PLSN caught up with the always innovative Fredrik Stormby from Stockholm-based Green Wall Designs shortly after the Melodifestivalen Final 2024, the live and broadcast Swedish competition that decided the country’s act that will move on to the 68th Eurovision Song Contest. Melodifestivalen 2024 was the 64th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, that was televised by Sweden’s Sveriges Television (SVT). The competition took place between February 3 and March 9, 2024. Stormby was the Lighting and Screens Designer for Melodifestivalen; a role he will also take for this year’s Eurovision being held this May in Malmö, Sweden.
You are the Lighting and Screen Designer for both Melodifestivalen and for Eurovision, is that a role you enjoy?
I really enjoy having that title, because it gives me the possibility to work with lighting and video as one entity. I like to work that way very much, it is how we built our studio, our company Green Wall Designs; is built around the philosophy of lighting and video being heavily integrated; that’s in our DNA as a company.
How did you approach your design for Melodifestivalen?
Because there are so many competing performances, and also opening and intermission acts, we try to approach everything with workhorse ideas. So, the lights we bring in, I want them to be as versatile as possible. The video screens we build, I want that to work not only as a backdrop or background, but also for diagonal shots. We also need to facilitate a lot of quite big props. So, for the lighting and video design, we try to build something that we can squeeze as many looks as possible out of and also get quite a clean broadcast with.
How is the video used to support the experience the artist is trying to create for their song in the Melodifestivalen contest?
The video screens are quite high resolution, it’s 2.5 mm screen, which allows us to work with the video content without risking moiré in the broadcast, something that we obviously want to avoid. We try to produce video content where we either put the artist in an environment or we have a lot of choreography driven video content. That is like when the artist would swing an arm and there is something happening to that. That’s something our team are very used to doing and I think we do very well. We have a long background of working choreographically, putting that and the video together. There’s just a lot of tricks up our sleeve that we’ve learned over the years. It also makes it easier when we actually control quite a big part of the process as the content house and as the lighting designers. We can quite easily go in and say, okay, let’s change this, or when we do this performance, make sure you render out all of these things as separate elements. I think that’s how we managed to achieve this level of detail in quite a short time on this project. And also working very closely with the camera department.
Talk about balancing the design, both the lighting and the video, for the audience in the room but also for the television audience watching the Melodifestivalen broadcast. We would end up somewhere in between here. For the stage performances, we design mainly for the cameras, but it’s certainly an audience pleaser as well. For the finals we do go quite heavy on audience lighting. We add another six trucks of lighting for the audience during the finals because it’s half a football stadium. Actually, we are touring a big audience lighting package for the other five shows before the finals also. As long as it adds to the performance and it doesn’t disturb the shots, we add audience lighting to bring energy. If we manage to fire up the audience, obviously they will fire up the artists performing. So, we treat it very much as a combination of a concert and a broadcast show.
What’s something that you think might stand out to others in the industry in the Melodifestivalen design?
actual design, perhaps not that much as it is more of a workhorse design like I mentioned. But I think what would stand out is the level of precision when it all comes together on camera. I know that’s actually quite outstanding. We’ve been working with assisted camera time code, assisted camera switching for over 10 years. And I think we master that workflow quite well and what we can get out of it. When I look at what we managed to achieve, I think a lot of the times, it’s very clean in terms of shots; strong images; like here’s a lighting cue, here’s a closeup picture. The key light is good. I think that’s what really stands out when it all comes together. The precision in the camera work and the switching work together with the lighting and video; that’s what really sells it with all the energy in the room of the final.
Also, obviously, it’s a big team effort and there’s so many creatives and choreographers and people involved in it. And I have a team also with content producers, motion graphics designers and associate lighting director and lighting and video programmers. But, yeah, what I really enjoy doing is to be able to work at this level of precision and really keep on refining stuff all the time. We find it really fun to get creative with all of these elements and artists to work in a way that we are always adding to the performances. Not necessarily making it a tech show, but carefully trying to create the right energy for the performances.
And next you are the lighting and screens designer for Eurovision in your home country, how does that feel?
Yeah, it’s a bit surreal to be honest. I worked on two already. One as a dimmer technician and one as a lighting operator. But obviously, now to take on this role is a massive honor. It’s also a big responsibility. Like now we have 25 people working downstairs with this project with video and lights and everything. And it’s my job to keep them inspired and make this a good journey for all of us. Eurovision is always something you look at year after year, one rig is always bigger than the other. And it is, at least in Europe, one of the biggest shows out there. So yeah, I’m honored and I’m super excited.
Production Team for Melodifestivalen Final 2024
Creative Directors: Sacha Jean-Baptiste; Keisha Von Arnold; Jennie Widegren
Light and Video Designer: Fredrik Stormby
Set Designer: Viktor Brattström
Associate Lighting Designer: Ishai Mika
Lighting Programmers: Isak Gabre; Linus Pansell
Screen Content Producer: Peter Sundkvist
Disguise Programmer: Viktor Skoglund
Motion Designers: Olivia Ramviken; David Carvajal; Nisse Westfelt; Andreas Strömquist
Follow Me Operator (Lead): Kevin Moorehouse
Follow Me Operators: Maja Fernlund; Kim Andersson; Jimmie Sonelius
Lighting Crew Chiefs: Pontus Rydebjörk and Linus Österberg
Lighting Techs: John Edeborg; Elof Bergkvist; Gustav Rahm; Pontus Thoren; Johan Hedin; Pär Lundholm; Mattias Hansen; Felix Strömberg; Annelie Nanji; Benjamin Whalström; Johan Linden; Fredrik Eklöv
Video Crew Chief: Fredrik Björklund
Lasers: Johan Lindell; Love Karlsson; Pieterjan Ruysch
Stage Manager: Tobbe Berg
Props: Alexander Ankarberg
Vendors
Lighting & Video: Creative Technology Northern Europe (Key Acc’t: Johan Ekblad)
Riggingworks: Johnny Mac
GEAR
Lighting
Main System
150 Martin MAC ERA 150 Wash
101 Ayrton Eurus S
62 GLP JDC1 Hybrid Strobe
98 Martin MAC Aura XIP
207 Martin MAC Quantum Wash
60 Robe Robin T2 Profile
78 Claypaky Sharpy
4 Arri Skypanel S30-C
24 Astera Titan Tube
6 MDG Kit
4 grandMA3 full-size Console
1 grandMA3 light Console
1 grandMA3 Extension
4 grandMA3 PU L
6 grandMA3 PU M
26 grandMA3 8-port Node
18 Luminex Gigacore 16XT
1 Luminex Gigacore 30i
6 Luminex Luminode4
648ch StageSmarts SmartPDU
Artist Extras
8 Aputure MC Pro
8 Arri LC10-C Fresnel
13 Astera AX3
8 Astera Hyperion Tube
20 Astera Titan Tube
3 Ayrton Cobra
8 Ayrton Eurus S
33 Claypaky Tambora Line
5 GLP impression X4 Bar 20
32 GLP JDC-1 Hybrid Strobe
20 LDDE Nanopix Slim FR 1440
7 Martin MAC Aura XIP
3 Martin MAC Quantum Wash
48 Martin VDO Atomic Dot CLD
20 ADJ Encore UV
24 PAR64
8 4-Light Blinder
Video
90m² Absen Polaris 2.5mm LED Video Panel
72m² ROE Visual Black Marble 4mm LED Floor
3 Disguise GX3 Media Server
Lasers
7 Laserimage DL42 RGB Laser
3 Laserimage DL24 RGB Laser
6 Laserimage DL15 RGB Laser
3 Laserimage Line Module RGB Laser
2 Pangolin Ultimate Work Stations
Smoke for Lasers
8 hazebase High Power Hazer
8 Fans
Gallery of other performers at the Melodifestivalen Final 2024
