Igor Zlatkov, Managing Director of Robert Juliat's dealer in Croatia, ZI Lighting, has reported that six Robert Juliat follow spots have recently been used on the Opening Ceremony of the 21st World Handball Championships.
The Championship was the first event ever to be held at the new Spaladium Arena, which opened in Split in December 2008. With a 12,000-seat capacity and a gross surface area of 28,500 m², the Arena, provides Split with its first multi-functional venue in which will be held sporting events, concerts, congresses, fairs, exhibitions and other events that the city has previously been unable to host due to limited capacity.
Lighting Designer for the Opening Ceremony, Boris Popovic, has lit many major live television shows and studio productions in Croatia and recognised the importance of good follow spots on this high profile event.
“Follow spots played an important role in the lighting design for the Opening Ceremony of 21st World Handball Championship,” Popovic explains, “ so, in such a large venue, finding good follow spots was high on my list of priorities during the preparation stage.
“Rhino Production, the rental company which provided the lighting and sound for the Ceremony, offered me six Robert Juliat follow spots. I made some calculations based on the data from the Robert Juliat web site, and decided to take them.
“In the real world they performed even better than I expected, and the performers in the stadium looked great and were brightly lit in such a big venue. From now on I have no doubt which follow spot to use!”
The Robert Juliat follow spots, two 1200W RJ Korrigans, two award-winning 1200W RJ Super Korrigans and two of the latest 1800W RJ Victors, were supplied by Rhino Production of Zagreb. Rhino's Mladen Bjelkanovic, who suggested the Robert Juliat spots to Popovic, was confident of his recommendation of these popular follow spots:
"When it comes to deciding which products to include in our list of equipment for all round rental and service purposes, it's always a tough decision,” he explains. “We have to get the correct balance between price, reliability, maintenance and many other things! Sometimes, however, the choice is easy! There was no doubt which follow spots to take: Robert Juliat was natural choice. Now, after 5 years of using them, we have never had any cause to doubt we made the right decision! They are always here, ready to perform !"
“Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending,” added Zlatkov. “Croatia lost to France in the Handball final!”
A double triumph for France!
For more information on Robert Juliat follow spots, profiles and dimmers, visit the website at www.robertjuliat.com
For more information on ZI Lighting please visit: www.zilighting.com
About Robert Juliat
Robert Juliat is a three-generation, independent, family-run company dedicated to stage lighting. The current chairman's grandfather was, at the end of the 19th century, one of the pioneers in creating special effects for the fledgling motion picture industry in France. Robert Juliat lights are used by customers who include the Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, New York's Lincoln Center, LA's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Disney World, The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Comedie Francaise, the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, football's World Cup in Japan and Germany, plus theatres, schools and public venues around the world.
R&D, production and the company headquarters are based in the village of Fresnoy-en-Thelle, 50 km north of Paris. Robert Juliat USA is located in Wallingford, Connecticut. For more information, visit www.robertjuliatamerica.com.