Evolution of Pyro

Written By: Cudo on October 9, 2008 No Comment

Some of the content I really love on Gameops.com are the definition pages. When I worked at Nike in the sports entertainment department I was throw into the deep water on some production elements I knew nothing about. Pyro and lighting were just two such areas.

I was really lucky to have a local production house owner spend an hour over lunch to “take me to school” on various topics. It wasn’t enough so that I would be able to actually light a stage or build a pryo show, but I would be able to accurately describe what I wanted from my vendors. He was priming me to be able to speak the language of the vendor.

It also can help you not get taken to the cleaners from unscrupulous vendors. Show a vendor that you have a working knowledge of their service and they are less likely to try to sell you something you don’t need.

Finally, the more you know….the more you know what’s possible. Expand your knowledge and you know more about what you can reasonably ask for. It’s just good business.

As I started to build content on the site, I always love to talk to vendors who can share some of their insight to event producers. Help us “speak the language”. Vendors like this are also helped when you have a working knowledge, since you are more likely to ask for the possible and you cut through that difficult layer of asking for everything in child-like terms like “big pow” over “concussion”.

Two such vendors are Zenith Pyrotechnics and Pyritz Pyrotechnices. Steve Dobo with Zenith joined us for an early interview on Gameops.com and Terry Ritz at Pyrtiz helped with a vocab list of pyro. That list has since grown to include video clips so you can see the effects.

I highly recommend that interview, our Pyro Terms page, and checking out this video of the evolution of Pyro. The pyro shown here shows an amazing progression of pyro used over the years by the WWE. The WWE uses Zenith Pyro, so you can see a lot of the work of Steve Dobo and see how much they have grown and evolved over the years.

–Cudo

Jon Cudo is the Founder and Editor of Gameops.com and a 21-year veteran in game presentation and the most tenured mascot in team sports. His blog covers everything from game night promotions, site news, mascotting, book reviews and more. It's not "must read"....but it's close.
[Contact Cudo] [Follow Us on Twitter] [Gameops.Facebook]