Sweden's highest profile event of the year was attended by the King, Queen and other members of the Royal Family, a host of Nobel Laureates, politicians, dignitaries and VVIPs - around 1,400 guests in all. The entire evening was broadcast live on Swedish National television's SVT1.
Spectra instigated several important technical firsts for the occasion, including stunning roof projections, created using the new Catalyst Version 4 digital media server. The event was also the European debut for Wybron's new Nexera tungsten colour-changing wash fixtures. Spectra also utilised SGM's latest Giotto Synthesis 700 moving lights, Barco R18s for the projection and a radio DMX system from Swedish manufacturer, Wireless Solutions.
Spectra has lit the event in the past, but this year was the first in a new three-year contract for its busy Stockholm office. (The others are in Malmoe, Gothenburg and Gavle). Lighting designer was Per Sundin and production manager was Spectra's Ola Melzig. The lighting was programmed and operated by Emma Landare using a Wholehog II.
Sundin's meticulous design was based on the creation of a warm and intimate ambience in the massive space, built between 1911 and 1923 by architect Ragnar Östberg. It also needed to look good on camera for the broadcast, and whilst a formal occasion protocol-wise, it was essential that the evening was a personal and relaxed experience for all involved. Lighting had a vital role in this, which was definitely the biggest challenge, recalls Sundin. His design needed great subtlety, and the lighting - both in terms of equipment and effect - had to be virtually invisible.
Another major challenge of putting a production into the Blue Hall is the complete absence of rigging points. However, there is a 50cm-wide ledge around the very top of the building, so Spectra's starting pointwas the installation of four 'bumper' trusses in each corner, each secured across two sides of the ledge, providing flying points for four pieces of Minibeam. Rigged to these and also positioned strategically along the ledge were a combination of 13 SGM Giotto Synthesis 700s, four Giotto 400s, four SGM Palco LED floods (for washing the roof), and 15 2k profiles.
From below, near ground level, the Hall's walls were up-lit by 25 colour-changing LED battens, carefully fixed to the pillars via custom brackets designed by Spectra at approximately 3m height. The arches around the Hall were illuminated with forty 500W floods, and 14 ornate second floor windows were individually lit with short-nosed Pars.The majestic staircase that sweeps down from the first floor balcony onto the hall floor was back-lit with two six-bars of Pars, and the Golden Hall adjacent to the balcony and its ornate mosaic interior was boosted with four 2k softlights.
The staircase landing area doubled as the stage for the acceptance speeches from selected Nobel Laureates. To provide some impact, Sundin positioned four 5k Syncrolites behind the first floor windows at one end of the hall behind the staircase. For general colour, he kept the basic looks warm, with one dramatic blue scene activated during the final choir performance.
The 14 colour-changing Wybron Nexera fixtures were used to wash the sculpted walls behind the balcony. They blended in perfectly with the washes on the other three red brick walls of the Blue Hall, and highlighted the textured surface as a dramatic backdrop to the choir.
ProjectionThe Catalyst artwork was specially created by Peppe Tannemyr and Lennart Wahlin from Beacon (like Sundin, also part of the Eurovision 2005 team put together by Melzig), using their latest graphics software, Adobe After Effects and Apple Motion. Tannemyr and Wah
