Slovakian's leading lighting rental company Q-99 once again supplied lighting and LED for the shows, which were designed by Martin Kubanka, who has lit Slovakia's Eurovision song competitions on several previous occasions.
Kubanka - one of the country's most prolific lighting designers - always uses Robe on his major shows. "Robe products are very reliable and offer all the creative scope and functionality I need to make a popular light entertainment show like this look dynamic and interesting," he states.
Twenty-four Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 12 ColorSpot 575E ATs were used by Kubanka for the six preliminary rounds of the song selection process. These each featured 10 contestants from which the top four were voted into the two semi-final rounds which spawned the 12 finalists.
The challenge was to design a rig to compliment Daniel Šithman's set with enough flexibility to offer each contender a unique and distinctive look and feel for their big stage 'moment'.
The ColorSpot 1200E ATs were rigged in six rows over the top of the stage, hung on subtley raked upstage/downstage trusses and sandwiched between six strips of Schnick-Schnack video surface forming a roof. They were used to illuminate the seated audience members at the back and those in special 'fan pens' who were standing and dancing nearer to the front of the stage.
The ColorSpot 575E ATs were hung on trusses above two LED video walls that were offset stage left and right, and used to provide side and back lighting and effects for all the performers.
The overall design concept was to produce an intense 'arena' of light across the whole stage and performance space where the numerous LED surfaces were matched with corresponding rows of moving lights.
Kubanka utilised multiple features on the Robe fixtures throughout the show including fast and precise strobing for specific songs and for stings like the winner announcement sections. Dark, moody saturated colours and dreamy frost filters were applied for the ballads and slower numbers.
The sharp, bright well defined beams of the ColorSpot 1200E ATs were also used as hard-edged 'contra' lighting for the contestants and presenters from behind, the crisp beams powerfully cutting through the often intense layers of fog.
Kubanka used a grandMA full size console for lighting control which was programmed and operated by Michael Schmidt. Another grandMA full size operated by Thomas Lecky was used for running video through all the LED surfaces.
The Slovakian 2010 Eurovision Song Contest competition was won by Kristina with the song Horehronie, and she will represent the Slovak Republic at the final in Oslo on 29 May.
(Jim Evans)
