BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — LD Martin Kubanka used Robe moving lights and REDBlinders for the live TV show that selected who would represent Slovakia at the 2009 Eurovision song contest later this month. The show was staged at Slovakian Television headquarters and broadcast live on STV1.
The basic visual concept developed by Kubanka and set designer Marek Hollý was to create a 360 degree arena style show in the studio, which included an area for 300 dancing fans to the side of the live audience seating stands. The challenge for the lighting and video crew was to make the visual concept work on TV and before the live studio audience.
Q-99 supplied the lighting and LED screens, which were positioned around the studio, and to mirror these with moving lights, Kubanka needed bright lightsources, which is one of the reasons he chose Robe.
The rig included 22 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs, 18 ColorWash 1200E ATs, 24 ColorSpot 575E AT and eight REDBlinder 196s, which were positioned on the stage and rigged in the studio roof above the audience and fans.
Some of the ColorSpot 575E ATs were integrated into the set behind the stage. To the sides of the dancing fans, ColorWash 1200E ATs were used as “contra lights” and for light-wall effects behind those camera shots.
The Robe units gave Kubanka a number of options for creating visuals that would tie in with the variety of musical styles and genres, providing different looks to the various performers. The fast strobe facility came in handy for the up-tempo songs and the announcement of the winners.
“In my opinion Robe is quite simply the best choice of moving light currently available,” said Kubanka, who uses Robe on all his major shows. “With brightness and versatility, Robe provides exactly the right tools for me, and the reliability is incredible no matter how hard the units are worked.”
Q-99 also supplied a wide selection of other lighting fixtures including searchlights and effects, plus four different types of LED surfaces for the event.
All lighting was controlled via a grandMA full size console programmed and operated by Michael Schmidt, with a grandMA light running the video operated by Thomas LeckÅ·.
The winners of the Bratislava event, Nela Pocisková and Kamil Mikulćík will represent Slovakia in the Eurovision final set for Moscow May 16.
For more information, please visit www.robe.cz.
