APRIL | SECTOR FOCUS
ABOUT ARTEM
Artem is a physical special effects
company working across the events
industry as well as film and TV.
The company, based in London and
Glasgow, and will celebrate its 30th
anniversary in 2018.
You were involved in the 2012
Olympics, working closely with
Danny Boyle and were involved in
one particular sequence involving
pyrotechnics. Can you please
describe this? Do you think the
2012 Olympics marked a change in
pyrotechnic practices?
The main thing we did with
pyrotechnics in the opening ceremony
was the pouring of the molten rings.
The ‘flowing’ molten metal was done
with LED lights but on either side, we
had channels where sparks and smoke
were being sequentially produced to
match the front edge of the lighting
effect. The pyrotechnic effects gave
real life to the sequence. I don’t think
the Olympic ceremony changed
pyrotechnic practice – it has always
been a professional activity with a
healthy respect for safety.
YOU’VE WORKED ACROSS FILM AND TV AS WELL AS
EVENTS. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ON FILM SETS
THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO APPLY TO EVENTS?
Film and TV is a more pressured environment, deadlines
are tight and you often only get one go at something, so
reliability is imperative. Also realism is critical, and the
requests extremely varied, and carrying this across to
events is often fun. We also tend to use a much wider range
of pyrotechnics and explosives to achieve an outcome than
would ordinarily be used in events, so this can give a new
look to a client’s ideas.
PYROTECH
Demand for pyrotechnics grows with increased
customer expectations, so Access talked to Mike
Kelt, CEO of Artem about making a big bang
TELL ME ABOUT A PYROTECHNIC JOB YOU’RE MOST
PROUD OF AT AN EVENT. WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES?
Rather than specific events, the challenges are when you are
recreating something more like a film. Something other than an
‘off-the-shelf’ effect with simple gerbs or flame projectors. Some
years ago, we did a summer at Alton Towers where the Marines were
attacking across the lake, so we built flame throwers into boats and
set off huge explosions amongst the action. The audience loved it!
HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO YOU PLAN FOR A
PYROTECHNICS’ PROJECT? HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU
WORK WITH ON SUCH PROJECTS?
This is completely dependent on the demands of the project, and
36