LD Jerry Appelt also went big with the lighting rig, with more 2,100 moving lights incorporated into the design. Most were hung overhead, spanning the entire space of Düsseldorf Arena.
Appelt included 24 Falcon Flower 3000W fixtures, with four placed on each side of the stage at its widest position and another 12 lined along the back LED stage wall. Four more were placed on the catwalks in front of the stage. The rig also included 16 Falcon Flower 7000W fixtures positioned in the ceiling, with eight hung on moving truss directly behind the stage. Lighting control was delivered via grandMA2 full-size consoles, triggered via timecode.
Concert and Stage Producer Ola Melzig, who has worked on nine Eurovision productions, worked closely with the delegations and artists regarding the details of each performance including lighting, video, pyro, sound and camera angles, and credited the Falcons for “awesome” effects. “Jerry used them for very special looks and I can tell you, those countries were thrilled.”
“I use the 3K all the time,” said Appelt. “It’s very powerful and, when I need that look, it’s the only one I go to. Düsseldorf Arena is huge, and I wanted beams to reach to every corner. This was actually the first time I used the 7K. and the results were fantastic. Really great light and nice beam effects – I’ll definitely use them again.”
Cape Cross of Cologne, Germany provided all lighting and rigging for the show, sending 130 trucks, each with 40 metric tons of equipment.
“Not many lights can do what they do,” said Thomas Brügge, managing director of Cape Cross, of the Falcons. “The Xenon is a very special form of light. I’ve seen many companies try to copy it, but none have succeeded like the Falcon. It’s really brilliant.”
The company behind the creative production of Eurovision 2011 was Brainpool TV GmbH, led by producer Jörg Grabosch, handled all creative aspects of Eurovision 2011, including staging, lighting, pyro, hosts, viewing room, technical crew, etc. and managed the companies in charge of these areas: Cape Cross (lighting & rigging); Creative Technology (video); Stage Kinetic (moving LED screen); MCI (set construction); and LunatX (pyro).
In the end, Azerbaijan was crowned winner with the song, “Running Scared,” earning 221 points. Eurovision 2012 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
For more information, please visit www.ao-technology.com and www.eurovision.tv.
