Un sound and light event prepared to the millimeter. The artistic director of the fireworks of July 14 in Paris, which will begin Thursday evening at 11 p.m. near the Eiffel Tower, detailed with the Parisian, Tuesday, July 12, all twenty minutes of the traditional pyrotechnic show which is attended each year by several thousand people.
“Our goal is to make the Eiffel Tower dance,” warned David Proteau from the start to our colleagues. “You have to know how to dress her and how to undress her. It’s like a fashion show! he smiles. Last Thursday, a week before the festivities, seven semi-trailers loaded with pyrotechnic elements arrived at the foot of the Iron Lady, from Spain and the city of Toulouse, where David Proteau’s company is based.
During the day of this Thursday, July 14, the monument will be closed to the public to allow around twenty rope access technicians to hang a large part of the 12,000 pyrotechnic departures on the building, between 1 am and 9 pm. Other shots will be fired from the Pont d’Iéna and on the quays on both sides of the Seine, explains David Proteau.
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“Paris celebrates the party”
During the fireworks display, around a hundred people, including 14 pyrotechnicians, will be devoted body and soul to the smooth running of the festivities to put stars in the eyes of the many spectators present on site. With the theme “Paris celebrates the party”, David Proteau has planned 14 different scenes during the show, including a tribute to Régine but also pieces by Stromae, Orelsan and Prince. “Each sequence associates a musical universe with a pyrotechnic universe. The two must be perfectly synchronized,” he stresses.
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If the show is a long-term job prepared well in advance, one element could upset the plans of David Proteau and his teams: the weather. “If the wind exceeds 54 km / h, we can not shoot it,” fears Florian Martiel, shooting leader and technical manager. According to Météo-France forecasts, the risks seem minimal at this level and should therefore not spoil the high point of the national holiday in the capital.