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July 2012 entertainment, presentation, installation

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TF: JB-lighting’s A12The fixture examined

Also Inside:

Eurovision 2012Live in Baku, Azerbaijan

Soweto TheatreA dream realised in Jo’burg

Diamond JubileeLSi looks behind the scenes . . .

PLUS! • Is AV Bridging the next big thing? Chaos Visual in Profile • Rose Bruford’s Class of ‘97

Sondheim’s Saturday Night at RADA • ABTT Theatre Show Review Rigging Call • Funktion-One on the Thames • Brighton’s New Amex Stadium

Video Matters: Lighting to Video • Mix Position: Audiothinktank - and more . . .

With an estimated 125 million television and internet viewers, Eurovision

is the world’s biggest televised music event and a major showcase

for the skills and technologies of the event production industry.

Lee Baldock joined the Sennheiser party in Baku . . .

Eurovision Goes East . . .When Germany hosted Eurovision in 2011, Brainpool, a German

television production company specialising in comedy and light

entertainment - perfect credentials, you might think - took on the

production responsibilities alongside national broadcaster NDR.

The creative team and technical suppliers that Brainpool

assembled (including an element of experienced Eurovision

regulars) pulled off a spectacular show in Düsseldorf (see LSi June

2011) after which the production baton passed to the 2011 winners

and the hosts for 2012 - Azerbaijan. Well, in theory, anyway.

The modern state of Azerbaijan has only existed since 1991,following its bloody emergence from behind the Iron Curtain. Since

then it hasn’t had the time or the need to develop the necessaryinfrastructure to stage a production on this scale. So, the Azeriauthorities called on Brainpool to handle the production on theirbehalf - to repeat the success of Düsseldorf in Baku. All Bakuneeded was an arena to host the event: the 23,000-seat CrystalHall was completed in mid-April 2012, less than six weeks beforethe show.

Production OverviewWhen Brainpool’s head of production, Xanten Stratmann, arrivedon-site with her team in April, there was no infrastructure aroundthe venue - no offices, no storage, no catering - not even toilets forthe first 10 days. Still, apart from the latter point, they had knownpretty much what to expect.

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Coordinating the transportation of the entire production acrossEurope to Baku was an impressive logistical feat. To thenassemble it in time for the show amid such difficult conditions says a lot about the skill and experience of the management andcrews involved.

Brainpool arranged for 100 freight containers filled with equipmentto be moved on two enormous freight trains from Germany, underthe guidance of freight company Schenker. Even such necessaryresources as forklifts and cherrypickers had to be sourced fromGermany and Romania, as none were available locally. The fourlarge OB trucks that ran the broadcast side of the event - not aneasy thing to find on the eve of the Euro Football Championships -were hired in from Belgium.

This year’s production was a similar set-up to Düsseldorf, both interms of the amount of kit specified and the team assembled tosupply and design the show. Florian Wieder’s set design (realisedby set construction company MCI of Hamburg) went a step furtherthis year, by including the Green Room within the auditorium, whilethe set itself provided a more architectural, visually varied backdropto the performances. His achievement once again, in collaborationwith lighting designer Jerry Appelt, was to make the vast arena aninclusive, almost intimate space for the studio audience.

SoundFor head of sound Florian Kessler, the first challenge wasapproaching the PA system design before the venue was built. Heexplains: “We drew a 3D model of the Crystal Hall based on the

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construction plan of the venue with the L-Acoustics Soundvision software. Then weimplemented the set design and the riggingplot to get an optical impression of potentialarray positions and audience areas. It neededa close collaboration with the lighting andrigging department to get the optimal riggingpoints for the PA systems.”

This approach, Kessler says, got the systemdesign 90% of the way there before they arrivedat the venue; thanks to this detailed planning,the final tweaks once the system was rigged -really only to reduce sound levels in thecommentary booth - presented no greatproblem.

Readers may remember that d&b audiotechnikwas the venue PA of choice in Düsseldorf lastyear. Obviously, on shows of this scaleavailability is always a factor, but that issueaside, why the choice of L-Acoustics? “I knowthe L-Acoustics systems very well and havedone a lot of productions with KARA and KIVAsystems,” says Kessler. “Because of the lowroof of the Crystal Hall, the PA system had to beas understated as possible and the KARAsystem was, due to its size, a perfect choice.”

The arena’s main PA is set out in 20 flownpositions, each consisting of an array of nineKARA cabinets, with three SB18 subs in a cardioid formation and an LA-RAK with threeLA-8 amplifiers. In addition, KIVA near-fill andside-fill arrays occupy 10 positions, each witheight KIVA and two KILO cabinets.

The other significant departure from last year’ssound system blueprint was the use ofSoundcraft Vi6 digital mixing systems in placeof the Yamaha fleet that was employed inDüsseldorf. Aside from the more compact frameof the Vi6, Kessler detailed the advantages seenin the Soundcraft platform, including the digitalmulticore, the built-in BSS-Lexicon effectengines and the flexibility of the MADI routing tolink the system.

The eight Vi6 desks were supplied by Köln-based rental company Toneheads, whoseJens Rahmen was brought in as soundcoordinator. The desks were deployed asfollows: two for FOH music mix (main andbackup, operated by Toni Kern and GuidoPreuss); two for FOH moderation and theinterval acts mix (main and backup, operated byMatthias Reusch, Michael Neumahr and PitLenz); two for the contest monitor mix (main andbackup, operated by Harald Jäger and AchimLanzendorf); one for the interval acts’ monitors(operated by Lars Studer) and the eighth for the‘In Ear Rehearsal Room’ where the artists couldoptimise their personal monitor mix.

Kessler says: “We got really good support fromSoundcraft. Achim Huber was our consolesupport engineer. The desks work very reliablyand we had no failures, but it was great to havesomeone who knows all the details and tips andtricks of the desks there with us.”

Radio SystemsOne audio element that remained unchangedfor Baku was the familiar Eurovision presence ofSennheiser, here taking care of all the show’sRF requirements for the 25th year. It was thanksto Sennheiser’s invitation to LSi that I was ableto attend Eurovision at all this year, so thanksare due to them for making the visit possible,and for their hospitality.

As in Dusseldorf, Markus Müller of MMProductions supplied the wireless equipment forthe show, and led the busy operation in the micprep area, assisted by a team of six. The three-minute song duration dictated a tightturnaround time for making sure that each artistwas mic’ed up as required: four sets ofequipment are used: one set with the artists, thenext two prepared for use, and the fourth on itsway back from the previous act.

As well as providing mics for the artists,Sennheiser, via MM Productions, also providedmicrophones for the presenters, the opening act

Eurovision People, from top:

Head of sound Florian Kessler (left) with head of production Xanten Stratmann.

Sennheiser’s RF meister, Klaus Willemsen.

Markus Müller of MM Productions.

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and the interval show, the rehearsal room andpress conferences, plus wireless monitoringsystems for the artists, presenters and technicalcrew. With a total of 150 channels to manage,the presence of RF experts Klaus Willemsenand Gerhard Spyra provided further valuablecontinuity.

Willemsen, a veteran of many Eurovisions, toldme: “We have round about 50 channels of in-ear transmitters, and about 100 channels ofreceivers for the wireless microphones. Thewhole system is connected to 10 or 12antennas, covering the arena and also themicrophone [prep] area; we have two antennasthere because of the shielding between thearena and that area.”

A Yamaha DM2000 desk is located at FOH nextto the radio racks for double-checking that eachartist or presenter has the correct microphone:“Sometimes two people can accidentally swapmicrophones, and the whole mix is destroyed,”explains Willemsen.

The above-mentioned channels are for theperformances only: additional channels are alsoprovided for presenters and for other high-qualitycommunications requirements - for example, theSteadycam operators who follow the action onstage cannot use the standard walkie-talkie sets,so they use Sennheiser in-ears.

Monitoring frequency activity is, of course, a major part of Sennheiser’s operation here.Willemsen says: “Here we have a long list of the

frequencies we are using: not only these colourmarked frequencies, which are ours, but also forcommunications. Altogether more than 400frequencies are in the air, so we constantlydouble-check with test equipment that our usedfrequencies are free. Unfortunately, a lot ofjournalists also come here with wirelessequipment: we have warnings everywhere - it isstrictly prohibited - but 90% follow the rules andthe other 10% doesn’t! But we have enoughequipment here to detect immediately who isusing illegal frequencies.”

Willemsen revealed that there were around 20such transgressions this year - a relativeimprovement over previous years, where thenumber could be double that. “We takephotographs of the accreditations of those whobreak the rules; if they do it for a second time,they lose their accreditation,” he said.

And rule-breaking journalists are not the onlythreat to the airwaves that Sennheiser has todeal with: the Crystal Arena, on Baku’swaterfront, is overlooked by the Azeri TV Tower,a 310m (1017ft) telecomms tower with eightvery high-power TV transmitters. And that’s notall, says Willemsen: “When we work on afrequency, one rule is that this frequency mustbe free from other distortion. Theoretically,distortion can come from the lightinginstallation: the power consumption is somemegawatts for this installation - digital control,dimming - all this electronics produces noise.Next there’s the LED wall. This year we arelucky, the LED wall is very low in distortion. But

three years ago in Moscow, for example, wehad an extremely big LED wall and allfrequencies saw some interference, so that wasa very hard job. Modern technology is muchbetter at dealing with these unwantedemissions.”

The show uses frequencies from 478 to 800MHz,the upper limit of the range dictated by thepresence of a small (50W) digital TV transmitterinside the arena, which feeds the monitors in thecommentators’ boxes. “But,” says Willemsen,“we have enough ‘gaps’ to survive in here!”

Media NetworkAnother Eurovision repeat performance was theuse of a media network infrastructure fromRiedel Communications to distribute thenecessary video, audio and communicationssignals across the site. A fibre-based MediorNetnetwork transported the majority of the event’ssignals, including 40 HD and SD video signalsdistributed around the arena - all videowalls,monitors and the broadcast feed. MediorNetcan transport various signal types over a singleinfrastructure, greatly easing the set-up andmanagement of the event, while also offering a high level of flexibility in dealing with routing orset-up changes.

Riedel also provided the comms infrastructure,with a system combining Artist Digital MatrixIntercom with digital trunked radios (TETRA)and professional analogue radios. They alsoequipped 25 commentator booths with ArtistCCP-1116 Commentary Control Panels, which

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allow two commentators to independently usethe same commentator unit. Connection to thematrix and signal transport was via an AES3/EBUlink over Cat 5 cable. The connection betweenthe commentators and their respectivebroadcast studios employed Riedel Connect Triointerfaces, which provide the regional ISDNcodecs required for individual countries.

Cape Cross employed a comprehensive RiedelRockNet digital audio network installation todistribute audio signals. A total of four interfacecards for digital Yamaha mixing consoles, 12analogue input and 17 analogue outputmodules, as well as RockNet fibre converters,distributed the audio signals between thesplitterworld, FOH and the PA.

Lighting & Set DesignLighting designer Jerry Appelt enjoys a closedesign relationship with set designer FlorianWieder. This is their second Eurovisioncollaboration, in addition to many otherproductions in Germany and elsewhere.Consequently, work on the visual design of theshow developed smoothly from October 2011onwards, with set and lighting in tandem.

“We had a number of brainstorming meetings inKöln,” says Appelt, “in which we developed thedesigns into something which works for thevenue and which makes the client happy.” The‘client’ Appelt is referring to here is the hostbroadcaster in Azerbaijan, Ictimai TV.

He continues: “We did the first presentation tothe client at the end of November, the second inDecember, and the finalised - or let’s say 90% -version at the beginning of January. Then thepre-production meetings and site visits started inBaku in mid-January - which was a little bitcomplicated because there was no venue.”

It’s hard to do a normal recce when the venue isstill on paper and the site is frozen andsnowbound, but what the production team did

have was excellent communication with thearchitects and construction companyresponsible for building the arena (who alsohappened to be German), so detailed andaccurate venue plans were readily available.

“The big challenge is, on the one side, you haveto make something that fits a big arena, and onthe other side, the regulations from EBU say thatno more than six people are allowed to performon stage [for each act]. It can’t be too big, sothat everybody looks lost on the stage, yet youalso need to make room for acts that use morechoreography.”

Wieder’s design solution this year was anirregular, asymmetrical assemblage of LEDscreen surfaces, framed by angular whiteborders. “The architectural approach fromFlorian’s sketches I liked very much,” saysAppelt. “It was more three-dimensional than itwas in Düsseldorf; the front and side close-upsof the performers showed a nice background.He split the LED surfaces into, say, three mainscreens, and surrounded them with somearchitectural surfaces, so that in the close-upsyou have not only the LED, but you also have thechance to get something of the white border intothe picture. This more architectural, more three-dimensional approach was something wewanted to follow for this year, and it worked quitewell I think. Also, the inclusion of the green roomout in the arena was a nice touch, and one of themajor changes from last year.”

Appelt arrived on site at the beginning of May,following three weeks in Hamburg spent pre-programming the lighting and media contentin MA Lighting’s MA 3D software: as inDüsseldorf, control was to be via eightgrandMA2 full-size desks on a single network.“MA 3D has a really nice performance, especiallywhere you are using a lot of fixtures,” saysAppelt. “Two years ago at the CommonwealthGames opening ceremony we tested MA 3D andwere quite surprised how good the performance

EquipmentSound:

Control8 x Soundcraft Vi6 digital mixing desk

1 x Allen & Heath iLive R72 with iDR 162 x Yamaha 01Vi 96

1 x Yamaha DM20002 x Yamaha DME64 audio processor

Loudspeakers180 x L-Acoustics KARA

96 x L-Acoustics SB18 subwoofer 80 x L-Acoustics KIVA

30 x L-Acoustics KILO LF extension30 x L-Acoustics MTD108

12 x L-Acoustics 115 XT HIQ12 x L-Acoustics 12XT

5 x FAR Audio active loudspeaker1 x FAR Audio Tsunami active subwoofer

24 x Yamaha MSP 5 - Active Loudspeaker

Amplifiers80 x L-Acoustics LA8 (24 x LA-RAK)5 x Lab.gruppen LAB 2000 amplifier

Microphones72 x channels Sennheiser Wireless 5000er 65 x Sennheiser SKM5200 hand-held mics,

with Neumann KK104 capsule110 x Sennheiser HSP-4 headset mic

36 x Sennheiser SR2050 IEM transmitter168 x Sennheiser EK2000 IEM receiver

380 x Senheiser IE60 earphones85 x K&M microphone stands

Lighting:Control

8 x grandMA2 full-size5 x grandMA2 fader-wing

5 x Cape Cross media PC - MA 3D15 x MA NPU

21 x MA NSP2

Moving Lights78 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500

22 x Clay Paky Alpha Shotlight 1500157 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500249 x Clay Paky Alpha Spot 150047 x Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500

114 x Clay Paky Sharpy129 x GLP Wash One

30 x GLP Impression RZ120436 x Martin MAC 2000 XB

142 x Martin MAC 101 LED Wash24 x A&O Xenon Flower 700037 x A&O Xenon Beam 7000

Conventional Lighting143 x Martin Atomic Strobe

6 x Hungaro Strobe 85kW110 x LED Powerbar 4

50 x Arri Studio 1000W100 x Arri Junior 650W

23 x ETC Source Four 750W550 x Expolite TourLED CM42

314 x Showtec Active SA-10 Sunstrip 750W32 x Cape Cross Powermoon 2500W

32 x Arri BroadCaster LED Wash

Followspots6 x Robert Juliat Aramis 2500W

4 x Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W

continues on p54>

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Facing page: The two Kinetic Light Rings, from Parasol Systems, in action: 4m and 6mcircular models with an 8m circular truss above, loaded with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s.

“I always looked for something like a centrepiece effect, like a big version of an old-fashioned disco dancefloor effect,” said lighting designer Jerry Appelt.

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was in comparison to the three split systems weofficially used for the show - and of course, I believe in the ‘one world’ philosophy with myoperators; it’s good to see, if you want to, whatthe others are doing. And for control on-site,when you have a position at front-of-house andyou can’t physically see every fixture, you canuse the MA 3D to check things.”

When Appelt and his team arrived in Baku, theCrystal Hall had been officially finished for littlemore than two weeks; the Brainpool team andtechnical suppliers had been on site for a month, and the technical systems were

already rigged. They had one week to focus andrecord presets before the beginning of thestand-in rehearsals.

“The biggest challenge was the loss of trimheight in comparison to Düsseldorf,” saysAppelt. “When we arrived on-site, we realisedthe venue had less clearance than wasexpected, so we had to reorganise our 3Dmodel a little bit to make it fit to the venue.”

The Crystal Hall offered a trim height of just 16metres, compared with the 30m the previousyear in Düsseldorf.

Trim height aside, the Crystal Hall did have theadvantage of a far greater weight-loadingcapability than the Fortuna Düsseldorf Arenawith its retractable roof: for Appelt, this madepositioning easier for the most part, althoughthere were still limitations on the outer fringes ofthe roof, away from the eight steel supportcolumns and above the grandstands, whichmeant that he had to rein back on the audiencelighting. “I would have chosen a second row ofaudience lighting in an ideal world, and split theaudience lighting more, but that was notpossible,” he says. Instead, he compromisedwith a fringe of 60 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1500HPE and 120 GLP Wash One fixtures on thewalls of the auditorium, for backlighting theaudience, plus around 170 Martin MAC 2000XBs for front lighting the audience and moreAlpha Spot 1500 HPEs and MAC 2000 XBslighting the Green Room. The ring around therear of the arena pulsed and chased with subtlecolours, framing the audience and enhancingthe inclusive atmosphere generated by Wieder’sset design.

Appelt’s fixture choices centre around relativelyfew brands: among almost 1,500 moving headshe has more than 660 Clay Paky fixtures,predominantly from the big Alpha 1500 family,but also including more than 100 Sharpys. The bulk of the other movers are from MartinProfessional, with over 500 units, mostly theMAC 2000 XB, but with a sprinkling of 120 or soof the little MAC 101 LED wash fixtures. Appeltsays: “I have realised on other largeproductions that to stay with one manufacturer -

“I’ve found my 1200 W replacement and what’s more... I can lift it!” - LD Paul Normandale

Coldplay, “Mylo Xyloto” European TourPhoto by Andy Rhymes

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in terms of colour consistency, for example -makes things much easier. If you can stick withequipment from one manufacturer - in onesection of the rig, shall we say - then it’s veryhelpful. I won’t say that it’s not possible withother fixtures - but to do this makes life easier.Consistency is the key.”

Interestingly, six of the Clay Paky Alpha Beam1500s were modified to be used used asfollowspots on the back truss: handles wereadded and the yokes removed. “Maybe wecreated something new for Clay Paky,” saidAppelt.

He added: “I have to say also that the supportwe received from Lightpower [Germany’s ClayPaky and MA Lighting distributor] was excellent.We had Markus Janning with us looking afterthe set-up and the data distribution for thegrandMA 2 desks; MA worked very hard to fulfilour needs.”

Markus Janning oversaw a control network thatincluded eight full-size grandMA2 consoles andfive grandMA2 fader wings. The networkutilised 15 MA NPU (Network Processing Unit)devices and 21 MA NSPs (Network SignalProcessors) to process all the control traffic inone session via MA-Net2. Pre-programmingwas carried out in grandMA 3D running on fivePCs custom-built by Cape Cross. In total therewere 78 patched universes and 4,310 cues. ForAppelt, the reliability of this complex network,and the accuracy of its Timecode, isindispensable. He says: “Absolutely every

millisecond is cued and then rehearsed againand again and again. The MA system alwaysdelivers a great result.”

The process of finalising the performance foreach artist was particularly smooth, says Appelt.“We asked the delegations much earlier in thedesign process this year how they saw theirperformance: this started in January, and wehad detailed feedback from the delegations inMarch. From this very detailed brief, we tried tomake their wishes fit with the arena, with theequipment we have, and with what we seethrough the camera. So we were well preparedby the time we began rehearsals. Through thatprocess, Ola [Melzig, the concert & stageproducer who liases between artists andcreative teams: see below for more] is sitting infront of the stage, in direct communication, andI get the feedback from Ola; then, if I have a question I can give it to the viewing room,where the delegation is sitting after they havespoken with Ola. My assistant Cecilia sits herewith them, so communication throughout is verygood. Sometimes, if three delegations ask for a sunrise effect, you have to say to two of them,we’ve already ‘sold’ this look, let’s think aboutsomething different.”

‘Something different’ was available in thelighting rig, too, in the form of two Kinetic Light Rings from Parasol Systems(www.parasolsystems.net). Appelt first saw thisrotating centrepiece effect on the Clay Pakybooth at LDI in Orlando last year. Designed inToronto and built in Texas, the KLR can be

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N O W S H I P P I N G !

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As portrayed on their office door . . . Stuart Barlow and Ola Melzig (not to scale).

Sennheiser IEM packs ready for the final.

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scaled from around 3m to 9m diameters, andbrings an extra dynamic to an array of movingheads: for Eurovision, two concentric ringscarried Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s: these wereperhaps most visible when they dropped induring the finale performance by Sweden’swinning artist, Loreen.

Appelt says: “I always looked for something likea centrepiece effect, like a big version of an old-fashioned disco dancefloor effect. The clienthad asked for something kinetic; I sat with Jörg[Grabosch, Brainpool’s show producer] andThomas [Brugge] from Cape Cross and theysaid yes, this might be a good way to do it. In theend, between Lightpower and Cape Cross andthe manufacturer, they came to an agreement. I have to say, I was really happy with it, and alsowith the support from the manufacturer. Theoriginal set-up was with Sharpies, but to scale itup to the Alpha Beam 1500 to suit the size of thevenue - well, my respect to the manufacturer formaking that happen.”

Appelt was also fully appreciative of the efforts ofthe Cape Cross crew: as he explained, it’s onething to pull off a success in your own country,with your warehouse up the road, but it’s quiteanother to do it far from home, with nothinglocally available. “I have a lot of respect forThomas and the crew - they brought ineverything and made it all run smoothly. From a technical aspect, there was no difference forme as their client to work in Düsseldorf or inBaku - but I understand what a challenge it wasfor them.”

Video & Media ControlThe task of providing the video screens, LEDmodules for the set and staging and the monitorscreens for use in the Green Room fell onceagain to Creative Technology Germany - anotherof the well-oiled cogs from the Düsseldorfproduction. CT began discussing Baku withBrainpool back in September 2011. Again, the

scale of the production and its distance fromGermany made for an interesting challenge forCT’s 22-strong team, led by project managerAlexander Klaus and including technicalsupervisor, Volker Suhre.

In all, CT Germany transported 90 tons of videoequipment to Baku, the Azeries hiring a Boeing747 freight plane for the purpose. AlexanderKlaus explained: “The biggest issue with logisticsis that this huge amount of gear came not fromone CT warehouse, but from five differentcountries. So to get all this on one single day to a German airport - all marked and labeledcorrectly for the customs - was a real challenge.”

The equipment included the 1,380sq.m LEDscreen modules for the 11 separate screens thatmade up Florian Wieder’s architectural setdesign (these, praised by Sennheiser RF expertKlaus Willemsen for their low electromagneticemissions, are Spider 30 modules, 30mm pixelpitch, manufactured by Kindwin Optoelectronicin China); more than 2km of LED strip modules,comprising 1.7km of Barco MiStrip (installed inthe stage floor) and 450m of Schnick-SchnackLED C-Series modules (installed in the openGreen Room); 14 Green Hippo media servers toprovide the visual playback; 12 Barco FLM HD20projectors; around 10km of fibre optic cable toroute the signals (with full redundancy); andvarious high-quality reference monitor screensincluding new OLED HD monitors from Sony.

Unsurprisingly, this was a logistically toughoperation, requiring six months of planning fromthe CT team. The crew, together with NickCharalampidis, product specialist from GreenHippo in the UK, began assembling the systemon-site one month before the show.

As Klaus explains, the Hippotizers were chosenfollowing extensive testing: “We made long testswith different server types and learned a lotabout the various machines in the process . . .

Equipment, cont.Rigging:

Hoists30 x 2-ton Chainmaster chain hoist

806 x 1-ton Chainmaster chain hoist69 x Cyberhoist CH500 half-ton chain hoist

TrussTotal length of truss = 8,447m

(a combination of Slick Maxibeam and GS,Litec QD30 and Eurotruss FD34)

Including:Catwalk Truss - 76mLadder Truss - 978m

1 x Circle Truss (8m diameter)

Parasol System1 x Circle Truss (6m diameter)1 x Circle Truss (4m diameter)

Video:1380sq.m of Spider 30 LED

(manufactured by Kindwin Optoelectronic)13 x KTL MVS-V4 processor

14 x Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers12 x Barco FLM HD20 projector

2 x NEC Multeos 40” LCD flat panel display90 x Barco O-Mix controller

1700m of Barco MiStrip 613(375mm/1484mm)

450m Schnick-Schnack C-25 string33 x Schnick-Schnack 4E controller

4 x AV Stumpfl projection screen19 x Barco Folsom ImagePRO-HD processor

9 x Barco Folsom Encore video processor8 x Gefen Detective

5 x Gefen DVI splitter3 x Kramer VM-10HD distribution4 x eyevis Omnishape distribution

16 x BlackMagic controller2 x BlackMagic Miniconverter

3 x BlackMagic LinkPRO5 x BlackMagic Controller HD/SDI UDC

7 x BlackMagic Controller HD-SDI/SDI-HDMIBenQ HD displays

Sony BVM-F250 OLED displays

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Facing page: This plot of Appelt’s design reveals the scale of the lighting task.

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The 14 Hippos we had on site ran perfectlythrough the six weeks, and the support fromHippo in London was great,” said Klaus: as wellas Nick Charalampidis, Green Hippo’s NigelSadler had also been available to providetechnical support from the London office.

The video content resolution was higher thanever, with 3840 x 512 pixels being managed. Thiswas made possible by a few customisations backat Green Hippo HQ, along with the outputs of sixactive Hippotizer HD servers genlocked together.All the Hippotizers where set to Dual Moderunning at 1920 x 1080 @ 50Hz with eight layersper output. The use of Green Hippo’s standaloneZookeeper software, which allows users to run a remote GUI for one or multiple Hippotizers in a network, meant that the show could becontrolled remotely around the vast Crystal Hall.

It fell to Stephan Flören, a freelance videodesigner and operator, to design the videoplayback system together with Volker Suhre fromCT Germany. Stephan was familiar with thesystem and confident that the Hippos couldgenerate fully synch’ed outputs. He says: “Ourgoal was to design an easy but powerful systemwhich fit the budget and is also stable, yet simpleto switch to the backup system in case of failure.”

Stage & Concert ProductionOf course, once all the technical infrastructure isinstalled, someone has to make sure it works tothe satisfaction of the 42 artists and theirdelegations. While Appelt and co will have beenable to develop each performance’s designbased on prior communication, the job of

fine-tuning that communication in rehearsal is anessential one - and here too, continuity counts.

Ola Melzig, the Swedish veteran of nine previousEurovision productions, was again employed byBrainpool to look after Stage & ConcertProduction, providing that vital interface betweenthe delegations and the creative teams. And, asin Düsseldorf, Melzig worked closely with StuartBarlow, who has 25 years of experience inbroadcast, in this role. “It’s good because thereare two of us pushing, instead of one,” saysMelzig. “And we never stop pushing,” he adds.

Melzig has developed strong relationships withmany of the national delegations, often overmany years. When it comes to ensuring thateach act has the visuals, the light show and theeffects that they feel they need for theirperformance, that trust oils the wheels, makingthe process a whole lot smoother than it mightotherwise be. Still, as the human interfacebetween 42 national delegations, all with theinterests of their own artist at the top of theiragenda, and the complex set-ups of lighting andvideo in this level of production, the demands ofthat communication can be huge.

The division of responsibility between Melzig andBarlow is basically that Melzig is out on the stagedealing with visual issues, and Barlow is in theviewing room dealing with camera angles. Melzigsays: “When the artist rehearses, I’m therehelping them to get roughly what they want. Theidea is that once they get to the viewing room,they should be able to focus only on thecameras; I take care of all the other stuff, out in

Crew CreditsHead of Production: Xanten Stratmann

Lighting Design: Jerry Appelt

Stage Design: Florian Wieder

Technical Coordinator & Gaffer: Matthias Rau

Concert & Stage Producer: Ola Melzig

Head of Lighting: Thorsten Berger

Show Lighting Operator: Sascha Matthes

Key- & TV Lighting Operator: Markus Ruhnke

Greenroom & Audience Op: “Matze” Meyert

CT Germany project manager: Alexander Klaus

Video Operator: Stephan Flören

Encore Operators: Frank Bielig, Michael Hirschbichler

Green Hippo Support: Nick Charalampidis

Exterior Lighting Operator: Sebastian Huwig

Server-Farmer: Roland Greil, Viola Weinert

Technical Manager Lighting: Christian Hanno

System Technicians: Martin Rupprecht, Guido Hupperich, Olaf Pötcher

MA Lighting Support: Markus Janning

Head of Sound: Florian Kessler

Toneheads Coordinator: Jens Rahmen

Music Mix - Contest: Toni Kern, Guido Preuss

Program Mix & Intervall Acts: Matthias Reusch, Michael Neumahr, Pit Lenz

DME & RockNet: Lambert Kreimer, Tim Dahlem-Jockenhöfer

PA System: Ralf Wolters, Christian Kreinberg

Splitter & Signal Distribution: Stephan Dückers, Thomas Fuhrmann

Monitor Mix - Contest: Harald Jäger,Achim Lanzendorf

Monitor Mix - Interval Acts: Lars Studer

RF Engineers: Klaus Willemsen, Gerhard Spyra,Markus Müller, Jan Heering

Microphone Crew: Wolfgang Bauer, Tobias Arndt, Johannes Piesch, Marcel Schmitt,

Thorben Klever, Simon Jermer, Ralf Schulte-Drevenack, Olaf Lambrich,

Eru Ladipoh, Christian Boethke, Flo Keinert,Sanju Shrestha, Tom Ache

Technical Suppliers:Creative Production: Brainpool TV GmbH

Lighting & Rigging: Cape Cross

Sound: Toneheads

Wireless Systems: MM Productions

Communications: Riedel

Video: Creative Technology

Set Construction: MCI

Pyrotechnics: LunatX

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After the final, the production team assembles on the waterfront beside the Crystal Hall.

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front of the stage, to make Stuart’s lifeeasier in the viewing room.”

He continues: “Then we’re both inconstant dialogue with the delegationsabout their requests, what they’re happywith, what they’re not happy with, and wekeep that split - Stuart looking after thecameras and me looking after the stage.Of course, we double up every now andthen, but it works really well. Usually theproblem is that the guy in the viewingroom is just a guy that takes notes, andno action, whereas Stuart is more like aviewing room producer; he takes action,he follows up.”

When this much communication isnecessary, in this tight a timescale,eliminating this extra relay in the processcan make a big difference.

Melzig continues: “I coach the artists anddelegations in producing theperformance of the song; when theycome up with an idea that is just notgood, we’ll tell them. And they comeevery year to rely on my opinion, and nowon Stuart’s opinion also.”

Sometimes ‘they’ is the leader of thedelegation, sometimes it’s the artist, andother times it might be the songwriter. “Itall depends who is the strong person inthe delegation,” says Melzig.

And how is all this communicationlogged? “We keep it really analogue,”explains Melzig, “and it needs to beanalogue because at the end of the daythe whole show is directed from a pieceof paper. Both Stuart and I work from thecamera scripts, so we know whichcamera is on at any time . . . we onlyneed to look at the monitor to knowwhich camera is taking that shot.”

Finally, I asked Melzig how many timeshe has listened to each of the songs bythe time the final is over. After somemoments in which he carefully countedthrough various rehearsals andbroadcasts, he concluded: “Seventeen.”

Now that’s dedication.

Eurovision returns to Stockholm in 2013.

Facing page, bottom:

A ring of A&O Flower Beam moving heads made a stunning adornment

to the Crystal Hall.

Right, from top: Shots from front-of-house - Soundcraft Vi6 desks; Videocontrol; Sennheiser’s RF monitoring

station.