Eurovision Song Contest: a technical learning experience for Finnish professionals
It's ready. Just last week the Helsinki Arena was full of professionals of various fields setting up the props and equipment for the Eurovision Song Contest. The stage went up, and started more and more to resemble the jaw of a pike, as was the intention.
Rehearsals for the semifinals began on Thursday. The building work is over; now is the time for performances.
An incredible number of lamps hang on the ceiling of the arena, with more than 300 square metres of LED displays behind the stage, which serve both as illumination and as a screen for showing images.
There are a total of 800 lights - 400 which move and 400 which are stationary.
Topping it all is the small spider-cam television camera, which looks like an extra-terrestrial. It gives television viewers the sensation of flying over the live audience in the arena.
Tapani Parm, who is responsible for the whole television production, has worked on sports events, including the television production of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympics, but he admits that at least one thing took him by surprise in the preparations of the Eurovision Song Contest.
"The speed - how fast it all finally went up."
"We have also been surprised by the enthusiasm that is directed at our work", Parm adds.
Much of the equipment is so new that the gadgets are now being used for the first time in Finland. One of these is the new spider-cam and the High Definition TV broadcasting unit.
In technology and staging, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE has worked together with companies from outside: the Swedish Spectra and the British Stage One. However, the majority of the professional staff are Finns. This means that Eurovision will be a major learning experience for the native crew. Although much of the equipment is on loan, the experience will remain in Finland.
"The master tape will be the most valuable asset that is left behind", says lighting director Mikki Kunttu.
Kunttu has made his reputation as the lighting planner of dance performances, among other things. He has also been involved in the production of gala events for the MTV3 television networks.
While the present production is on a completely different scale compared with the previous efforts, Kunttu notes that the basic idea is the same "shooting with a camera, and watching at home".
At first he did not want to join the effort at all, because he had a dim view of the Eurovision Song Contest as such. However, with the dream team available, he felt that he could not refuse.
"Now we can show what we are capable of. It is the only opportunity in Finland for us to try anything like this."
Kunttu's creations include the video screens. Each country gets the lighting that it wants, and they vary from the pulsating flashes typical of a music video to a calm and peaceful colour background.
In Thursday rehearsals, pulsating electricity followed the beat of the Bulgarian drums, and an urban landscape in the background of the Israeli band. Kunttu has simulated the performance of each country before the rehearsals began.
"There are different genres, and that is a good thing. The competition is turning into an overall competition of music performances", Kunttu said.
The captain of the TV outside broadcast van is television director Timo Suomi who, like all of the others, is facing the challenge of a lifetime.
The director got the equipment that he needs, but he is not impressed by the technology alone.
"For once we have had enough time to rehearse well. YLE's budgets are usually so small that we go into live performances without any rehearsal", Suomi says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.5.2007 - TODAY |
 Eurovision Song Contest: a technical learning experience for Finnish professionals |
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