Sorry for the absence. I’ve been out fishing for a while. No, seriously, it’s been very hectic with the start-up of the preproduction of Eurovision Song Contest 2016, so I asked Live Design for a break. But I did buy a boat, so hopefully fishing is around the corner!
First, I would like to honor yet another great man who has left us and turned the world into a darker place. Pontus “Bullen” Lagerbielke lost his battle with cancer and passed away September 27. Back in 2002, when most of you still had no idea what a media server was, Bullen operated 15 Catalyst media servers and 14 orbital mirror heads on Eurovision Song Contest in Tallinn, Estonia. It is worth adding that he was running Catalyst beta release version 1. He was the co-designer on five Eurovision Song Contests and operator on another two. He toured the world as the LD for Roxette and Meja, to mention a few. He is also the only person that I know, and most probably the only person in the world, who had a personalized desk cover for an Avolites Diamond II console. On Eurovision Song Contest 2005, he controlled 16 Catalysts from an ETC Avab Congo. Bullen’s desk had serial number 001, and he was a member of the development team. We had the first eight Congos that came out of the production line on that show. With a CV like his, he could be the most obnoxious and cocky person in the world, but he chose to be one of the warmest, friendliest, and most honest people I knew. He was driven by an unstoppable passion for this industry, and his drive inspired us all, always. “The world never remembers a coward” was his mantra, and this is what drove him to push the limits, time after time, to do things that had never been done and push the borders at all times. Needless to say, he was already booked for both the Melodifestivalen and Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Rest in peace, my dear old friend.
My boat is named Bullen, by the way.
Anyway, I went to PLASA in my long-lasting attempt to kill my liver. Did not succeed, so I also went to LDI to continue the battle, and I was very happy to see how many people came up to me, just to say hello. I guess that they read my article about networking.
Many, many, many, years ago, when I first started in this business, I was working extra hours in the warehouse of Spectra Event Technologies. Back then, Spectra was a small company with six employees but with big ambitions. One morning when I got in, there was big excitement in the break room. I asked what the hell was going on, and the warehouse manager said, “Today is the first day of a new era, and we are getting our first scanners.”
A New Hope
Needless to say, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I started with prepping a rental going out that morning, but a couple of hours later, our first batch arrived of the first scanners I’d ever seen: six High End Trackspots. Holy cheese! This was so cool! We rigged two of them on a Manfrotto 111, which almost immediately fell over when the warehouse manager was rushing away to get a missing cable. The fixtures survived, and we spent the rest of the day playing with them and the controller. These first scanners were to be followed by both Intellabeams and Cyberlights, with those awesome Universal Controllers that High End was selling back then. Spectra even got the first batch of Studio Colors worldwide in the spring of 1995, and this was the beginning of the end for scanners. Within a couple of years, they had all been replaced with moving lights.
I was hired fulltime by Spectra in 1997 to start up the production management department. I was employee number 12. When I left nine years later, Spectra was the biggest rental company in Scandinavia, with 85 employees in the four biggest cities in Sweden. But two years later, due to poor management, Spectra joined the scanner in the graveyard.
But there is (a new) hope! Well, maybe not for Spectra, but for the scanner. It’s back!
Already some years ago, High End released a new version of its legendary Cyberlight, version 2.0. And, in my mind, it was an awesome fixture with a 2,000W MSR source. I have to say that I was quite surprised that this product didn’t take off better than it did. Gone are the days when you use the full capacity of the pan, so why not go for a bright, high-output fixture that moves 100 times faster than a moving light, especially in the back layers of the set where you are more than fine with a 170° pan and a 90° tilt movement?
And now Clay Paky has released Spheriscan, an ultra-cool fixture that takes the concept of scanners to a new level. Ahhhh, I remember when I worked with the old Super Scan Zooms where a bottle of graphite powder was an absolute necessity for success. Clay Paky has promised me that this will not be needed for the Spheriscan.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love the fact that the scanner is back, and so should you. Otherwise, I will unfriend you on Facebook.
Ola Melzig has 25 years’ experience working in the entertainment concert industry, working his way up from stagehand through all facets of production. Today his resume includes technical director on large-scale events worldwide, including the Eurovision Song Contest, the Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies in New Delhi, India, Espectáculo Conmemorativo, the Cinco de Mayo 150th anniversary show in Puebla, Mexico, and the 2014 IIFA Awards. He recently worked as senior technical manager for the closing ceremony for the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, and he’s currently working as the technical director for Eurovision Song Contest 2016.
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