The opening ceremony was held on 14 August 14 at the Float @ Marina Bay Platform, the world's largest floating stage located in the heart of Singapore. The Singapore skyline served as a backdrop, which required a display of lighting, lasers and fireworks.
The set involved a ring of shipping containers to symbolize Singapore being the biggest harbour in South East Asia. A 5000sq.m lake was created in front of the scenography. In the middle stood a 32m high lighthouse, which held the cauldron for the Olympic flame. In a very different approach to typical Games ceremonies, the Singapore skyline was used as a background, which was tied in with lighting effects, Skytrackers and fireworks on the buildings, with signal delivered by Wireless Solution W-DMX.
The lighting design for both opening and closing ceremonies was by Koert Vermeulen, principal designer of Belgium-based ACT Lighting Design. PRG supplied technical services, rigging and over 1900 lighting fixtures for the ceremonies. Local supplier Showtec Communications supplied the W-DMX equipment and signal support for the show.
For the skyline, a total of 13 W-DMX BlackBox S-1 transmitters and 13 R-512 receivers distributed signal to buildings surrounding the main site, some up to 1.6km. Lighting fixtures included Sycrolite SXB 7/2 and SX 8K. Lighting was controlled with two grandMA full size consoles plus two grandMA Light for the nightly light shows. The system ran approximately eight hours a day for 12 days straight without any problems.
(Jim Evans)
