Will Coss, executive producer for the Macy's 4th of July Firework show, joined with the AccuWeather Network to break down preparations for the upcoming holiday festivities in New York City.
00:00A holiday filled with traditions. One of the biggest is the Macy's 4th of July fireworks.
00:06This year marks the 49th annual display lighting up the sky over New York City.
00:11Will Kost is the executive producer and he joins us now. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
00:17Thanks for having me. Good morning.
00:18Good morning. Will, how are preparations going? Can you describe the planning behind this major fireworks display in New York City?
00:24Reparations are going well. We're just a couple of days away from the 49th annual Macy's 4th of July fireworks here in New York City.
00:33Tons of work has happened over the last year to get ourselves prepped, but we're almost there.
00:3880,000 shells in effects, over 25 consecutive minutes. We have four barges.
00:44We have the Brooklyn Bridge this year. We'll be firing a variety of pyrotechnic displays off of throughout the 25 minutes of fireworks.
00:53We also have some projection mapping for the first time this year.
00:56So it's going to be a big show, one of the biggest we've ever done and excited to bring it to New York City in America.
01:02Well, you mentioned, I think, one new thing, the projection mapping is what you called it.
01:05What else is new or different in this year's show? Or can you explain even what that was exactly?
01:11Yes. So we have a great opportunity to fire off the Brooklyn Bridge this year and to enhance the overall theatrical production and the storytelling within that 25 minutes of pyrotechnics.
01:21We'll be projecting a variety of artful images on the east and west tower of the Brooklyn Bridge.
01:27So it's an iconic location. We're able to enhance it and create some additional beauty that will complement the fireworks above and beyond our 80,000 shells in effects that will be firing off.
01:39Amazing. I can tell how much planning goes into it. I love the storyline behind it as well.
01:44All right. Well, we here at AccuWeather, of course, we always want to know what weather conditions do you guys worry most about when it comes to the fireworks shows?
01:52Thankfully, our team is is well prepared and well prepped for a variety of of weather climates and environments.
01:59This year, it's looking like we're going to have some good weather, fingers crossed.
02:03But we're looking out for intense rains, winds.
02:07We take all that into consideration in our preparations and have a watch fly out over the next 48 hours as we lead into the holiday.
02:16Absolutely. So far in our good category, we have three categories for the fireworks viewing and so far looking good.
02:21All right. How do you design a show like this from the color, shapes and sounds and, you know, keeping it maybe different every year?
02:27Yeah. Yeah. This year, we had an opportunity to work with the legendary Questlove on our musical score.
02:34He and the team helped produce a fantastic score.
02:37So we start with our musical foundation.
02:40That's the baseline of of the entire event.
02:43So that'll help to kind of tell the story, the emotional cadence of the fireworks event.
02:49Once we have the peaks, the valleys, the patriotic moments, the introspective moments,
02:53we'll work with our pyrotechnics team to assign and design very specific effects across that 25 minutes.
03:01So some will be really larger than life moments that are going to pyrotechnics.
03:06That'll be upwards of a thousand feet in the air, cascading down, changing colors up to eight different times.
03:13Other moments will be a little bit more majestic.
03:15We have this 1600 foot waterfall that'll be coming off of the Brooklyn Bridge at a really beautiful point in the show.
03:22So, again, we start with our music and then we work with our teams across the pyrotechnics
03:27to build each specific moment that takes us, you know, takes the audience on a journey throughout those 25 minutes.
03:35Amazing. We are looking forward to it already.
03:37It's so fun to see the video, Will Koss, executive producer of the Macy's 4th of July fireworks show.
03:44Thanks again for joining us and just sharing your passion.
03:46It certainly came out and we look forward to the show.
