ISSUE 31 /July 2010 2
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ISSUE 31 /July 2010 EUROVISION 2010 wysiwyg was once again an integral part of one of the biggest Moving lights included 79 PRG Bad Boys, 88 Clay Paky Alpha television productions in the world – The Eurovision Song Con- Spot HPE 1200, 120 Martin MAC 2000 Wash, and over 230 test, held this year at the Telenor Arena outside Oslo, Norway. The Vari*Lite VL series fixtures. All moving lights were programmed show this year was considered fresh in all aspects, stepping away through one V676 console by Andrew Voller, all audience lighting from high-resolution LED walls and giving a state-of-the-art nod and screens were programmed by Theo Cox on a Full Boar and ‘back to the basics’. all LED elements were programmed from 2 PRG Virtuosos by Mike Owen. The show included three live broadcasts - two Semi-finals on May 25 and 27, and the Finals on May 29 to a combined live audi- ence of over 50,000 and an estimated 200 million television and internet viewers. Award-winning Lighting Designer Al Gurdon, along with the team from his company, Incandescent Design, provided the lighting de- sign and front of house services for Eurovision. PRG, with support from Norwegian supplier Frontlite, supplied all technical equip- ment, which included over 500 moving lights and more than 4000 fixed light elements, and crew for the show. The low resolution LED elements, consisting mainly of Colour Blocks and Jarags, were positioned in the moving back walls behind the Eurovision 2010 Plot as seen in wysiwyg stage, as well as in a series of “spokes” extending out on the ceiling over the entire arena, and were chosen to produce both video images The LED fixtures were controlled via DMX from Virtuoso VX show and lighting effects. The movable walls behind the stage were prefab- lighting consoles and fed video content pixel mapped from ricated by PRG specially for the event and overall, more than 6.8 kilo- metres (4.2 miles) of truss was used – a new record for Eurovision. Catalyst V4 media servers through Artnet and DMX merge soft © 2010 The official bi-monthly publication forwysiwyg Members 2 ISSUE 31 /July 2010 Eurovision 2010 - continued Greek team - wysiwyg rendering Greek musicians performing - photo Miguel was impressed with the software’s capabilities in keeping ware using the PRG S400+ node system. All content was spe- up with over 4500 individual fixtures. He explained, “The wysiwyg cially created for the event and triggered from timecode for every sessions in London ran on three machines: one for the main rig, song from either the Catalyst or the Virtuoso and sometimes both. one for the Jarags, and one for the Colour Blocks. Each wysiwyg Catalyst Operator was Ian Reith and Catalyst Technician was Nev machine displayed each part of the rig in a 30” monitor at a reso- Bull, delivering content supplied by Lauren Cahill, Rachel Sullivan lution of 2560 x 1600.” and Dave Newton. He laughs, “For me, drawing almost 2000 Colour Blocks was a erm... a joy?... Especially when Richie [Gorrod, Lighting Crew Chief] told me that in the back wall they were not equally spaced so let’s draw them again, or again when I finished patching the whole lot and found out that a single Colour Block in the middle had been left unpatched...oh joy of joys... LOL. “Once it was done, I left the three systems running for 5 weeks with very little attention.” He adds, “I saw the show on telly and I must say that personally I think it was the best looking one, light- ing wise, in a long, long time.” Slovenian team - wysiwyg rendering Previsualisation was carried out in London by Miguel Ribeiro in wysiwyg R25 Perform beginning in March, approximately two months before FOH was to move into the arena. The decision to use wysiwyg was an easy one. Load in was April 22, allowing a mere 13 days to have all rig- ging and lighting operational for FOH to begin running the lights on May 3, with a formal press reveal on May 6. Obviously, no time to experi- ment with looks for over 40 songs! With wysiwyg, the ability to create the design remotely allowed Al and his team to preview everything, identify errors and potential collisions, check camera views, precue, use AutoFocus & AutoPatch, and finally upload the cues and settings Slovenian musicians performing - photo directly into the consoles, saving countless hours and loads of energy by not having to physically run the lights – which, considering the time Miguel sent us the attached clip https://www.cast-soft.com/cast/ constraints, wouldn’t have been possible anyway! showcase/media.php saying,“It might not look like much but I am © 2010 The official bi-monthly publication forwysiwyg Members 3 ISSUE 31 /July 2010 Eurovision 2010 - continued Eurovision stage rendering Eurovision stage photo VERY IMPRESSED with theR25 performance. The screen here leadership of Executive Producer, Jon Ola Sand and TV Producer, shows 1884 Colour Blocks being driven by the Virtuoso Effects En- Hasse Lindmo. Production Manager of Design was Ola Melzig, gine. OK, it might not be actual realtime but displaying 2000 fixtures alongside Project Manager for PRG, Matthias Rau. in a total of 6000 DMX channels is an AMAZING achievement!” Andrew Voller added, “In this case, wysiwyg Perform wasn’t just At the end of the broadcast, the public voted live and crowned convenient, it was crucial. The amount of cues, effects and individ- Lena Meyer-Landrut of Germany the winner of Eurovision 2010 ual fixtures on Eurovision is astounding – particularly when faced with 246 points for her smash hit “Satellite”, meaning the 2011 with the tight schedule. To be able to easily connect Miguel’s work contest will be held in Germany. And no doubt, 2011 will surely be to the consoles saved countless hours.” full of surprises! The event was televised by host broadcaster, NRK under the Serbian team - Wysiwyg rendering Serbian musicians performing - photo © 2010 The official bi-monthly publication forwysiwyg Members 4 ISSUE 31 /July 2010 Eurovision 2010 - Lighting Design Concept By Al Gurdon The lighting design for Eurovision 2010 is based on the need for flexibility; to create a sufficient variety of visual moods and textures to under- pin the tones of the musical performances; grand scale; to suit the size and setting of the show, as well as the expectations of its audience; and the need to include the audience and the arena as part of the televised experience. To this end, the approach to the lighting design has been, simultane- ously, a movement ‘back to basics’, but with a ‘state of the art’ ap- proach to the use of lighting technology. There is no high-resolution video element within the set this year, but instead we have created a totally immersive low-resolution lighting and video environment, designed to be used in an architectural way, rather than to provide literal images. It will be driven by cutting edge lighting and media server technology, by a team with a proven and impressive track record, employing the latest developments in lighting and video control software. With this three-dimensional approach to the visual design our television directors will have an unprecedented opportu- nity to shoot the show, virtually wherever they position and point the cameras. The audience both in the hall and on television will have an almost visceral sensation of participation within the visual land- scape and, by association, within the performance itself. Everything will feel connected. Al Gurdon explains the lighting concept to the press at a formal stage reveal on May 6 A key component in this design will be an array of nearly two thousand LED Colour Blocks. Two hundred of these units were recently used to impressive effect on the 2010 Super Bowl Half Time Show in Miami, featuring ‘The Who’. In a venue of a comparable size, we have ten times that number, so there is no doubt that we will be able to create ‘looks’ as big as they come, but they will also be able to be used with great subtlety for the slower numbers. Of course, with variety in mind, we will not want to use this for every performance, so we have an intelligent lighting rig that includes 84 PRG Bad Boys, capable of stadium filling moving light projection and beam effects. We also have a back wall containing 88 Alpha Spot 1200W Profiles, 80 Atomic Strobes, as well as 80 Chromalect ‘Jarag’ units, and for lightning effects we have seven 85KW Hungaro Flash. So within the lighting rig there is great potential and flexibility, which will be even more extensive when used in combination with the variety of set drapes, which can be used either by themselves or in combination. R25 NEW FEATURES – NEW PLACES – NEW USES Letter from the editor, Joan Lyman, Manager, Communications Hello Dear Readers, I’m hoping you’re all off to either a very relaxing or very busy summer isn’t a valuable tool! But the ability to – both of which are good! (Remember, it is summer in the northern take all your hard work and instantly hemisphere where I am). load it to a console is an incredible timesaver. And let’s face it – time is Despite the fact that this letter is being written from a very warm money, whether it’s rental costs or Austin, I chose to share this photo, taken in Oslo, Norway this past labour. May during Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Yes, I’m the frozen one wrapped in three blankets with my barefooted good friend Philip Boht, Please continue to send your success one of the riggers from PRG in Hamburg.