Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production for the Closing Ceremony of the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. The spectacular show took place ahead of the Brazil vs USA final, with 53,000 fans watching in the stadium, joined by several million viewers of the live broadcast on SABC 1 and Superchannel 1.
Lighting was designed by Hugh Turner, and programmed and operated by Tim Dunn using a grandMA full size console – both Turner and Dunn’s first choice of control desk. Turner comments, “The power of the grandMA system lies in the total integration and ease of working between the desk and its peripherals like the visualiser and video server.”
Time was extremely tight in the run up to the performance, and concerns about the state of the pitch allowed for just one dress rehearsal in Ellis Park before the show. This was also the first time Turner and Dunn actually saw the 16 minute performance – featuring a cast of 350 including a large choir, drummers, dancers and six soloists.
This left them just two full, intense – and very cold – nights of programming! Dunn has used grandMAs for numerous large and high profile shows since Gearhouse purchased their first ones three years ago – including the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and Miss World 2008. His expertise and knowledge of the console and of lighting stadium events enabled the programming process to happen extremely fast.
Due to the very compressed load-in, programming and rehearsal schedules, the show was setup in advance on the grandMA 3D visualiser. This enabled checking and confirmation of the coverage and overall look of the show beforehand. Once on-site this was equally as invaluable a tool, utilised to visualise the show from all four sides of the stadium, whilst programming from one.
Turner’s design brief followed initial discussions with the Opening and Closing event’s technical production manager Mark Ransom from QA Entertainment Technology, and Jack Morton’s Mik Auckland. This established the parameters of what was to be a short and impressive closing ceremony.
The rig utilised 150 moving lights and involved the lighting of a 60 metre circular performance area in the middle of the field of play, with colour grading throughout the outer extents of the playing field. The creative essence was based on being able to fill a stadium with drama, colour and emotion and make the huge expanse feel intimate and special for the occasion.
72 Martin Professional moving lights were rigged on custom brackets and trussing around the mid level balconies of the stadium on all four sides, with 36 Robe moving lights rigged at the higher levels from the stadium roof on two sides.
Lighting positions were installed into the stadium by Gearhouse Rigging. It was vital that none of the flown lighting or metalwork obscured anyone’s view or covered any of the official FIFA branding. Lighting also had to avoid spillage onto an eight metre projection sphere floating above the middle of the pitch.
Twenty-nine bars of 6 PARs were installed around the mid levels, used to skim the backs of the lower seating banks, adding ambience and colour. On the field itself were just four Maxi-brutes (a VNSP PAR 64 4-lite linear blinder), positioned in the centre of the eight solo drummers who started the show, casting striking corridors of light amidst the cast. The drummers themselves were each up-lit with a PAR 64 at the base of their clear skinned drums.
The show’s producers were VWV/Till Dawn and it is being hailed as a spectacular success ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup that will be hosted by South Africa. A grandMA light was also supplied by Gearhouse to DWR Distribution for controlling 54 circuits of RGBY cold cathode tubes installed inside a fabulous custom built winner’s podium – from which Brazil collected the trophy.
Photos: Copyright – Louise Stickland
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