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Junior Eurovision 2024: Stage construction completed | A preview of the stage in action!

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In just one week, the vibrant stage of the 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest will come to life at Madrid’s iconic Caja Mágica. Seventeen talented young artists from across Europe will take the stage to compete for the prestigious title, performing in front of millions of viewers worldwide.

As the event draws closer and the first delegations begin arriving in Madrid, preparations at the host venue are reaching their peak. Notably, the construction of the stage has been completed, and the first technical rehearsals for the competing countries are set to begin in the coming days.

In anticipation of the big event, RTVE, the Spanish national broadcaster, has shared a timelapse video showcasing the process of building the spectacular stage. The video offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the transformation of the venue, culminating in a preview of the stage in action as it gets ready to host this year’s Junior Eurovision performances.

With the stage now set and rehearsals about to kick off, the excitement continues to build for what promises to be an unforgettable edition of Junior Eurovision in Madrid.

Junior Eurovision 2024

Seventeen countries will take part in the 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest:

  1. Italy: Simone Grande – “Pigiama Party”
  2. Estonia: Annabelle – “Tänavad”
  3. Albania: Nikol Çabeli – “Vallëzoj”
  4. Armenia: Leo – “Cosmic Friend”
  5. Cyprus: Maria Pissarides – “Crystal Waters”
  6. France: Titouan – “Comme ci, comme ça”
  7. North Macedonia: Ana and Aleksej – “Marathon”
  8. Poland: Dominik Arim – “All Together”
  9. Georgia: Andria Putkaradze – “To My Mom”
  10. Spain: Chloe DelaRosa – “Como la Lola”
  11. Germany: Bjarne – “Save the Best For Us”
  12. Netherlands: Stay Tuned – “Music”
  13. San Marino: Idols SM – “Come noi”
  14. Ukraine: Artem Kotenko – “Hear Me Now”
  15. Portugal: Victoria Nicole – “Esperança”
  16. Ireland – Enya Cox Dempsey – “Le Chéile”
  17. Malta: Ramires Sciberras – “Stilla ċkejkna”

The 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held on November 16 in Madrid, Spain, following the country’s second-place finish last year and the refusal of the winning country, France, to host for the second year in a row. The slogan for this year’s contest is “Let’s Bloom!”, while Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Clotet and Melani Garcia will serve as this year’s hosts.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: RTVE

Eurovision 2024: Technical fun facts about the stage in Malmö Arena!

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In a few days, it will be Sweden‘s 7th time to host the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Stockholm in 1975, 2000 and 2016, in Gothenburg in 1985, and in Malmö in 1992, 2013 and 2024.

Here are some technical fun facts about this year’s Eurovision stage, as provided by the SVT Communications Team:

Cameras & Broadcast

  • 26 cameras used for the Broadcast

Of those 26 cameras:

  • 4 are mounted on a Rail
  • 2 are used on Telescopic Cranes
  • 7 Wireless Cameras (5 Stedicam, 2 Handheld)
  • 2 Aerial systems, 1 is a 2D camera system and 1 is a Drop camera system (top shot).
  • 2 identical OB-vans + a container village with all broadcast related built in.
  • LiveEdit is used as ACS system (Automated Camera Scripting). It is a system that is programmed to operate the vision mixer automatically, runned by time code from the music track. It also cues each camera operator before their shot.

Communication

  • We are using over 400 radios to communicate on site.
  • Over 60 radio channels (both analogue and digital) are used.
  • On top of that we also use over 200 intercom panels, both stationary and wireless.
  • The IT set up contain 110 WiFi access points and 82 network switches. And only the IT use over 8,2 km off signal cables

Rigging

  • 196 variable speed hoist is used to position and move most of the lighting and LED element in the design.
  • 204 tons of technical gear is suspended from the arena ceiling.
  • 3,5 km of truss

Lighting

  • 2168 Lighting fixtures. All lighting fixtures have a LED or laser source.
  • 4 weeks of pre-programming is needed.

Video

  • There’s about 1 000 square meters of LED screen in and over the set.
  • Stage floor LED is 186m2
  • 5 LED video cubes are 460m2
  • 340m2 LED screen
  • 10 Media servers runs video content on all LED screens.

Sound

  • 68 speakers
  • 56 microphones
  • 9 sound desks
  • 3 different sound mixes are done IEM (in ear monitor) for the artists, PA for the audience onsite and the broadcast mix (for the TV-audience).

Stage management team

  • There is a six person stage management team. To assist them there is an additional stage crew of 36 people. They will have 55 SECONDS to move each prop into perfect position on stage while at the same time, rolling another prop off the stage. These movements are carefully choreographed and rehearsed, just like everything else in this show.

General

  • It requires in total about 230 people to operate the Eurovision broadcast, among them there are:
    • 3 Multicamera Directors
    • 40 camera operators including crane swingers, focus pullers, 2D cam pilot etc.
    • 6 operators for lighting & 2 for video
    • There are 8-9000 tickets for each show, sold to ticketholders from more than 80 countries.
    • The production team is on site 46 days in total, including the set up and dismantle.
    • We have about 350 people working on site right now and this number will grow to about 1500 in total during the broadcast week.
    • 1100 accredited media are expected from about 60 countries around the World.

You can watch the Eurovision stage in all its glory at the video down below:

Special thanks to Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, Head of Communications of Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and SVT for the invite!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held this May in Malmö, Sweden!

Source: SVT
Photo: Andreas Papayiannakis/Eurovisionfun

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Eurovision 2024: The Malmö Arena stage just got revealed!

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Andreas Papayiannakis and EurovisionFun are reporting live from Malmö, got invited at the Stage Reveal event that took place earlier today at 14:00 CET and got the chance to have a first glimpse of the stage in full operation.

Today, the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is unveiled, and it is a well-qualified gang that is behind this year’s sparkling stage experience in Eurovision this year. It’s about the stage, lighting design and specially written music that will lift the competition and the entire TV show into a feast for eyes and ears – both for the audience on site and for TV viewers around the world.

 

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Florian Wieder – Production Designer
Florian Wieder is based in Los Angeles and Munich. Over the past 30 years, he has developed the creative and visual concepts for several large-scale shows, concerts, tours, ceremonies, music and television productions worldwide. Florian has worked with artists such as Beyonce, Adele, Jennifer Lopez, Robbie Williams, U2, Lady Gaga, Rammstein. He was a designer and creative producer for seven MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), 12 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and has developed the Eurovision Song Contest seven times since 2011. In 2022, he designed the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. For the MTV VMAs, he was awarded a Primetime Emmy/Best Production Design.

Fredrik Stormby – Light and Screen Content Designer
With almost 25 years of experience, Fredrik Stormby has worked with concerts, theatre, corporate events and television productions. His latest engagements span several roles in projects such as ABBA Voyage, Melodifestivalen, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour and Eurovision Song Contest 2013, 2016 and with Loreen 2023. Fredrik is one of the founders of Green Wall Designs, a creative studio specializing in lighting, stage and screen content, based in Stockholm. He takes a holistic approach to production design, seamlessly integrating light, video, and scenographic elements.

Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson – composers for this year’s musical identity
As a duo, Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson have collaborated since 2016 to produce music for games, television and other media. Previous notable work includes RAGE 2 (gerAAA games) and American Song Contest (NBC). When asked what their specialties are, they answer that it is about exploring and finding the soul and identity in something and touching and conveying a message to the listener. They specialize in composing adaptive music with the technology that this entails. The adaptive music leads to seamless transitions and in the Eurovision Song Contest it provides opportunities to create a soundscape that contributes to a more exciting voting. The duo expresses:

“The music for Eurovision is a mix of energetic dance music, modern film music with big EDM sounds and a touch of Nordic melodies and timbres. Extra fun is that parts of the music will be adaptive, which is the first time ever for Eurovision.

Special thanks to Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, Head of Communications of Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and SVT for the invite!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held this May in Malmö, Sweden!

Source: media.melodifestivalen.se/SVT
Photo: Andreas Papayiannakis/Eurovisionfun

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Serbia: This is the Pesma za Evroviziju 2024 stage!

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A short while ago, RTS released some pictures of the stage that will host the artists who will compete to represent Serbia in Malmö this May!

Πιο συγκεκριμένα, το δελτίο τύπου της σερβικής τηλεόρασης αναφέρει χαρακτηριστικά ότι «η συγκεκριμένη σκηνή είναι η πιο μοντέρνα, η πιο σύγχρονη και η μεγαλύτερη που έχει χρησιμοποιηθεί για τη διοργάνωση του Pesma za Evroviziju».

More specifically, the press release of the Serbian TV says that “this particular stage is the most modern, the most contemporary and the largest that has been used for the organization of Pesma za Evroviziju“.

The stage consists of 700 square meters of LED screens at the backgroung and on the floor. It is also reported that 300 light projectors will be used, which with superior programming and management can create light effects and animations just like the ones we see on the Eurovision stage!

For the third consecutive year, CuePilot, the same software used in the Eurovision Song Contest, will be used for directing and framing the Serbian national final.

The semi-finals of Pesma za Evroviziju 2024 are scheduled for February 27 and 29, while the Grand Final, in which the Serbian representative will be announced, will take place on March 2.

Source: RTS

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the latest updates on Serbia’s participation in Eurovision 2024!

Italy: The stage for Sanremo 2024 has been revealed!

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RAI has released the stage of Sanremo 2024, which is ready to welcome the 30 artists from February 6 to 10.

Set designers are Gaetano and Maria Chiara Castelli. The idea behind the design of the scene is for flowers to bloom.

This year we wanted to rely on organic shapes, taking inspiration from a flower like the orchid and its petals, exaggerating its shapes, to also softly design the two lateral stairs, desired by Amadeus, from which they will descend the competing artists. The central part, however, will be automated and can be raised to become the “door” for conductors and guests towards the stage, under which the orchestra will find space.

Sanremo 2024 will be held from 6 to 10 February, with the winner having the right to represent Italy at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

 

Eurovision 2024: The stage of the competition will offer a 360-degree visual experience!

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Fredrik Stormby, the lighting and screen content designer for the Eurovision 2024 stage, revealed that the upcoming competition will be a completely different experience for the viewers, as they will be able to have a 360-degree view for the first time in history.

The Eurovision 2024 stage will be a one-of-a-kind 360-degree experience surrounding the audience and spectators at the Malmö Arena. The stage will be cross-shaped and placed in the center of the audience, while moving LED cubes, LED floors, light, video, and stage technology create a kaleidoscope of visual variations around them.

The lighting and screen content designer for this year’s event is Fredrik Stormby from Green Wall Designs, an innovative, creative studio based in Stockholm. He is best known for being a member of the creative team behind Beyonce’s “Renaissance” tour, Loreen’s Eurovision 2023 winning performance as well as the ABBA Voyage in London. He is a member of Florian Wieder’s team, which designed and produced the setting for this year’s competition.

Fredrik spoke with the website creativeboom and revealed many intriguing details about what we will see on our screens in Malmö in May.

More of a concert than a TV show

First, Fredik mentions that this year the approach to stage design resembles more to a concert rather than a TV show, intending to bring something different that has never been done before.

With Florian’s concept both in style and placement of the stage in the room, surrounded by the audience and inspired by the slogan ‘United by music’ and the Swedish music export industry, we wanted to respectfully challenge the Eurovision concept a bit, and lean the design and experience more towards modern concert touring and show production, rather than a broadcast show. says.

The design consists of several strong individual elements of scenery, lighting, and video. And with all these combined, we’ll be able to achieve a lot of variation.

Malmö served as an inspiration for the stage design

The tent’s motifs and designs were inspired by the surrounding area of Malmö, explains Fredrik, who wanted to pay tribute to the area in this way.I think this part of Sweden and the metropolitan area of Öresund with Malmö, Lund, Helsingborg and Copenhagen has a young and diverse vibe, with cultural influences from all over the world and a strong artistic local scene in terms of arts and music.

We need to conduct the show with environmental awareness, a focus on sustainability, and conscious choices, both in terms of fixture selection, materials, and technical systems. We aim to execute the show only using LED and laser light sources, as they have a lower constant power consumption than discharge bulbs used in previous generations of moving lights.

The challenge of the new 360 degree visual experience

Finally, Fredrik mentions the challenges they face in visualizing a 360-degree experience on the two-dimensional televisions that the vast majority of viewers own.

It will be a challenge, but it also offers us a lot of possibilities. There’s no need to do it the same year after year. Some things might even stick, like the standing audience on the floor. That was a first for Eurovision last time in Malmö 2013.

Eurovision 2024 will take place in Malmö, Sweden on 7, 9 and 11 of May following Loreen’s second win in Liverpool with the song “Tattoo”.

Are you also looking forward to the televised spectacle that the Swedes will offer us at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest? Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: creativeboom

Eurovision 2024: First look at next year’s stage!

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SVT, host broadcaster for the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, has unveiled the impressive stage our 37 artists will be performing on in Malmö next May.

https://twitter.com/Eurovision/status/1737103178682761461?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Movable LED cubes, LED floors, light, video and stage technology will combine to create some spectacular variations in the arena, while the stage is placed right in the middle of the audience, shaped like a cross, creating a unique 360-degree experience that the audience and viewers will get to experience in May.

The names behind the concept are Florian Wieder, Production Designer, and Fredrik Stormby, Light and Screen Content Designer.

According to the Executive Producer, Ebba Adielsson:

It is with great pride that we present our vision of the stage and lighting design for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. We have not seen anything like this before at Eurovision and the concept gives us endless opportunities to create unique spaces and expressions for both the competing artists and the opening and interval acts. Florian and Fredrik’s creation is simply fantastic and it will be so much fun to see the end result!

One of the stage creators, Fredrik Stormby adds:

We believe that together we have created what is an unexpected and updated concept for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and are looking forward to showing it off for real! I am honoured to have been commissioned to design the light and video in collaboration with the team from our studio, and the production team that SVT has put into place for the project. 

We’ve developed a strong concept together, and I’m really looking forward to the continued collaboration in production, the creative process with the delegations, and eventually getting my teeth into the show and doing the broadcasts!

The Eurovision 2024 stage is unique. It is the first time that the stage is placed centrally, while the audience surrounds it. Moreover, there will be an installation of video and light, centered above the stage, where the lighting design has been crafted to truly embrace the artists and their performances, hence there will be led screens everywhere.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is organized in collaboration with the city of Malmö and will be broadcast from Malmö Arena on Tuesday 7 May (semi-final 1), Thursday 9 May (semi-final 2) and Saturday 11 May (final) after Loreen won for a second time in Liverpool with the song “Tattoo“.

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for all the latest news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

Source: eurovision.tv

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Eurovision 2023: Construction of the M&S Bank Arena stage has begun!

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The construction has begun on the stage at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, as reported in a BBC report.

The stage should be ready by the end of April, when the stand in rehearsals will begin.

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest is set to take place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. The arena has a capacity of 11,000 seats. Eurovision 2023 will take place on May 9, 11 and 13.

 

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Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news about Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!

Spain: Here are the Benidorm Fest stage and interval acts!

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In less than 24 hours before the Spanish Benidorm Fest 2023 kicks off live at the Palau d’Esports L’Illa de Benidorm . A total of 9 artists will take  the stage this Tuesday to compete for one of the four available spots for Saturday’s Grand Final. On January 31, February 2 and February 4, Benidorm will become the epicenter of Spanish music when it hosts the two semi-finals and the grand final of the second edition of the Spanish national selection.

The main stage of Benidorm Fest has a rectangular shape and consists of three parts : the main stage of 360 square meters, the corridor and a small circular stage at the end, which will be used by some artists for their performances. In addition, the stage consists of 6 rotating high resolution LED screens and a set of fixed screens. The main entrances are provided by manually operated mechanical carts, which create the necessary openings for the passage of movable scenic elements from the backstage to the center of the stage.

The Green Room of Benidorm Fest 2023 / Source: RTVE

The second section of the venue is located directly in front of the Benidorm Fest main stage. With an area of ​​458 square meters , the space will accommodate the Green Room – the space where the artists will relax after their performance -, the jury table and the presenters’ stage . Both the space occupied by the jury table (on the right) and the stage of the presenters (on the left) have a circular shape so that they “surround” the entire stage. The Green Room, located in the center of this second space, has a rhomboid shape and is built on several stepped levels.

The audience of the arena will be located in the middle of the two platforms, in a space of 530 square meters . The rest of the spectators will occupy the stands located on both sides of the hall. 2,200 people will be able to attend the 3,000 square meters of the Benidorm Sports Palace to watch the three BEFest galas: 500 people in the A stand, 500 people in the B stand and 1,200 people in the main dance floor.

General view of the Benidorm Fest 2023 stage / RTVE

State-of-the -art equipment was used for both lighting and sound . The production will be carried out with a mobile HD unit, which allows a composition with 17 cameras : 7 on a pedestal, 2 hot heads, 3 standalone, 3 railcam, a steadycam and a cable cam. In addition, the technical equipment will include an auxiliary mobile unit, a recording unit and two interface units.

More than 200 professionals (including RTVE staff and suppliers) are behind the technical and human resources that have been working since last January in Benidorm to make everything run to perfection. The show, produced by RTVE in collaboration with Boomerang TV Producciones , will be directed by Jordi Rosell , edited by Jordi Vives and lit and photographed by Iñaki Irastorza . Oscar Denia is the producer of the second edition of Benidorm Fest while the executive producer is Josep Parés . Francesc Calafell is responsible for the scenography of Benidorm Fest.  We will see 18 unique stage designs developed by the organizers of the event in collaboration with the artistic teams of the participants.

The main stage of Benidorm Fest 2023 / RTVE

All three nights will be broadcast by Spanish TV ‘s La 1 and RTVE Play . The semi-finals will be held on Tuesday and Thursday, January 31 and February 2 respectively, starting at 11.50pm and lasting approximately 80 minutes. The final will last  over 90 minutes and will be broadcast at 23:05 on Saturday 4 February . After this exciting final we will know the successor of Chanel and the next representative of Spain in Eurovision 2023.

Interval acts

The two interval acts for the Benidorm Fest 2023 have been revealed.  Edurne and Glora Trevi will perform during each of the Semi-Finals.

Edurne represented Spain on the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with her song Amanecer.  For her interval act she will perform a medley of her latest singles.

Mexican singer Gloria Trevi will perform during the second Semi-Final as part of her promotional tour in Spain.

Source: RTVE

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the latest news regarding Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Sweden: This is what the Melodifestivalen 2023 Stage looks like!

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The design of this year’s Melodifestivalen stage has been completed and SVT unveiled a sketch/working image of how the final stage looks like, before it gets constructed at Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg. It can now be seen in a post at the official Melodifestivalen Twitter account of SVT.

Instead of two stages like last year, there will instead be one well-sized stage. The record-breaking staircase to the front of the stage is recognisable, but is split in two and offers a pointed stage where the performers can be close to the audience. The record-breaking staircase to the front of the stage is recognisable, but is split in two and offers a pointed stage where the performers can be close to the audience.

As for this year’s Greenroom, it will be similar in appearance and placement, as the big party place on the parquet in the middle of the crowd, and almost as generously scaled during the tour as well as in the final.  

The construction of the stage will be livestreaming next week starting Monday 30 January 12:00 CET, at SVT Play with the show “Den stora scenriggningen“.

Changes in voting system

As we have already informed you, the voting system of Melodifestivalen has changed following the announced changes by EBU regarding the voting format in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool!

The broadcaster now scraps the group division at the fifth semi-final and all eight contestants will now have to face each other. Points will be awarded from the viewing groups and the four entries with the highest points will advance to the final!

The dates of Melodifestivalen 2023

  • Heat 1: Göteborg – Saturday 4 February 2023 (Scandinavium)
  • Heat 2: Linköping – Saturday 11 February 2023 (Saab Arena)
  • Heat 3: Lidköping – Saturday 18 February 2023 (Sparbanken Arena)
  • Heat 4: Malmö – Saturday 25 February 2023 (Malmö Arena)
  • Semi-Final: Örnsköldsvik – Saturday 4 March 2023 (Hägglunds Arena)
  • Final: Stockholm – Satuday 11 March 2023 (Friends Arena)

We remind you that Melodifestivalen 2023 is scheduled to take place between February 4th to March 11th and will be hosted by Jesper Rönndahl and Farah Abadi.

Melodifestivalen 2022 was won by Cornelia Jacobs with the song “Hold Me Closer”, representing Sweden in Eurovision 2022 and coming 4th with 438 points.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun, for all the latest developments regarding Sweden’s entry for Eurovision 2023!

Source: SVT
Scene Graphics: Viktor Brattström