New Year’s celebrations from the Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe at the turn of the year

Every 31 December, the Arc de Triomphe becomes the focal point for hundreds of thousands of Parisians and television viewers. Decorating this façade for the New Year’s celebrations involves working with a listed monument, an esplanade in the very heart of the capital and a live television broadcast.

• 04Enlarge : New Year’s celebrations from the Arc de Triomphe, Paris (vue 4 sur 9)
• 05Enlarge : New Year’s celebrations from the Arc de Triomphe, Paris (vue 5 sur 9)
• 06Enlarge : New Year’s celebrations from the Arc de Triomphe, Paris (vue 6 sur 9)

Firing positions placed to the centimetre

On such a confined and heavily monitored site, each firing position was placed to the nearest centimetre, taking into account safety angles and the proximity of the public, without obstructing the images projected onto the monument.

Installation carried out in half a day, on the same day

Unlike venues where set-up takes several days, the entire firing rig had to be installed in half a day, on the day of the event, on an esplanade that was reopened to the public after the event. So we prepared everything beforehand: a firing plan finalised in advance, pre-configured equipment and teams trained to set up quickly under the supervision of the authorities.

A display set to the projected images

The fireworks display in Paris had to fit precisely with the video mapping projected onto the monument’s façade. We worked on a shared time-code so that each pyrotechnic effect went off at the exact moment of the countdown, without disrupting the live television broadcast.