Quicksilver enjoys repeat business from many satisfied customers,
both personal and corporate.
The following is just an example of some of them:
The Action Man Balloon
Even though no two jobs are ever the same, the request to generate
orange smoke coming from the top of a hot air balloon still
has to remain one of the more unusual requests we've taken over
the phone. The request came from the Virgin Airship and Balloon
Company. Before the official launch of the balloon for the
client, Virgin tested the balloon inside a giant hanger - there
are only a couple of buildings in the country big enough to
fly a hot air balloon inside.
The smoke units had to fit onto Action Mans giant sky-divers
smoke grendades and be fired by the pilot from the basket
below. The extreme temperatures generated by the balloons
gas burners meant that all the cabling inside the balloon
had to be of a very high specification so that it didn't melt.
On the outside special heatproof panels had to be fixed to
the balloon so that the pyrotechnic smoke units did not melt
through the balloon fabric.
After taking many photographs and doing a lot of measuring
it was back to the office to start work on the design as we
only had a week to complete the project. As a company that
works on many live events we know the importance of working
to deadlines and the Action Man balloon had his orange smoke
for the official launch.
The Legend of Alton Towers
Pyrotechnics always seem to be the last item on the check
list and this project was no different. The briefing was that
we had to make lightning strike a tree and knock a flaming
branch to the ground - all in a days work, we thought !
The filming was for a TV advert for Alton Towers latest ride
based around the legend of Alton Towers. Our victim was to
be a large oak tree in the grounds of a stately home owned
by the National Trust, and by the way, you musn't damage the
tree. The film company had employed a tree surgeon to bring
a "stunt double" branch, which we hung within the
tree using black rope which would not be seen on camera.
The charges to simulate the lightning striking the tree,
were fixed on the branch, which had to be cut free as the
fire button was pushed. The results were stunning and our
host tree remained unscorched.
Portmeirion
Those of you who remember the television series The Prisoner
will know of this location. Those of you who don't are missing
out of one of the most unusual and fabulous places in the
whole country. Situated just a couple of miles from Porthmadog
on the southern coast of North West Wales, Portmerion is a
place difficult to describe to those who have never been.
A Village unlike no other, the whole area has a Mediterranean
look and feel to it. At low tide, the sea reveals a huge sand
bank which makes a fantastic venue for a firework display.
If the weather is good, the sky is the limit. Popular with
wedding displays, we also put on a huge display for New Year
celebrations. Portmeirion is one of our operators favourite
places to work and for those not yet familiar with place its
well worth a visit.
The Orient Express
The firing site - a tug boat. The location -the middle of
the Medway estuary just outside Rochester. An entirely aerial
display was put on for the enjoyment of passengers waiting
for the famous train to change tracks, while taking delegates
from Europe to a travel conference in London . A Hugely enjoyable
and memorable project for all involved, especially the tug
boat captain. Firing aerial shells up to 10" (200mm)
in diameter form the steel deck of the tug had the effect
inside the cabin of somebody beating a huge steel drum.
The Edison Corporation
One of our more technical and difficult jobs with three shows
at three different locations, fired over 2 days. Each show
was fired in front of a power station and choreographed to
music with lasers, high power lighting and video projection.
At the Dinorwig pumped storage hydro-electric power station
the slate quarry near Mount Snowdon formed the ideal backdrop
for this multi-media spectacular. At the Ferrybridge and Fiddlers
Ferry powerstations our back drop were the massive cooling
towers onto which the video and Laser images were projected.
Shell
One project in the early nineties showed the diverse uses that
pyrotechnics are put to. Following the incident on the Pipa
Alpha oil platform Shell was conducting reseach into the behaviour
of explosions on oil rigs so that they could improve the safety
of future designs. They were filming the effects of explosions
at the Health & Safety Labs at Buxton in Derbyshire and
required a cheap source of white light as the explosions would
destroy any lighting equipment. We had White Flares specially
made which did the job brilliantly. Since then we have provided
more traditional fireworks to Shell's Sports and Social club.
|
|
