes take on a beating rhythm much like the drums that often accompany the festivals.

What you see here is the set up for the final barrage - throwing an overwhelming amount of flash into the sky. Lord Shiva will be honored.

[3xh]

Wtf!!
Sick shit zo zonder buis.
En fie salutes....
En ik maar denken dat onze duitse vriend ver ging met zijn 9.999 grammer.
Maar dit gaat nog wel ff een stapje verder..
Rete intressant. Ben benieuwd hoe de dvd wordt.
Man alleen dit is al tegek.

[PYROMANIAC 1975]

Kan niet wachten om de dvd te ontvangen.
Wat een leipe sh*t zeg.
Zoals Remco al zegt over die 9.999gram,Dat is een muggescheetje in vergelijking met wat hier de lucht in word gepompt!!!

grtz

[smilli]

Helemaal gek misschien toch maar is naar India voor zo'n mascleta Indiana.

[Zwitsal]

heeft u last van mollen ?
wij helpen graag van u probleem af
zonder ongein laat die dvd maar snel komen dit is gewoon kei harde pyro porno

[Viva la Bang]

Today's Passfire Update - The Thrissur Pooram festival was a big success with a tremendous turnout of people. Crowds formed an impenetrable wall around the site and all said the festival lasted an entire week.

The final day of the festival started in the late afternoon on Sunday with 30 elephants and an entire retinue of handlers with flaming torches. Loud bangs could be heard throughout the day as offerings to Lord Shiva.

The fireworks began at 3AM and went until 5AM, with a final volley of daytime salutes and parachutes at 1 PM on Monday.

We got lots of great footage for the film and would like to share this one picture that shows how bright these salutes are. Notice the people in the foreground and center for a sense of distance and scale. Also note the flames and smoke from the lines of black powder used to fuse the shells.

We'd love to share more, but we need to save the best stuff for the film!

[Viva la Bang]

t's a wrap! Passfire is officially done filming in India. It's been an amazing trip and we have been able to film things beyond our wildest expectations that we look forward to showing you in the finished film.

We would like to extend a special "thank you" to Rohit Vikhe, an Indian pyrotechnician who joined us for the entire shoot. For the past three weeks Rohit has been a member of the Passfire production team and we are sad to say goodbye.

So what's next? The Passfire team is leaving tonight for the DaNang International Fireworks Competition in Da Nang Vietnam with an official invitation from the Government of Vietnam and Global 2000, the organizers of the show.

Stay tuned.

[Viva la Bang]

De gebroeders Veverka zijn nu in Vietnam voor de DaNang International Fireworks Competition, hieronder hun Facebookberichten.


The Passfire team has arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam for the DaNang International Fireworks Competition, taking place on April 29th and 30th.

Teams from Russia, Italy, Vietnam, Japan and the USA are competing in the pyromusical event.

Stay tuned for pics and posts.

[Viva la Bang]

Team Passfire on location at the DaNang International Fireworks Competition on Saturday. The show starts Monday!

[Viva la Bang]

Passfire producers Jesse and Jeremy Veverka stand with team USA Melrose Pyrotechnics, who took first place at the DaNang International Fireworks Competition on April 30, 2013.

It was an honor to meet Mike Cartolano and his talented team, and we are also grateful to Global 2000, the organizers of the show and the city of Da Nang and the government officials in Vietnam who hosted the event.
1 mei 2013

For those who may not be aware, April 30 is a national holiday in Vietnam that commemorates the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

It is wonderful to see that 38 years later a fireworks event can bring the US and Vietnam together as friends.

[Viva la Bang]

3 mei Passfire op Facebook

Passfire is on it's way to Thailand for its famous rocket festivals. We just got an enthusiastic farewell from the immigration officials at the Da Nang airport who thanked us for coming to DIFC13 and congratulated us on team USA's win. Our first time to be congratulated by immigration officers anywhere. Thank you Vietnam.