TEL AVIV, Israel – Unashamed glitter, glamour, spandex, multi-color, bounce, camp costumes, fun and some properly superlative pop songs hit the airwaves hard and reverberated around Hall 2 of Expo Tel Aviv, Israel for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest – currently the world’s largest music television show.
More details from Robe (www.robe.cz):
Lighting included nearly 300 strategically placed Robe moving lights – a mix of BMFL WashBeams, BMFL Spots and MegaPointes – which were specifically requested by this year’s lighting designers, Ronen Najar and Dakar Azulay, both accomplished and respected practitioners working prolifically in Israel and internationally.
They put together a joint pitch to creatively light the high-profile production organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and hosted by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation and broadcast via Israel’s KAN network.
Once selected from some stiff competition, Ronen and Dakar worked closely with Eurovision head of production Ola Melzig and his international team and utilized over 2,500 lighting and pixel fixtures on the rig, amounting to in excess of 71,000 control parameters in total!
Ronen and Dakar looked after all entertainment lighting and Dakar also took care for the key lighting. Ronen lights many live events, theatre shows and music tours, while Dakar specializes in television and broadcast lighting.
They are great friends and working together produces a unique synergy allowing both the imaginative space to bring a different approach to the lighting design, which helped make this one of the best regarded ESC presentations to date. They also took briefs from the 41 individual artistic directors from each individual delegation.
The talented international team included production designer Florien Wieder of Wieder Design in Germany who created the performance environment’s elegant architecture. In addition to the 41 contestants who battled it out to become the 26 finalists via two live televised semi-finals the week ahead of the final, Ronen and Dakar also lit 7 pre-show, playout and interval acts, the Flag Parade and other ceremonial moments.
The ESC lighting team also programmed for Madonna’s two interval numbers during the final – her 1989 hit ‘Like A Prayer’ and new single ‘Future’ with US rapper Quavo – a task overseen by LD Al Gurdon, who looked after all the iconic star’s lighting requirements.
The 116 x BMFL WashBeams were installed across the roof of the venue and were utilized for all the key lighting – from the front, rear and side and several ‘fill’ positions.
“We needed a powerful lightsource, and we wanted one type of fixture to take care of every aspect of the key lighting” elucidates Ronen. “For this, we thought the BMFL WashBeam was the best option”.
Both he and Dakar regularly use Robe products in their designs.
Eighty-seven BMFL Spots were used for all the audience lighting. This is vital in a show like Eurovision to ensure that TV directors Amir Ukrainitz and Sivan Magazonik had a constant and consistent selection of go-to audience shots to add to the broadcast mix. Eurovision fans are known for their enthusiasm and their presence is an essential part of the excitement.
The 78 x Robe MegaPointes were dotted around the audience trusses and above the stage, used for effects and to assist in the epic lighting looks.
