latest news headlines
Robe Idolised in Iceland
Iceland’s premier TV production company, 365 Media, has been a Robe distributor since Robe’s direct brand launch at PLASA 2002. The dealership was secured by Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson, head of the 365 Media´s lighting department.
Since then, the Czech moving light manufacturer’s representation in Iceland has grown exponentially – mirroring Robe’s international success - as 365 Media has imported over 70 fixtures to this North-Atlantic island with just 280,000 inhabitants. The company is utilising Robe fixtures for its own TV productions, as well renting them out to various events, concerts and institutions, including Placido Domingo, the Sugababes, Diana Krall, The Prodigy, Scooter, the Icelandic National Theatre and the Reykjavik City Theatre.
Recently 365 Media utilised nearly all its Robe stock to light the finals of the most popular TV show in the country’s history - Icelandic Idol. Broadcast on Channel Two, nearly half the country’s population voted for the winner, 23 year old singer Hildur Vala Einarsdottir, on the Final night, claimed by producers Fremantle Media as the highest population percentage figure ever!
Set and lighting were designed by Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson. The show’s LED-lit truss half-dome, was supplied by Eurotruss in Holland and clad with LED starcloths from Universal Stars Ltd, as was the rear projection material, onto which Apollo Design Technology glass cloud gobos were projected by Robe MS Zoom 250s.
Robe 575 XT Wash lights also coloured the projections. Five front projection video screens inside the dome completed the design, plus the trademark Idol stairs backlit with LED tubes. The Plexiglas floor was washed with 14 Robe 575 XT Wash lights. Eight Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs were used for backlighting from the dome’s upper regions, plus five Robe MS Zooms 250s just peeking out over the floor level.
The lighting rig also used 60 small strobes scattered over the half-dome for a ‘paparazzi effect’, augmented by 10 Eurolite 4-light audience blinders. The front lighting was Strand CoolBeams with an oil cracker from Swefog supplying the mist. The lighting system was controlled via an Avolites Pearl 2004.
Bodvarsson says: “I really like the little Robe MS Zoom. The lens changing capacity is fantastic, and with an E-size gate it’s so bright and powerful. There’s also a static gobo/color wheel and a rotating one, which is rare in 250W fixtures.”
Bodvarsson wanted a clean, uncluttered look in his Idol stage design and for the video graphics to stand out. The eight Color Spot 1200E AT were the main source of lighting effects, with “their fantastic selection of gobos and amazing zoom”. He particularly likes the fact that the patterns stay in focus throughout virtually the full zoom range, “a particularly nice effect in TV is to have the beams zoom in and out with the camera cranes”. He also finds the 1200E very fast and bright. He used two 1200s behind the audience that sliced through the extensive PAR 64 backwash to create movement as the cameras captured the crowd’s excitement.
The venue for Icelandic Idol was the 1700 square metre exhibition Wintergarden Hall in the Smaralind Shopping Mall, Reykjavik, with a live audience of 700 who queued for hours to be involved in the broadcasts. The Final night was viewed by 57% of the country, a new TV viewing record for Channel Two and an even more remarkable figure considering it’s a subscription station.
“The scale of this series was the biggest in our short 39 years of television,” states Bodvarsson. “At 365 Media we wanted to create a spectacular environment for the competition.” The set and lighting get-in and preparation took 10 days and great care went into creating interesting foregrounds for the two camera cranes, both on the ground as well as in the air. “We’re very proud of our production,” he says. The nine final broadcasts, directed by veteran TV Director Thor Freysson, went extremely smoothly. The technical and production team at 365 Media has become expert in handling the demands of large broadcasts over the last few years, so even the most complex sets and lighting setups are seen as a great challenge to Freysson and his crews.
The Robe fixtures delivered every Friday night of the nine part Idol final series without a hitch. “Next to performance, reliability is what we in the lighting department at 365 Media really value about Robe. Not to mention our customers, who take it for granted now! Life is so much easier when you can concentrate on using the lights instead of worrying if they’ll last throughout the job!”
They also have 18 Robe 575 XT Spots in their stock, but the National Theatre in Iceland could not release seven of them, as they are in constant use for most of their larger productions. “They perform flawlessly for them every night, and I’m beginning to think we here at 365 Media have seen the last of them!” quips Bodvarsson. “The Reykjavik City Theatre is now renting a few of our 1200s and I don’t think I’m getting them back in the near future either!”
He adds that he had a good feeling right from the start about Robe when he met Josef Valchar in London back in 2002. “It’s the best bet I’ve ever made in this business!” he says, “Robe was once our ‘secret weapon’ and now it’s our strongest asset.”
19th May 2005
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
