Robe follows the science in Israel
- Details
This year for the first time, the format went fully digital in delivery and was still staged at the Weizmann Institute campus’s Sela Auditorium, without a live audience but with as much ‘live’ presentational content as was possible which included lectures, seminars, presentations, Q&A sessions and the bestowing of honorary doctorates and other awards.
Lighting designer Eran Klein of Cochavi&Klein was asked to create lighting for the event and chose an all-Robe moving light rig to provide the flexibility needed to deliver this high-profile broadcast which was co-ordinated by communications agency FaZa.
Their team comprised Liron Zabari, Yoram Friedlander, Dana Klein and Hadas Vilensky, and the goal of all involved in the production was to ensure that director Liron Zabari brought an essential ‘as live’ ambience to all those tuning in to the stream.
In addition to the action being broadcast, recorded, or streamed from the venue, more presenters joined in live by Zoom, Teams and other remote conferencing platforms and three live entertainment segments featured performances by Miri Mesika, Ilanit and Arik Davidoff.
Set designer Izaq Ronen Wasserstein created an impressive diagonally orientated stage that was dramatically minimal in aesthetic with some bold features including a lightning flash shaped walkway with a plexi top which was lit from below. This dissected the whole stage area and ended mid-way through the first tier of audience seating. Eran also accentuated the form with pixel-controllable LED strips.
Onstage a substantial LED screen on stage right was contrasted with five graduated columns of LED on stage left. The tops of all these LED sections were masked so they slanted, keeping the distorted perspective styling which looked fantastic on camera.
Eran utilised six Robe BMFL Blades, two of which were positioned out in the audience area on flightcases which was a perfect angle for TV! The other four were rigged on two V-shaped trusses that mimicked the shape of the lightning flash on the stage.
He deployed 10 out of 15 x Robe MegaPointes on the trusses with the other five on the floor – for effects – and 10 LEDBeam100s were also on the floor along the front of stage as footlights and to enlarge the overall picture. Seven Robe Spiider LED wash beams were on the overhead trusses with the MegaPointes.
Lighting rental company Simul had to cross-rent the BMFL Blades from Danor Theatre and Studio Systems for this event for which they also supplied audio and LED screens. All the scenic elements were delivered by Gideon Rokach.
Eran programmed and ran the lights on a grandMA2 system with full redundancy.
The set-up, technical and rehearsal period was two weeks before the three-day streamed event went live.
