Mojo Rental Southeast Europe from Croatia were the first company in the Balkans to invest in Robe’s new GigaPointe laser-phosphor source multipurpose luminaire, with a purchase of 24 fixtures. These were delivered – direct from the factory in Czechia – to the get-in of two massive shows at Zagreb Arena for Croatia’s latest pop and internet sensation, Jakov Jozinović.
The GigaPointes were right at the heart of a highly dynamic lighting and stage design by Sven Kučinić from LumiLas LLC – who was delighted to get his hands on them!
He also used 173 other Robe products on the rig, as the show spiked enormous interest on all platforms and was the largest and most significant that Jozinović has played to date.
Due to last-minute changes in the production requirements, the whole lighting rig for the 360-degree show was fully reimagined – completely from scratch – in just six days ahead of the show, involving some long days and nights and serious concentration by Sven!
This presented a brain teaser and a challenge, but he rose to the occasion and created a highly multi-dimensional interactive environment to connect the young star with his fans that enthralled everyone, especially those for whom it was their first live music concert experience!
In addition to the GigaPointes, Sven’s design utilized 32 x Robe FORTES, 32 x CycFX 8s, 16 x PAINTES, 24 x LedPOINTES, 32 x Spiiders and 32 x Tetra2s.
Four Robe BMFL WashBeams were the follow spots, ensconced high up at the back of the audience bleachers. They were manually operated using Robe’s LightMaster side handle kits, with pan & tilt controlled by the operators and all other parameters run from Sven’s lighting console.
The rectangular-shaped stage – with thrusts emanating from the two short sides – was positioned in the middle of the arena, and above it was a rectangular-shaped video cube with screens on 4 sides, primarily dedicated to an IMAG mix.
When he knew that the GigaPointes would definitely arrive in time for these shows, Sven made them central to the design, and they were used for everything apart from key lighting, and especially for all the large scale looks, plus an array of mesmeric effects.
“It’s always exciting to use a new product,” he stated, adding that for several years MegaPointes had been a go-to for most of his creative projects, so it was a logical progression to change up to this bright and highly flexible new luminaire.
However, Sven also ideally wanted more, and ended up using 10 MegaPointes as support to extend the high beam concept.
The GigaPointes were positioned on trusses above the long side of the video cube in positions giving the highest (16-meter) and longest throws, perfect for aerial effects, where they had BIG impact blasting out from the arena roof space.
The MegaPointes were rigged on trusses in corresponding positions along the short side of the video rectangle.
Sven even found himself at times moderating the intensity of the GigaPointes, remarking that it is always “good trouble” having a fixture that’s too bright!
“They are a solid next-gen all-purpose fixture,” he commented. In addition to the intensity, he appreciated the interchangeability and the way GigaPointes worked with MegaPointes and the other Robe fixtures.
Apart from all of that, Sven is a bit of a laser nerd, so what he totally loved was “the way you can make GigaPointes REALLY emulate laser effects when needed,” adding that, “they are also the only laser source I’ve encountered to date that look like an LED light when in Spot mode – which is impressive engineering.”
He appreciated that the GDTF file for GigaPointes was already made available by Robe, making his pre-viz work much easier.
The initial versions of the design were produced months in advance using Capture and based on MegaPointes, as at that stage, no-one could exactly pinpoint the GigaPointe delivery date.
The 32 x FORTES were hung just below the video cube on a trussing grid formation.
Running gobos and texturing on the stage with these FORTES seamlessly blended with the floor’s video effects, so it was impossible to tell between lighting and pixels, which was pretty cool.
Sven also used the FORTES to shroud the stage in intense light combined with smoke for a dramatic entrance effect, as Jozinović popped up from the center on a lift.
Sven has always liked Tetra2s, and for the show used all 32 that Mojo Rental Southeast Europe has in stock for framing the edges of the stage – low profile fixtures were essential to preserve sightlines. He took all of the company’s CycFX 8s as well, used in the mirroring positions on the trusses above stage.
Also on the floor were the 24 x LedPOINTES, again picked due to their compact size and minimal impact on sightlines.
All the time Sven had to be acutely aware of how the show would look live as well as later on thousands of smartphones and subsequent SoMe channels.
The 16 x PAINTES were his key lighting, rigged – together with the Spiiders – on four trusses further out from the video cube. These were ideal positions for lighting the band and Jozinović, and for the Spiiders to bathe the audience in rich and sumptuous colors.
For him, Spiiders are still a great choice of LED wash. “The colors, zoom, calibration, etc. are currently still unmatched!” he noted. In addition to lighting the fans, he used Spiiders for additional beam effects, working in conjunction with the GigaPointes.
Sven admits that two years ago, he was initially a little skeptical about how well PAINTES would work, but after a demo and using them a few times, they have also become a frequent pick for key lighting. He thinks that the shutters and gobos are excellent and that “they are really amazing fixtures.”
The general aesthetic goal for these shows was to create something original and memorable. “It needed to be grand and spectacular, but not tacky or pompous,” he explained, talking creatively.
Sven extended thanks to the whole Mojo Rental Southeast Europe team for helping make this happen in such a pressurized time window, and especially to his lighting crew chief, Sven Grbec “Maci”, who perfectly coordinated prepping all the Robe kit.
In addition to these Robe lights, some strobes, 2-Lites, and around 30,000 LED bracelets (over the two nights) were also programmed via Sven’s lighting console, further boosting the immersive audience visual experience.
Photos by Mario Poje, Jurica Cvitanic & Sven Kucinic