Diamond Jubilee - Cape Cross Studio

July 2012
entertainment, presentation, installation
www.lsionline.co.uk
Diamond Jubilee
Also Inside:
LSi looks behind the scenes . . .
Eurovision 2012
Live in Baku, Azerbaijan
Soweto Theatre
A dream realised in Jo’burg
TF: JB-lighting’s A12
The fixture examined
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 . . .
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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 necessary
infrastructure to stage a production on this scale. So, the Azeri
authorities called on Brainpool to handle the production on their
behalf - to repeat the success of Düsseldorf in Baku. All Baku
needed was an arena to host the event: the 23,000-seat Crystal
Hall was completed in mid-April 2012, less than six weeks before
the show.
Production Overview
When Brainpool’s head of production, Xanten Stratmann, arrived
on-site with her team in April, there was no infrastructure around
the venue - no offices, no storage, no catering - not even toilets for
the first 10 days. Still, apart from the latter point, they had known
pretty much what to expect.
Photo: Ralph Larmann
Coordinating the transportation of the entire production across
Europe to Baku was an impressive logistical feat. To then
assemble it in time for the show amid such difficult conditions
says a lot about the skill and experience of the management and
crews involved.
Brainpool arranged for 100 freight containers filled with equipment
to be moved on two enormous freight trains from Germany, under
the guidance of freight company Schenker. Even such necessary
resources as forklifts and cherrypickers had to be sourced from
Germany and Romania, as none were available locally. The four
large OB trucks that ran the broadcast side of the event - not an
easy 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 in
terms of the amount of kit specified and the team assembled to
supply and design the show. Florian Wieder’s set design (realised
by set construction company MCI of Hamburg) went a step further
this year, by including the Green Room within the auditorium, while
the set itself provided a more architectural, visually varied backdrop
to the performances. His achievement once again, in collaboration
with lighting designer Jerry Appelt, was to make the vast arena an
inclusive, almost intimate space for the studio audience.
Sound
For head of sound Florian Kessler, the first challenge was
approaching the PA system design before the venue was built. He
explains: “We drew a 3D model of the Crystal Hall based on the
Photo: Ralph Larmann
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construction plan of the venue with the
L-Acoustics Soundvision software. Then we
implemented the set design and the rigging
plot to get an optical impression of potential
array positions and audience areas. It needed
a close collaboration with the lighting and
rigging department to get the optimal rigging
points for the PA systems.”
This approach, Kessler says, got the system
design 90% of the way there before they arrived
at the venue; thanks to this detailed planning,
the final tweaks once the system was rigged really only to reduce sound levels in the
commentary booth - presented no great
problem.
Readers may remember that d&b audiotechnik
was the venue PA of choice in Düsseldorf last
year. Obviously, on shows of this scale
availability is always a factor, but that issue
aside, why the choice of L-Acoustics? “I know
the L-Acoustics systems very well and have
done a lot of productions with KARA and KIVA
systems,” says Kessler. “Because of the low
roof of the Crystal Hall, the PA system had to be
as understated as possible and the KARA
system was, due to its size, a perfect choice.”
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The arena’s main PA is set out in 20 flown
positions, each consisting of an array of nine
KARA cabinets, with three SB18 subs in
a cardioid formation and an LA-RAK with three
LA-8 amplifiers. In addition, KIVA near-fill and
side-fill arrays occupy 10 positions, each with
eight KIVA and two KILO cabinets.
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.
50 LSi - July 2012
The other significant departure from last year’s
sound system blueprint was the use of
Soundcraft Vi6 digital mixing systems in place
of the Yamaha fleet that was employed in
Düsseldorf. Aside from the more compact frame
of the Vi6, Kessler detailed the advantages seen
in the Soundcraft platform, including the digital
multicore, the built-in BSS-Lexicon effect
engines and the flexibility of the MADI routing to
link the system.
The eight Vi6 desks were supplied by
Köln-based rental company Toneheads, whose
Jens Rahmen was brought in as sound
coordinator. The desks were deployed as
follows: two for FOH music mix (main and
backup, operated by Toni Kern and Guido
Preuss); two for FOH moderation and the
interval acts mix (main and backup, operated by
Matthias Reusch, Michael Neumahr and Pit
Lenz); two for the contest monitor mix (main and
backup, operated by Harald Jäger and Achim
Lanzendorf); one for the interval acts’ monitors
(operated by Lars Studer) and the eighth for the
‘In Ear Rehearsal Room’ where the artists could
optimise their personal monitor mix.
Kessler says: “We got really good support from
Soundcraft. Achim Huber was our console
support engineer. The desks work very reliably
and we had no failures, but it was great to have
someone who knows all the details and tips and
tricks of the desks there with us.”
Radio Systems
One audio element that remained unchanged
for Baku was the familiar Eurovision presence of
Sennheiser, here taking care of all the show’s
RF requirements for the 25th year. It was thanks
to Sennheiser’s invitation to LSi that I was able
to attend Eurovision at all this year, so thanks
are due to them for making the visit possible,
and for their hospitality.
As in Dusseldorf, Markus Müller of MM
Productions supplied the wireless equipment for
the show, and led the busy operation in the mic
prep area, assisted by a team of six. The
three-minute song duration dictated a tight
turnaround time for making sure that each artist
was mic’ed up as required: four sets of
equipment are used: one set with the artists, the
next two prepared for use, and the fourth on its
way back from the previous act.
As well as providing mics for the artists,
Sennheiser, via MM Productions, also provided
microphones for the presenters, the opening act
A Yamaha DM2000 desk is located at FOH next
to the radio racks for double-checking that each
artist or presenter has the correct microphone:
“Sometimes two people can accidentally swap
microphones, and the whole mix is destroyed,”
explains Willemsen.
The above-mentioned channels are for the
performances only: additional channels are also
provided for presenters and for other high-quality
communications requirements - for example, the
Steadycam operators who follow the action on
stage 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
Willemsen revealed that there were around 20
such transgressions this year - a relative
improvement over previous years, where the
number could be double that. “We take
photographs of the accreditations of those who
break the rules; if they do it for a second time,
they lose their accreditation,” he said.
And rule-breaking journalists are not the only
threat to the airwaves that Sennheiser has to
deal with: the Crystal Arena, on Baku’s
waterfront, is overlooked by the Azeri TV Tower,
a 310m (1017ft) telecomms tower with eight
very high-power TV transmitters. And that’s not
all, says Willemsen: “When we work on a
frequency, one rule is that this frequency must
be free from other distortion. Theoretically,
distortion can come from the lighting
installation: the power consumption is some
megawatts for this installation - digital control,
dimming - all this electronics produces noise.
Next there’s the LED wall. This year we are
lucky, the LED wall is very low in distortion. But
three years ago in Moscow, for example, we
had an extremely big LED wall and all
frequencies saw some interference, so that was
a very hard job. Modern technology is much
better at dealing with these unwanted
emissions.”
The show uses frequencies from 478 to 800MHz,
the upper limit of the range dictated by the
presence of a small (50W) digital TV transmitter
inside the arena, which feeds the monitors in the
commentators’ boxes. “But,” says Willemsen,
“we have enough ‘gaps’ to survive in here!”
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Willemsen, a veteran of many Eurovisions, told
me: “We have round about 50 channels of
in-ear transmitters, and about 100 channels of
receivers for the wireless microphones. The
whole system is connected to 10 or 12
antennas, covering the arena and also the
microphone [prep] area; we have two antennas
there because of the shielding between the
arena and that area.”
frequencies we are using: not only these colour
marked frequencies, which are ours, but also for
communications. Altogether more than 400
frequencies are in the air, so we constantly
double-check with test equipment that our used
frequencies are free. Unfortunately, a lot of
journalists also come here with wireless
equipment: we have warnings everywhere - it is
strictly prohibited - but 90% follow the rules and
the other 10% doesn’t! But we have enough
equipment here to detect immediately who is
using illegal frequencies.”
Media Network
Another Eurovision repeat performance was the
use of a media network infrastructure from
Riedel Communications to distribute the
necessary video, audio and communications
signals across the site. A fibre-based MediorNet
network transported the majority of the event’s
signals, including 40 HD and SD video signals
distributed around the arena - all videowalls,
monitors and the broadcast feed. MediorNet
can transport various signal types over a single
infrastructure, greatly easing the set-up and
management of the event, while also offering
a high level of flexibility in dealing with routing or
set-up changes.
Riedel also provided the comms infrastructure,
with a system combining Artist Digital Matrix
Intercom with digital trunked radios (TETRA)
and professional analogue radios. They also
equipped 25 commentator booths with Artist
CCP-1116 Commentary Control Panels, which
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and the interval show, the rehearsal room and
press conferences, plus wireless monitoring
systems for the artists, presenters and technical
crew. With a total of 150 channels to manage,
the presence of RF experts Klaus Willemsen
and Gerhard Spyra provided further valuable
continuity.
LSi - July 2012
51
Sound:
Control
8 x Soundcraft Vi6 digital mixing desk
1 x Allen & Heath iLive R72 with iDR 16
2 x Yamaha 01Vi 96
1 x Yamaha DM2000
2 x Yamaha DME64 audio processor
Loudspeakers
180 x L-Acoustics KARA
96 x L-Acoustics SB18 subwoofer
80 x L-Acoustics KIVA
30 x L-Acoustics KILO LF extension
30 x L-Acoustics MTD108
12 x L-Acoustics 115 XT HIQ
12 x L-Acoustics 12XT
5 x FAR Audio active loudspeaker
1 x FAR Audio Tsunami active subwoofer
24 x Yamaha MSP 5 - Active Loudspeaker
Amplifiers
80 x L-Acoustics LA8 (24 x LA-RAK)
5 x Lab.gruppen LAB 2000 amplifier
Microphones
72 x channels Sennheiser Wireless 5000er
65 x Sennheiser SKM5200 hand-held mics,
with Neumann KK104 capsule
110 x Sennheiser HSP-4 headset mic
36 x Sennheiser SR2050 IEM transmitter
168 x Sennheiser EK2000 IEM receiver
380 x Senheiser IE60 earphones
85 x K&M microphone stands
Lighting:
Photo: Ralph Larmann
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Equipment
allow two commentators to independently use
the same commentator unit. Connection to the
matrix and signal transport was via an AES3/EBU
link over Cat 5 cable. The connection between
the commentators and their respective
broadcast studios employed Riedel Connect Trio
interfaces, which provide the regional ISDN
codecs required for individual countries.
Cape Cross employed a comprehensive Riedel
RockNet digital audio network installation to
distribute audio signals. A total of four interface
cards for digital Yamaha mixing consoles, 12
analogue input and 17 analogue output
modules, as well as RockNet fibre converters,
distributed the audio signals between the
splitterworld, FOH and the PA.
Control
8 x grandMA2 full-size
5 x grandMA2 fader-wing
5 x Cape Cross media PC - MA 3D
15 x MA NPU
21 x MA NSP2
Moving Lights
78 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500
22 x Clay Paky Alpha Shotlight 1500
157 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500
249 x Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1500
47 x Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500
114 x Clay Paky Sharpy
129 x GLP Wash One
30 x GLP Impression RZ120
436 x Martin MAC 2000 XB
142 x Martin MAC 101 LED Wash
24 x A&O Xenon Flower 7000
37 x A&O Xenon Beam 7000
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Conventional Lighting
143 x Martin Atomic Strobe
6 x Hungaro Strobe 85kW
110 x LED Powerbar 4
50 x Arri Studio 1000W
100 x Arri Junior 650W
23 x ETC Source Four 750W
550 x Expolite TourLED CM42
314 x Showtec Active SA-10 Sunstrip 750W
32 x Cape Cross Powermoon 2500W
32 x Arri BroadCaster LED Wash
52 LSi - July 2012
Lighting & Set Design
Lighting designer Jerry Appelt enjoys a close
design relationship with set designer Florian
Wieder. This is their second Eurovision
collaboration, in addition to many other
productions in Germany and elsewhere.
Consequently, work on the visual design of the
show developed smoothly from October 2011
onwards, with set and lighting in tandem.
“We had a number of brainstorming meetings in
Köln,” says Appelt, “in which we developed the
designs into something which works for the
venue and which makes the client happy.” The
‘client’ Appelt is referring to here is the host
broadcaster in Azerbaijan, Ictimai TV.
He continues: “We did the first presentation to
the client at the end of November, the second in
December, and the finalised - or let’s say 90% version at the beginning of January. Then the
pre-production meetings and site visits started in
Baku in mid-January - which was a little bit
complicated because there was no venue.”
It’s hard to do a normal recce when the venue is
still on paper and the site is frozen and
snowbound, but what the production team did
have was excellent communication with the
architects and construction company
responsible for building the arena (who also
happened to be German), so detailed and
accurate venue plans were readily available.
“The big challenge is, on the one side, you have
to make something that fits a big arena, and on
the other side, the regulations from EBU say that
no more than six people are allowed to perform
on stage [for each act]. It can’t be too big, so
that everybody looks lost on the stage, yet you
also need to make room for acts that use more
choreography.”
Wieder’s design solution this year was an
irregular, asymmetrical assemblage of LED
screen surfaces, framed by angular white
borders. “The architectural approach from
Florian’s sketches I liked very much,” says
Appelt. “It was more three-dimensional than it
was in Düsseldorf; the front and side close-ups
of the performers showed a nice background.
He split the LED surfaces into, say, three main
screens, and surrounded them with some
architectural surfaces, so that in the close-ups
you have not only the LED, but you also have the
chance to get something of the white border into
the picture. This more architectural, more
three-dimensional approach was something we
wanted to follow for this year, and it worked quite
well I think. Also, the inclusion of the green room
out in the arena was a nice touch, and one of the
major 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 content
in MA Lighting’s MA 3D software: as in
Düsseldorf, control was to be via eight
grandMA2 full-size desks on a single network.
“MA 3D has a really nice performance, especially
where you are using a lot of fixtures,” says
Appelt. “Two years ago at the Commonwealth
Games opening ceremony we tested MA 3D and
were quite surprised how good the performance
Followspots
6 x Robert Juliat Aramis 2500W
4 x Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W
Facing page: The two Kinetic Light Rings, from Parasol Systems, in action: 4m and 6m
circular models with an 8m circular truss above, loaded with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s.
continues on p54>
“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.
Photo: Ralph Larmann
Photo: Ralph Larmann
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was in comparison to the three split systems we
officially used for the show - and of course,
I believe in the ‘one world’ philosophy with my
operators; it’s good to see, if you want to, what
the others are doing. And for control on-site,
when you have a position at front-of-house and
you can’t physically see every fixture, you can
use the MA 3D to check things.”
When Appelt and his team arrived in Baku, the
Crystal Hall had been officially finished for little
more than two weeks; the Brainpool team and
technical suppliers had been on site for
a month, and the technical systems were
already rigged. They had one week to focus and
record presets before the beginning of the
stand-in rehearsals.
“The biggest challenge was the loss of trim
height in comparison to Düsseldorf,” says
Appelt. “When we arrived on-site, we realised
the venue had less clearance than was
expected, so we had to reorganise our 3D
model a little bit to make it fit to the venue.”
The Crystal Hall offered a trim height of just 16
metres, compared with the 30m the previous
year in Düsseldorf.
Trim height aside, the Crystal Hall did have the
advantage of a far greater weight-loading
capability than the Fortuna Düsseldorf Arena
with its retractable roof: for Appelt, this made
positioning easier for the most part, although
there were still limitations on the outer fringes of
the roof, away from the eight steel support
columns and above the grandstands, which
meant that he had to rein back on the audience
lighting. “I would have chosen a second row of
audience lighting in an ideal world, and split the
audience lighting more, but that was not
possible,” he says. Instead, he compromised
with a fringe of 60 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1500
HPE and 120 GLP Wash One fixtures on the
walls of the auditorium, for backlighting the
audience, plus around 170 Martin MAC 2000
XBs for front lighting the audience and more
Alpha Spot 1500 HPEs and MAC 2000 XBs
lighting the Green Room. The ring around the
rear of the arena pulsed and chased with subtle
colours, framing the audience and enhancing
the inclusive atmosphere generated by Wieder’s
set design.
Appelt’s fixture choices centre around relatively
few brands: among almost 1,500 moving heads
he 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 Martin
Professional, with over 500 units, mostly the
MAC 2000 XB, but with a sprinkling of 120 or so
of the little MAC 101 LED wash fixtures. Appelt
says: “I have realised on other large
productions that to stay with one manufacturer -
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Coldplay, “Mylo Xyloto” European Tour
Photo by Andy Rhymes
54 LSi - July 2012
“I’ve found my 1200 W
..
replacement and what’s more...
I can lift it!”
- LD Paul Normandale
He added: “I have to say also that the support
we received from Lightpower [Germany’s Clay
Paky and MA Lighting distributor] was excellent.
We had Markus Janning with us looking after
the set-up and the data distribution for the
grandMA 2 desks; MA worked very hard to fulfil
our needs.”
Markus Janning oversaw a control network that
included eight full-size grandMA2 consoles and
five grandMA2 fader wings. The network
utilised 15 MA NPU (Network Processing Unit)
devices and 21 MA NSPs (Network Signal
Processors) to process all the control traffic in
one session via MA-Net2. Pre-programming
was carried out in grandMA 3D running on five
PCs custom-built by Cape Cross. In total there
were 78 patched universes and 4,310 cues. For
Appelt, the reliability of this complex network,
and the accuracy of its Timecode, is
indispensable. He says: “Absolutely every
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Interestingly, six of the Clay Paky Alpha Beam
1500s were modified to be used used as
followspots on the back truss: handles were
added and the yokes removed. “Maybe we
created something new for Clay Paky,” said
Appelt.
millisecond is cued and then rehearsed again
and again and again. The MA system always
delivers a great result.”
The process of finalising the performance for
each artist was particularly smooth, says Appelt.
“We asked the delegations much earlier in the
design process this year how they saw their
performance: this started in January, and we
had detailed feedback from the delegations in
March. From this very detailed brief, we tried to
make their wishes fit with the arena, with the
equipment we have, and with what we see
through the camera. So we were well prepared
by the time we began rehearsals. Through that
process, Ola [Melzig, the concert & stage
producer who liases between artists and
creative teams: see below for more] is sitting in
front of the stage, in direct communication, and
I 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 have
spoken with Ola. My assistant Cecilia sits here
with them, so communication throughout is very
good. 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 about
something different.”
‘Something different’ was available in the
lighting rig, too, in the form of two Kinetic
Light Rings from Parasol Systems
(www.parasolsystems.net). Appelt first saw this
rotating centrepiece effect on the Clay Paky
booth at LDI in Orlando last year. Designed in
Toronto and built in Texas, the KLR can be
Sennheiser IEM packs ready for the final.
As portrayed on their office door . . .
Stuart Barlow and Ola Melzig (not to scale).
TM
N O W
S H I P P I N G !
www.martin.com
LSi - July 2012
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in terms of colour consistency, for example makes things much easier. If you can stick with
equipment from one manufacturer - in one
section of the rig, shall we say - then it’s very
helpful. I won’t say that it’s not possible with
other fixtures - but to do this makes life easier.
Consistency is the key.”
55
Photo: Ralph Larmann
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Equipment, cont.
Rigging:
Hoists
30 x 2-ton Chainmaster chain hoist
806 x 1-ton Chainmaster chain hoist
69 x Cyberhoist CH500 half-ton chain hoist
Truss
Total length of truss = 8,447m
(a combination of Slick Maxibeam and GS,
Litec QD30 and Eurotruss FD34)
Including:
Catwalk Truss - 76m
Ladder Truss - 978m
1 x Circle Truss (8m diameter)
Parasol System
1 x Circle Truss (6m diameter)
1 x Circle Truss (4m diameter)
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Video:
1380sq.m of Spider 30 LED
(manufactured by Kindwin Optoelectronic)
13 x KTL MVS-V4 processor
14 x Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers
12 x Barco FLM HD20 projector
2 x NEC Multeos 40” LCD flat panel display
90 x Barco O-Mix controller
1700m of Barco MiStrip 613
(375mm/1484mm)
450m Schnick-Schnack C-25 string
33 x Schnick-Schnack 4E controller
4 x AV Stumpfl projection screen
19 x Barco Folsom ImagePRO-HD processor
9 x Barco Folsom Encore video processor
8 x Gefen Detective
5 x Gefen DVI splitter
3 x Kramer VM-10HD distribution
4 x eyevis Omnishape distribution
16 x BlackMagic controller
2 x BlackMagic Miniconverter
3 x BlackMagic LinkPRO
5 x BlackMagic Controller HD/SDI UDC
7 x BlackMagic Controller HD-SDI/SDI-HDMI
BenQ HD displays
Sony BVM-F250 OLED displays
56 LSi - July 2012
Facing page: This plot of Appelt’s design reveals the scale of the lighting task.
scaled from around 3m to 9m diameters, and
brings an extra dynamic to an array of moving
heads: for Eurovision, two concentric rings
carried Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s: these were
perhaps most visible when they dropped in
during the finale performance by Sweden’s
winning artist, Loreen.
Appelt says: “I always looked for something like
a centrepiece effect, like a big version of an
old-fashioned disco dancefloor effect. The client
had asked for something kinetic; I sat with Jörg
[Grabosch, Brainpool’s show producer] and
Thomas [Brugge] from Cape Cross and they
said yes, this might be a good way to do it. In the
end, between Lightpower and Cape Cross and
the manufacturer, they came to an agreement.
I have to say, I was really happy with it, and also
with the support from the manufacturer. The
original set-up was with Sharpies, but to scale it
up to the Alpha Beam 1500 to suit the size of the
venue - well, my respect to the manufacturer for
making that happen.”
Appelt was also fully appreciative of the efforts of
the Cape Cross crew: as he explained, it’s one
thing to pull off a success in your own country,
with your warehouse up the road, but it’s quite
another to do it far from home, with nothing
locally available. “I have a lot of respect for
Thomas and the crew - they brought in
everything and made it all run smoothly. From
a technical aspect, there was no difference for
me as their client to work in Düsseldorf or in
Baku - but I understand what a challenge it was
for them.”
Video & Media Control
The task of providing the video screens, LED
modules for the set and staging and the monitor
screens for use in the Green Room fell once
again to Creative Technology Germany - another
of the well-oiled cogs from the Düsseldorf
production. CT began discussing Baku with
Brainpool back in September 2011. Again, the
scale of the production and its distance from
Germany made for an interesting challenge for
CT’s 22-strong team, led by project manager
Alexander Klaus and including technical
supervisor, Volker Suhre.
In all, CT Germany transported 90 tons of video
equipment to Baku, the Azeries hiring a Boeing
747 freight plane for the purpose. Alexander
Klaus explained: “The biggest issue with logistics
is that this huge amount of gear came not from
one CT warehouse, but from five different
countries. So to get all this on one single day to
a German airport - all marked and labeled
correctly for the customs - was a real challenge.”
The equipment included the 1,380sq.m LED
screen modules for the 11 separate screens that
made up Florian Wieder’s architectural set
design (these, praised by Sennheiser RF expert
Klaus Willemsen for their low electromagnetic
emissions, are Spider 30 modules, 30mm pixel
pitch, manufactured by Kindwin Optoelectronic
in China); more than 2km of LED strip modules,
comprising 1.7km of Barco MiStrip (installed in
the stage floor) and 450m of Schnick-Schnack
LED C-Series modules (installed in the open
Green Room); 14 Green Hippo media servers to
provide the visual playback; 12 Barco FLM HD20
projectors; around 10km of fibre optic cable to
route the signals (with full redundancy); and
various high-quality reference monitor screens
including new OLED HD monitors from Sony.
Unsurprisingly, this was a logistically tough
operation, requiring six months of planning from
the CT team. The crew, together with Nick
Charalampidis, product specialist from Green
Hippo in the UK, began assembling the system
on-site one month before the show.
As Klaus explains, the Hippotizers were chosen
following extensive testing: “We made long tests
with different server types and learned a lot
about the various machines in the process . . .
Head 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
Photo: Ralph Larmann
televisedevent
Crew Credits
Show Lighting Operator: Sascha Matthes
Key- & TV Lighting Operator: Markus Ruhnke
Greenroom & Audience Op: “Matze” Meyert
CT Germany project manager: Alexander Klaus
After the final, the production team assembles on the waterfront beside the Crystal Hall.
Video Operator: Stephan Flören
Encore Operators: Frank Bielig,
Michael Hirschbichler
Green Hippo Support: Nick Charalampidis
Exterior Lighting Operator: Sebastian Huwig
The 14 Hippos we had on site ran perfectly
through the six weeks, and the support from
Hippo in London was great,” said Klaus: as well
as Nick Charalampidis, Green Hippo’s Nigel
Sadler had also been available to provide
technical support from the London office.
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
The video content resolution was higher than
ever, with 3840 x 512 pixels being managed. This
was made possible by a few customisations back
at Green Hippo HQ, along with the outputs of six
active Hippotizer HD servers genlocked together.
All the Hippotizers where set to Dual Mode
running at 1920 x 1080 @ 50Hz with eight layers
per output. The use of Green Hippo’s standalone
Zookeeper software, which allows users to run
a remote GUI for one or multiple Hippotizers in
a network, meant that the show could be
controlled remotely around the vast Crystal Hall.
It fell to Stephan Flören, a freelance video
designer and operator, to design the video
playback system together with Volker Suhre from
CT Germany. Stephan was familiar with the
system and confident that the Hippos could
generate fully synch’ed outputs. He says: “Our
goal was to design an easy but powerful system
which fit the budget and is also stable, yet simple
to switch to the backup system in case of failure.”
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
Stage & Concert Production
Of course, once all the technical infrastructure is
installed, someone has to make sure it works to
the satisfaction of the 42 artists and their
delegations. While Appelt and co will have been
able to develop each performance’s design
based on prior communication, the job of
fine-tuning that communication in rehearsal is an
essential one - and here too, continuity counts.
Ola Melzig, the Swedish veteran of nine previous
Eurovision productions, was again employed by
Brainpool to look after Stage & Concert
Production, providing that vital interface between
the delegations and the creative teams. And, as
in Düsseldorf, Melzig worked closely with Stuart
Barlow, who has 25 years of experience in
broadcast, in this role. “It’s good because there
are two of us pushing, instead of one,” says
Melzig. “And we never stop pushing,” he adds.
Melzig has developed strong relationships with
many of the national delegations, often over
many years. When it comes to ensuring that
each act has the visuals, the light show and the
effects that they feel they need for their
performance, that trust oils the wheels, making
the process a whole lot smoother than it might
otherwise be. Still, as the human interface
between 42 national delegations, all with the
interests of their own artist at the top of their
agenda, and the complex set-ups of lighting and
video in this level of production, the demands of
that communication can be huge.
The division of responsibility between Melzig and
Barlow is basically that Melzig is out on the stage
dealing with visual issues, and Barlow is in the
viewing room dealing with camera angles. Melzig
says: “When the artist rehearses, I’m there
helping them to get roughly what they want. The
idea is that once they get to the viewing room,
they should be able to focus only on the
cameras; I take care of all the other stuff, out in
Technical Suppliers:
Creative Production: Brainpool TV GmbH
Sound: Toneheads
Wireless Systems: MM Productions
Communications: Riedel
Video: Creative Technology
Set Construction: MCI
Pyrotechnics: LunatX
58 LSi - July 2012
Photo: Ralph Larmann
www.lsionline.co.uk
Lighting & Rigging: Cape Cross
When this much communication is
necessary, in this tight a timescale,
eliminating this extra relay in the process
can make a big difference.
Melzig continues: “I coach the artists and
delegations in producing the
performance of the song; when they
come up with an idea that is just not
good, we’ll tell them. And they come
every year to rely on my opinion, and now
on Stuart’s opinion also.”
Sometimes ‘they’ is the leader of the
delegation, sometimes it’s the artist, and
other times it might be the songwriter. “It
all depends who is the strong person in
the delegation,” says Melzig.
A ring of A&O Flower Beam moving
heads made a stunning adornment
to the Crystal Hall.
Right, from top: Shots from front-ofhouse - Soundcraft Vi6 desks; Video
control; Sennheiser’s RF monitoring
station.
televisedevent
He continues: “Then we’re both in
constant dialogue with the delegations
about their requests, what they’re happy
with, what they’re not happy with, and we
keep that split - Stuart looking after the
cameras and me looking after the stage.
Of course, we double up every now and
then, but it works really well. Usually the
problem is that the guy in the viewing
room is just a guy that takes notes, and
no action, whereas Stuart is more like a
viewing room producer; he takes action,
he follows up.”
Facing page, bottom:
And how is all this communication
logged? “We keep it really analogue,”
explains Melzig, “and it needs to be
analogue because at the end of the day
the whole show is directed from a piece
of paper. Both Stuart and I work from the
camera scripts, so we know which
camera is on at any time . . . we only
need to look at the monitor to know
which camera is taking that shot.”
Finally, I asked Melzig how many times
he has listened to each of the songs by
the time the final is over. After some
moments in which he carefully counted
through various rehearsals and
broadcasts, he concluded: “Seventeen.”
Now that’s dedication.
Eurovision returns to Stockholm in 2013.
www.lsionline.co.uk
front of the stage, to make Stuart’s life
easier in the viewing room.”
LSi - July 2012
59