Proteus Brutus powers Asian Cup ceremony
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Held 12 January at Lusail Stadium in Doha, Greil chose the Proteus Brutus and Proteus Excalibur to deliver captivating lighting displays and theatrical impact for this major event production.
The AFC Asian Cup, organised by the Asian Football Confederation, brought together 24 national teams in Qatar to crown the men's football champion of Asia. The opening ceremony was a celebration of unity and inclusivity with performances by renowned Qatari and regional artists who revealed the secrets of The Lost Chapter of Kelileh & Demneh in a visual narrative.
Greil was hired by executive producers Katara Studios to deliver the full lighting design, a scope that also included previz, programming and ultimately delivery of the lighting component of the show together with the creative and technical teams. He shared insights into the creative framework, stating, “From the beginning, the brief was to create a highly theatrical experience that was also flexible enough to deliver big ceremony looks and tick all the boxes in terms of a 360-degree live-for-broadcast show.”
Design studio Sila Sveta created an organic production design that embedded the local culture and history into an amazing 21-minute visual story. Collaborating with Sila Sveta, Greil supported the story by creating a picture frame for wherever the action was taking place, the stage or elsewhere. “We set the mood and framed the scenery and background with lighting to support the story but also collaborated together with all the other visual elements which were beautiful by themselves. At the end of the show, the theatrical storytelling then transitioned into bigger ceremonial moments.”
According to Greil, with large outdoor shows of this calibre there is one major feature of a light that is essential and that is brightness and firepower. “When you do a full-on stadium ceremony you are limited in your lighting positions because you can’t rig lights in open space,” he said, “therefore you are dealing with quite long throw distances. With throws of 40 to over 100m, brightness can’t be substituted with anything other than more firepower. At the moment, that brings you to one specific beautiful fixture, which is the Proteus Brutus.
“As far as I know, it is the brightest wash/beam light on the market, which is a huge help in doing a show like this. The Proteus Brutus was the workhorse washlight to light the stage and pitch for this event and we used them in different lighting positions.” Those positions comprised 18 units on each of four catwalks along with 32 units on a circular truss about 60-70 meters above ground.
Greil sought to extend the beautiful stage design and architecture with lighting and therefore extend the picture frame of the show. In order to translate that into bigger looks, he was in search of a beam light that could work on such a large scale. For the designer, a few things were important – brightness and a narrow beam, but also key was a light with a large front lens.
He comments, “And that brought us to a trusted partner that I have used before, the Proteus Excalibur. It has a big diameter front lens, creates a lovely beam and did the job very well in the stadium at that scale.” Fifty-six Excaliburs spread across four upper balconies with 18 units on each of four catwalks were used to create expansive visual panoramas.
Overall, the event was a major success with challenges overcome, including the limited time allotted for build-up and tear down (which was completed in 27 minutes!). “We adapted workflows and routines to the schedule, and it worked flawlessly.”
Reflecting on the collaborative success, Greil expressed gratitude to lighting vendor PRG for their unwavering support and excellent collaboration throughout the project. “This event exemplifies the power of teamwork and collaboration in overcoming challenges to deliver a beautiful show. It was a great team effort from all departments,” he concluded.
Check out the March issue of LSi for a full production report on the opening ceremony of the AFC Asian Cup.
