The 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest recently wrapped up its 7th season, and rewarded with its largest viewing audience in its history. An estimated 13 million viewers watched 13 competing countries onstage, and wysiwyg was right there with them. The show was broadcast live on November 21 from the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, hosted by NTU.
The show is the biggest song contest in the world for performers aged 10 to 15, who each compose their own music and lyrics. The theme of this year's show was “Tree of Life” based on the artwork of Ukrainian artist Maria Primachenko. Lighting Designer Per Sundin created the lighting scheme using a wide array of colour and effects to compliment the theme. The staging incorporated circles, curved LED walls and strong lighting.
Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 fixtures were the main workhorse fixture, with 18 placed at the back of the stage at a 7-metre trim height. “We kept the fixtures a bit low,” explains Sundin, “because we really wanted them to be visible and deliver a really high impact. I used them in every song.” Four more were placed under the followspot pavilion over the audience. They were beefed up with another 22 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1200, 20 Vari*lite 2500 Wash, 8 SHOWGUNs, 6 Syncrolite SX3K, 9 Thomas 8 Lite, 29 Vari*lite 2202 Spot and 38 Vari*lite 3000 Wash.
With such a bold statement in lighting, Sundin needed to see the strength and combinations in advance and make sure each of the 13 songs looked unique. “wysiwyg is a valuable tool,” said Sundin, “the rig was quite powerful but we didn't want the lights to outshine the performers themselves. wysiwyg allowed me to create a perfect balance and deliver the results that each competing country was looking for. I was also quite happy to have all of the fixtures I needed available in the wysiwyg Library. It saved me a lot of time.” All lighting equipment was supplied by Zinteco Design in Kiev.
At the end of the evening, The Netherlands took top honours with Ralf singing his song ”Click Clack” and earning 121 points. 14-year-old Ralf Mackenbach is the oldest contest winner in the show's history.
Next year the show will be held in Minsk, Belarus. For more information about Junior Eurovision, visit www.junioreurovision.tv/.
For more information about wysiwyg and other CAST Software products, visit www.cast-soft.com.
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Photo credit: Sundin Design