Robe makes impact on the slopes of Schladming
- Details
Lighting designer Daniel Reistenhofer from D-TWO Stage&Light Creations was asked to light the 2017 season opening event and he enlisted the help of over 100 Robe moving lights - 74 x Pointes and 34 x BMFL WashBeams.
Event organisers, Leutgeb Entertainment Group and the Planai Hochwurzen Bahnen Gesellschafft, saw some of Daniel’s other stage designs and wanted something totally different to what had been done before.
The format was similar to a large EDM event, a large stage - 40 x 24m - was set up next to the Planai ski slope - normally the finish line for the Night Race - and around 16,000 people packed in to enjoy the start of December opening event and the international line-up that included Martin Garrix, Alle Farben and Alan Walker rocking the slopes.
Daniel was asked to design set, video and lighting, which was a massive bonus…, so he proposed a design based on four hills representing the contours of the Planai mountain cableway, with the big one in the middle being the Dachstein. This was topped, jauntily, by a large scenic bobble hat.
Lighting-wise, he wanted to give as much scope and flexibility as possible to the guest LDs arriving with each of the headlining DJs, so with limited programming time, they had the chance to make up great looking scenes quickly and easily.
The Pointes and BMFLs were rigged on six tall towers upstage and a steel structure used for rigging the LED video screens and the set. This was designed to be open with a low see-through arched roof immediately above the DJ booth to provide some protection for the artists in case of snowfall.
The Pointes were the main stage-lighting workhorse fixtures and were positioned all over the structure, from where they could light the stage, the DJs and fire out into the crowds.
The BMFL WashBeams were onstage and rigged to the FOH towers. Two at FOH and four onstage were used to light the décor and the hills. Daniel made the most of the shutter systems to clearly define and highlight these set pieces, including the bobble hat which could be clearly illuminated from 60m away.
Another four at FOH were utilised to light the front line of the stage; eight upstage provided powerful piercing beams from the back, with the remaining fourteen dotted over the stage deck for additional show and cross lighting.
The video elements of the show was designed by Daniel and operated by a VJ hired for the event, with the intensity and colour of the video playback also controlled by Daniel and second operator Thomas Stranzl on their Hog4 and Full Boar 4 control consoles. This way they could match the lighting and video more closely and produce fully harmonious looks. In addition to these consoles and a Road Hog 4, a grandMA was provided for guest LDs.
The finale and ‘closing show’ of the evening was run via timecode triggered by the lighting consoles.
Lighting equipment was supplied by Getec-Eventechnik-GmbH. The production manager was Strohmayer Andreas and the lighting crew chiefs were Karl Sorger and Michael Kink. Technical production was co-ordinated by Daniel Zötsch and SFX were supplied by FOG fireworks + sfx GmbH and run by Sascha Tietze.
(Jim Evans)
