Eight Robert Juliat Cyrano 2500W HMI follow spots were also used across other Olympic-related events across Beijing.
Chief lighting designer for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was Mr Sha Xiaolan who worked closely with director Zhang Yimou to create the spectacular effects.
Jamie Boey, of Robert Juliat China which supplied the Lancelot and Cyrano follow spots, reports, "Mr Sha was delighted with the performance and quality of the Robert Juliat follow spots and confirmed his decision to use Robert Juliat was based on sound technical reasons."
"The brightness of the Lancelot was a deciding factor," affirms Mr Sha, "since more than 2700 units of 1200W moving lights used in total, so it needed to be able to cut through this amount of light.
"The projection distance was, at times, more than 200m. The Robert Juliat Lancelot therefore had to fully comply with our requirements for the best 'distance versus light output' ratio, which it achieved with its extremely narrow zoom range of 2° to 5°. "
(Jim Evans)
