Om oss...

Vi är en samling människor som har valt att lysa upp tillvaron för andra genom att plocka fram konstiga mojänger som blinkar ur svarta lådor och hänga upp dessa på märkliga ställen för er förnöjelse. I denna anspråkslösa blogg ska vi försöka förmedla hur våra dagar och nätter kan te sig under Melodifestivalen 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 samt under Eurovision Song Contest 2013 och 2016. Nu utökar vi denna blogg att även omfatta 2019 års upplaga av Melodifestivalen! Kort sagt, hur har vi det när cirkusen kommer till stan? Vi ska försöka att hålla bloggen aktuell, men ber om överseende om vi inte hinner uppdatera den varje dag, vi kommer att ha en del annat att göra också. Hoppas ni finner detta underhållande och vi önskar er trevlig läsning! Varma hälsningar, Ljuscrewet Melodifestivalen 2018.

tisdag 21 maj 2013

DONE!



Wow.

I humble bow my head and thank you all for the love and positive feedback that are pouring in from all over the world and from places and people i could never imagined...

I do appreciate it.

However, there is time to do some shoutouts for the people that make all this possible, so here goes!

Emma Landare, Assistant LD who dealt with the openings, interval acts, host and greenroom - i would have killed myself (and some) if i have tried to manage all that - 

you stopped that from happening and did fantastic lighting.
Big hug!

Mikki Kunttu, Content Designer de luxe! - I would have died once more if i had tried to manage this! Fantastic work my friend and a real pleasure to have you onboard! Sorry for the hockey, but "it is what it is.."

Danne Persson, Calle Brattberg, Timo Kauristo, Bullen Lagerbielke, My fantastic four at FOH managing all the wobbly buckets plus winches, gadgets and other stuff - you saved my ass - again, as you always have done!
I owe you...

Q-lan Wallertz, my trustworthy followspotcaller, now let´s talk about typecasting? When it comes to hireing the right man for the right job - you´re "spot" on! Flawless, flawless and a pure joy to have you!
To all the followspot operatorsi can only say that i will always be greatful for their dedication.

Peter Andersson, my Gaffer who solved everything before it actually happened? Manhug!

Mikko Linnavuori, Neil Trenell, Mikkis boys who managed the biggest projection instruments in the world, a real pleasure to work with you and i sincerely hope we´ll meet again on the barricades!

Helen G Marenghi, Hanna Wilenus, Stuart Barlow, The Wiewing room crew who managed stressed deleagtions and gave us correct and "to the point" Feedback - you made my life easy! Big Hugs!

To the whole PRG/Starlight crew, to many to mention, but i´ll take it that everybody who reads this and have a connection will forward this message: YOU ARE ALL PROS!

And least, but in no way last - Mr. Ola Melzig, whom i´ll keep responsible for this journey and whom i´ll be seeking sweet revenge on in the future...
Love you man....

And FINALLY - one thing,
ESC 2013 - We are DONE!
Over. Out.


Nothing further...

lördag 18 maj 2013

Prepped!


The fins and the british connection are getting in mood for the battle to come...

SHOWMODE!


Right, after all this time and all the work it has come to this...
45 minutes to show!
Wish us luck, here we go...


Here is a pic from the interval act in semi 2.
Wonderful work of assistant LD Emma Landare!


Yesterday it was Olas birthday....
The noise from FOH backrow never stopped...


Gubi is the system engineer from MA Lighting.
Constantly overlooking the operators four sessions.


And as we getting closer to show, 
FOH are suddenly dressed in every flag but the swedish...
Here is Helen Marenghi with the Union Jack...


I really like Icelands entry....
For a number of reasons...


Agnes on the B-stage again!

So, see you on the other side....
May the force be with us.

fredag 17 maj 2013

Dress rehersal, Grand Final coming up!

Tjosan as we says in Sweden.
Yesterdays broadcast went very well, and we´re pleased with the end result.
At present we´re prepping the second dress rehersal of the grand final.

I´m kinda starstruck...
Two of my idols are here the take photos of the event, 
Louise Strickland & Ralph Larmann.

I will not post any crappy pics myself today, instead i´ll leave you with this link to Clay Pakys web page where Mr. Larmann have posted a few gorgeus shots..

Clay Paky Exclusive from Malmö

torsdag 16 maj 2013

Broadcast Semi 2 coming up...



Soooo, it´s time to jump on the real thing again!
In a few hours we´ll be on the air.
Semi 2 - bring it on!
This is a picture from the broadcast of semi 1, opening act.

 

So, this is a little teaser of what to expect tonight.


 

And it will get better....


And better....

onsdag 15 maj 2013

na-na-na-na igranku...



Montenegro on stage!
One of our favourites!
If you have astrounats on stage - you should be a winner!

Headcount Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Well, here it is...

Main rig arena.

49xAleda K5
58xAleda K10
50xAlpha Beam 1500
50xAlpha Profile 1500
129xAlpha Spot HPE
24xAlpha Spot QWO 800
200xSharpy
75xSharpy Wash
50xGlow Up Strip 100
40xAtomic Strobes w.scrollers
4xHungaroflash T-light strobes
55xSGM X-5 LED strobes
82xSGM Sixpacks
17xA&O 3kW Falcon Flowers
7xA&O 7kW Falcon Flowers
140xLeaderlight LL Stage 6-06D W
32xSolaris LED Flare
74xVari-lite VL3500Wash, stipplelens
8x2.5kW RJ Aramis followspot
6xBadBoy CMY (used as back followspots)

Greenroom.

16xAlpha Spot QWO 800
4x1kW ARRI Studio fresnels
84x2kW ARRI studio fresnels
32xETC Source 4 15/30 Zoom
24xETC Source 4 25/30 Zoom
20xETC Source 4 750 26deg.


FOH/Lighting

8xGMA2 Light (4xactive, 4xspares)

FOH/Video

3xGMA2 Light(2xactive, 1xspare)

FOH/System tech

4xMA on PC Command wings

16xNPU units
9xNSP units
58xDMX Universes

Lighting Designer:
Fredrik Jönsson

Assistant Lighting Designer:
Emma Landare

Gaffer:
Peter "Angry" Andersson 

Viewing room Lighting Assistant:
Helen Marenghi

Video Content Designer:
Mikki Kuntto


Light Operators:
Danne Persson
Calle Brattberg
Timo Kauristo
Bullen Lagerbielke

Followspot caller:
Q-lan Wallertz

Video Operators:
Mikko Linnavouri
Neil Trenell
 



Happy face!



Phiewww...
One down, two to go!

We´re very happy with the first show, 
all systems were go och we made it all the way.

tisdag 14 maj 2013

SHOWMODE!


Finally, after all this time, we have come to the first broadcast....


Wish us luck, we´re gonna need it...

söndag 12 maj 2013

Upgrade!


Today i upgraded the intercom system due to lack of clearity in the headset...


torsdag 9 maj 2013

buzy, buzy, buzy.....


Yes! We´re still at it!
Rehersing delegations with murderous pace!
We´re still wondering when the big brick wall will hit us, 
so far things are kinda smooth!
(famous last words..)

Tomorrow we will reherse 16 acts, so it will be a looong day!
Here are some snapshots from this week.
Moving along!


Black shiny floors is da shit!


We added some "stimmung" for this one...

onsdag 8 maj 2013

Semi 2 day 1 rehersals under way!


Sooo, today we´re on the case again!
Stuck at FOH with 8 new songs to check on our todo list!
Last night we had some R&R and that was well deserved and well needed..


And here he is!
Our beloved content designer for the projections,
Mr Mikki Kuntto happy as a bunny in a carrotfield!

Always greeting us with his mantra:
"hejsan hejsan!"
We´ll make a swede out of him before this is over...

We are rehersing Finland today, and the graphics for that are, 
shall we say: over the top?


Here a snapshot from this morning.
We´re gettin´there...

tisdag 7 maj 2013

2nd half of semi 1 rehersed!


Yo!

Today we are beat and too tired to do a serious update.
We need to get some rest and a catch our breath after the 16 hour workdays we´re clocking right now.

Will try to get you som pics and stuff tomorrow.

Over. out.

måndag 6 maj 2013

Rehersal with the real stuff day 1

Yes - the arena is cold, but the heat is on!
Today we started rehersals with the delegations 
and it actually went ok!
That will be famous last words, it´s not like we´re done.
Not by a longshot, but we got a good start.
Tomorrow there will be 8 new countrys up for the test. 
Wish us luck!

 

FOH with the stage in the background.


Here we go!
Now it´s the real deal with cameras and shit!


Mr. Mumzig in the finger of god?
Well, he thinks he is god....
We provide the finger.
In a number of ways.

fredag 3 maj 2013

Join the dark side you must.....



It´s your destiny.

One of the Hippo operators, Mikko Linnavouri, 
a.k.a - one of the finnpajsare - 
is very talented with his photoshop 
and keeps us in constant fear of 
what is going to show up on our screen....

No one is safe!

This is just one of the posters he made for us, of us!

But i´m happy, he made me into Han Solo!

Moving along.....



Bzzzt....

Blah, blah, blah....

Some "nerd" facts to take in....

There will be a test later!

Sound

5 sound consoles 3 MIDAS XL 8 and 2 MIDAS Pro9
210 speakers, Nexo Geo T and L-Acoustics dV-dosc
All speakers are managed through LAB LM 44 & LM 26
48 hand and headmics, all are Sennheiser 9000 series
16 In Ear system with 100 receivers, Sennheiser 2000 IEM
2 Macbook Pro machines running Waves plug-ins
2 Macbook Pro machines running Cubase
4 operators for PA & monitor
20 sound engineers to run the show

Stage

220 square metre specially made stage surface for performances
The circumference of the centre Mainstage area is 38 metres
The perimeter of the stage is 207 metres
Each arch weighs 7 tons and measures 13 metres in height
The projection wall is 43 metres wide and 8 metres tall

Rigging

3500 metres of truss
600 rigging points
159.6 tons rigged in the roof, the maximum capacity of the roof is 160 tons
40 km of signal & camera cables
50 km of power cables

Power Supply

6 Megawatt generator farm
3.5 Megawatt generator power used per day
3000L Ecopar used per day

Pyrotechnics

32 Fireball machines
24 Fireflame machines
6 Heavy smoke machines
4 Wind machines
3000 Pyro effects used during the show
100 kg Snow
100 kg Confetti

Lighting

1283 lighting fixtures
800 moving lights
14 follow spots
4 weeks of virtual programming
4 weeks of live programming
2 lighting designers
4 lighting operators
12 grandMA II Light consoles, 6 live and 6 in back-up
24500 control channels

Video

28 Barco HDQ 40 projectors, the world’s largest video projector
2 Barco HDF W26 projectors
4 Barco FLM HD20 projectors
4 Barco FLM R22+ projectors
8 Barco SLM R12 projectors
1 Barco Encore Image processing system
14 Green Hippo Hippotizer Media Servers
350 square meters 3D video mapping surface as a back-drop
1 media content designer
4 digital content designers
2 video operators
23 cameras to capture the action from all angles
2 multi camera directors

Other Facts

Equipment needed 95 transport trucks to deliver (25 stage only)
6878 hotel nights
3 weeks for rigging all equipment
250 show crew

Well...


...we're alive.
Sorry for the lack of updates, the last 4 days have been... Let's just say slightly buzy....
Bare with us.
By the way....
In a multilingual production like this, sometimes there can be confusion...