German lighting designer Jerry Appelt specified masses of lighting to deliver different looks for the 43 competing countries, three interval acts and opening act for the Final broadcast. Over 2,100 moving lights were incorporated into the design, with the majority hung overhead, spanning the entire space of Düsseldorf Arena.
Twenty-four Falcon Flower 3000Ws made a massive impact at floor level with four placed on each side of the stage at its widest position and another 12 lined along the back LED stage wall. Four more were placed on the catwalks in front of the stage.Sixteen Falcon Flower 7000Ws were placed in the ceiling, with eight hung on a moving truss directly behind the stage. Lighting control was delivered via grandMA2 full-size consoles, triggered via timecode.
Appelt said of the Falcon, "I use the 3K all the time. It's very powerful and when I need that look, it's the only one I go to. Düsseldorf Arena is huge and I wanted beams to reach to every corner. This was actually the first time I used the 7K and the results were fantastic. Really great light and nice beam effects - I'll definitely use them again."
Cape Cross of Cologne provided all lighting and rigging for the show, sending 130 trucks, each with 40 tonnes of equipment. Thomas Brügge, managing director of Cape Cross said, "We use Falcons in almost every show we do - they're incredibly strong. Not many lights can do what they do. The Xenon is a very special form of light. I've seen many companies try to copy it but none have succeeded like the Falcon. It's really brilliant."
The company behind the creative production of Eurovision 2011 was Brainpool TV, led by producer Jörg Grabosch. Brainpool managed all creative aspects including staging, lighting, pyro, hosts, viewing room, technical crew and managed the companies in charge of these areas - Cape Cross (lighting & rigging); Creative Technology (video); Stage Kinetic (moving LED screen); MCI (set construction); and LunatX (pyro).
(Jim Evans)
