Flanking the sides of the main stage, extending overhead to meet above centre-stage, were two eight-ton, 46ft tall super-arches. The arches, located midway between up - and down-stage, required internal illumination to achieve proper depth perception. Exterior lighting just wouldn't do. Layers of plexi/acrylic sheets in each arch were toned and darkened for effect, which posed additional problems: the illumination had to be bright enough to blast through the layers with potency, even on camera.
Ola Melzig, Eurovision's technical director for the last 11 years, explains, "The arches were intended to have stand-alone value, independent of external lighting. We tried traditional fixtures to punch through the plexi layers but all we got was an inner glow without the explosive effect we wanted. We searched for the right tool and happily found Solaris LED Flares. They're the only product that could do what we needed; nothing else out there could do it." Ola adds, "These units are angry! We used them as color washes about 80% of the time with an occasional strobe effect over the wash. The arches were in every TV shot and, with a Flare per metre, the brilliance was intense."
Ola Melzig of M&M Production Management is based in Sweden and Texas. Lighting designer for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was Fredrik Jönsson of Eyebrow Designs.
(Jim Evans)
