The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (JESC) is an international song competition first organized in 2003 by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The competition has many similarities to the wildly popular Eurovision Song Contest from which its name is taken. Each participating broadcaster sends an act, the members of which are aged between 10 and 15 years old. They must perform an original song to compete against the other entries. Viewers from the participating countries are invited to vote for their favourite performances by televoting and there is also a jury from each participating country. The performance with the most points is declared the winner.
The show is broadcast live and streamed on the Internet, as well as performed in front of a live audience. Provisional audience figures for 2014 were in the region of three million viewers. The show took place on 15 November at the Marsa Shipyards in Malta, which were converted specially into the host venue for the event. With 16 countries participating, it was a new record.
Clay Paky fixtures made up the majority of the stage lighting for the show. Lighting director Nick Malbon created a display to highlight the young performers. Twenty-four Clay Paky A.leda Wash K20 were located on floor level and on vertical towers at the rear of the stage, while 24 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700, 50 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500 and 24 Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200 filled the ceiling. Not to be missed were the 68 Clay Paky Sharpy and 24 Clay Paky Super Sharpy fixtures that brought in the visual Wow factor.
Malbon said, "I really enjoyed working with the assortment of the Clay Paky fixtures. The A.leda is very, very bright but quite flexible, while the Sharpy and Super Sharpy deliver those amazing sharp beams. The whole package worked really well together in terms of colour and set nicely with the rest of the rig."
Creaive director John McCullagh agreed, adding, "The Sharpy is always a fantastic go-to fixture and the Super Sharpy was equally impressive with the extra punch allowing more effects to stand out against the brightness of the TV lighting, allowing the rig to be more flexible. The Alpha Beams and Alpha Spots rounded out the look nicely and the A.leda looked great on the stage."
Italian-based Agorà In association with local company Nexos, supplied the lighting.
(Jim Evans)
