Although the Qatari capital uncharacteristically suffered the most rain locals could remember in years, including a downpour just 45 minutes before the Opening, it neither dampened the spirit of the Games nor affected the nearly 400 MAC 2000 Washes used on the production.
Distributed through Martin's Australian representative, Show Technology, the MAC 2000 Wash fixtures along with Atomic 3000 strobes and Stage Cyclos were supplied for the spectacular by local partners Bytecraft Entertainment. Fixtures were also brought in from Procon of Germany and others.
Bytecraft's project manager for the event was Paul Rigby. He says: "The Asian Games Opening and Closing was one of the most difficult projects I have worked on. The climatic conditions in Qatar ranging from 45 degrees heat for the first month, followed by a month of moderate temperatures but lots of dust, then freak rain and hail on the show night and then the last month of rain put the whole lighting system and crew to the test."
"Indeed, we experienced some weather conditions but at the end of the day, it was a successful production," says Fabrice Kebour, who along with Andrew Doig and associate designer Steve Shipman handled lighting design duties for the event.
"The MAC 2000 Wash was a major part of the lighting design from the very start," says Kebour. "After looking at various equipment options and conducting a light test in the venue, the MAC 2000 Wash proved to be the ideal choice in terms of light output, beam quality and reliability in a hostile environment. In addition, by mounting the PC lens on the fixture, the MAC 2000 provided an extremely precise, powerful and clean beam in spite of the throw distance. Martin was very supportive of the project and provided a high standard of service allowing Bytecraft to maintain the system at an almost fault free level throughout the production."
Paul Rigby adds, "The MAC 2000s were the workhorse of the system and their reliability combined with the support from Martin's Mark Ravenhill, Claus Jensen and S°ren Storm allowed us to keep the system running in such good shape that the designers were almost unaware of the hard work going on behind the scenes. It takes many people to put on a great show and I am pleased to say that all the people at Martin are behind us all the way."
The 2000 Washes were located at several points in the stadium with most placed across the top of a large semi-circular video screen and on a towering arch that spanned the length of the stadium.
"The MAC 2000 Wash formed more than 50% of the rig. A large number were installed as an arch of light on the top edge of the 150m long LED video screen positioned behind the seating area and proved to be an impressive back light position," says Kebour. "Clusters of washes were placed at both the left and right ends of the stadium to create a cross light position. They proved to be particularly efficient to light the flying segments of the show."To animate the background 50 'fagpods' - consisting of a nine light blinder whose centre three lamps were replaced by Martin Atomic strobes with Atomic Colour scrollers - were placed around the stadium.
The Martin Stage Cyclo was incorporated into a three level Perspex stage for the Closing Ceremony. "This stage acted as a giant light box and the Stage Cyclo were used to provide a large choice of colour," Kebour concludes. "Colour changing was smooth and the units proved to be very powerful even in this unconven
