Robe DigitalSpots Are Idolised In Germany

Lighting designer Manuel Da Costa from mo2 Design took the opportunity to use Robe DigitalSpot 7000 and 3000DTs for the final of the latest series of Deutschland Sucht den Superstar (the German version of Superstar), which was broadcast live on national channel RTL.
The series to find new musical talent - now in its sixth edition - is one of the most popular on German TV. It was recorded at the MMC Studios in Cologne and produced by the Magic Media Company TV -produktionsgelschaft mBH.
Da Costa and mo2 has been involved in the show design since the first series. Always on the look out for new and exciting technologies and a special look and feel for the Final, this time, he decided to use 5 DigitalSpot 7000 DTs and one DigitalSpot 3000DT after seeing a demo by Robe's German distributor, LMP Lichttechnik.
These were integrated into the overall lighting and visual design, a collaboration between da Costa and set designers Florian Wieder and Falk Rosenthal from the Gravity company.
Four of the DigitalSpot 7000DTs were used for lighting the stage.
The fifth was used for a specific effect for finalist (and winner) Daniel Schumacher. It was focused directly in front of the Judges panel and used for illuminating his white suit as he performed on a white carpeted stage, combined with the DigitalSpot 3000DT shining down directly from above. The idea was to create a very pure, magical and high-impact effect - which it certainly did!
Using a fixture that had flexible positioning was crucial in achieving this, and the DigitalSpot's two LED modules were also vital in bathing the artist and the floor in colour. Da Costa was delighted with the results. He said: "The DigitalSpots really proved themselves to be an excellent combination of moving light and projector. It's a very strong tool with great potential." Custom twinkling, starry sky video content was also produced for the effect by Rosenthal/Gravity.
The overall show design concept involved clean white scenery for the cameras, which was lit and projected onto by a fusion of lights and video from various sources. The four DigitalSpot 7000DTs were used in combination with the lighting rig to produce homogenised effects and texturing on the stage and set.
The DigitalSpots were run over Ethernet, which meant they could be programmed quickly and effectively and sychronised with all the other moving lights, video and special effects. Lighting and video for the show was controlled via 2 grandMA full size consoles, which also triggered the MA video server. They ran a total of 20 MA Video media PCs across the whole system, operated by Stephan Floren.
Da Costa has used Robe products for some time on his shows. He said: "Robe is a company on the up. They produce good products at fair prices and the innovative development of new products is one of their great strengths."
He is looking forward to using DigitalSpots again very soon and can see many applications for them in TV shows and events needing special 'combination' lighting and projection effects and settings.
In addition, the Superstar Final lighting design also utilised 32 Robe ColorSpot 1200E ATs, which were used to highlight the many circular and spherical elements of Wieder's scenic design. The ColourSpot 1200E ATs were arranged in a semi-circular shape mirroring the curved lines down below. Da Costa used their rich and comprehensive colour range to illuminate the stage and also used the tungsten colour flag system extensively - so they resembled traditional TV stufio light sources.
Lighting for the show was supplied by Magic Light & Sound from Cologne, with all the video elements from Procon.
Further information is available at: www.robe.cz.
(KMcA/BMcC)