Bringing Fashion and Light to Life: Pre-visualising an H&M Show with Depence

At Drawn to the Light, pre-visualisation is more than just rendering — it’s about imagining how light, space, and movement come together to tell a story. We sat down with James, Lead Pre-visualisation Artist at the studio, to chat about how he uses Depence to bring complex show designs to life, including a recent project for H&M that blended fashion, energy, and technology in striking harmony.
 

We work closely with our drafting and modelling team, who primarily use Vectorworks, to ensure a seamless workflow from initial 3D models through to final visualisation. This collaboration ensures every creative idea is translated faithfully into a practical and visually compelling design.

Visualising the Vision: Designing for Energy and Elegance

For this particular project, our client Kennedy approached us to help demonstrate to H&M how the stage and rig design could not only serve the needs of a functional fashion show but also deliver a high-energy, dynamic experience. The challenge was to strike the perfect balance between style and performance - a show environment that was as visually exciting as it was practical.

Streamlined Creativity: The Role of Depence in the Workflow

Depence plays a central role in the planning and design process for both our internal projects and client work. The software’s ability to seamlessly import lighting plots and geometry from Vectorworks allows me to build highly detailed environments with impressive efficiency. This integration creates a streamlined workflow, helping our team and clients visualise complex ideas quickly and communicate them clearly.

What sets Depence apart is its freedom to experiment within a realistic 3D space. It allows us to explore different design approaches - lighting angles, colour palettes, video content integration - all without the constraints or costs of a physical setup. We often create animated camera sequences within Depence, showcasing how the stage and lighting look from different audience perspectives. These cinematic sequences help clients fully appreciate the scope and impact of a show concept long before it’s built.

Overcoming Design Challenges Virtually

The oval structure of this stage introduced several challenges, particularly in achieving even lighting coverage across the models. Normally, such limitations would require extensive on-site testing. However, with Depence, we were able to integrate lighting, video, audio, and choreography into a single digital environment. This made it possible to solve technical issues virtually and present a fully realised vision to the client without renting a physical venue - saving both time and budget.

The renders produced in Depence were so detailed and realistic that they enabled the client to visualise and approve the design confidently before any purchases or installations took place. It’s this level of realism that transforms Depence from a visualisation tool into an essential part of the design and decision-making process.

Collaboration in Motion: Working Across Departments

When pre-visualisation is introduced early in the creative process, it becomes an incredibly effective collaboration tool. Depence allows content creators, lighting designers, and video teams to work together in the same virtual space, ensuring that all elements of the show align seamlessly.

By visualising content in a realistic environment, feedback and approvals happen much earlier, preventing costly last-minute changes. For this project, Depence helped us achieve a unified workflow - where lighting and video programming could progress in parallel, resulting in a more cohesive and visually polished final production.

Pushing the Technical Boundaries
Depence was key in bringing to life several special features of the show. From the dynamic LED runway effects to synchronized lighting chases across the oval rig, the platform allowed us to fine-tune every cue with precision. The ability to visualise both lighting and video playback in real-time ensured that every transition, beam angle, and colour tone was exactly as envisioned by the designers.

A Collaborative Effort

The process was a joint effort between Drawn to the Light, Kennedy, and Phil Marfleet, whose vision and clear communication made this project particularly rewarding. Having worked together on several projects now, our teams have developed a fluid and enjoyable creative relationship, built on trust and a shared understanding of visual storytelling.

Reflections on the Project

This was our seventh project working with Phil Marfleet and the Kennedy team, and by this stage, our workflow has become almost effortless. What stood out most was seeing how Depence enabled us to achieve such a high degree of realism that our renders could easily be mistaken for photographs or real footage of the event.

This project also gave us the opportunity to explore Depence’s sequencer and keyframe animation tools more deeply - both of which have now become integral to my process. They allowed me to push the visual fidelity of the renders even further and elevate the overall presentation of our pre-visualisations.

Looking Ahead: Thoughts on Depence and Syncronorm

Depence excels in providing the tools for quick turnarounds while maintaining the high level of realism required to communicate creative intent clearly. In the fast-paced world of pre-production, that’s invaluable. It ensures clients see the full potential of a design without being distracted by visual compromises.

Like any complex 3D software used on large-scale projects, there are occasional challenges, but we view that as part of its ongoing evolution. My hope for future updates is that Syncronorm continues to refine the core features - particularly improving the stability and flexibility of the sequencer.

At its best, Depence is an incredibly effective, creative, and reliable platform, and I’m excited to continue exploring its capabilities on future projects.

✨“When your visualisation can be mistaken for the real thing, you know you’re doing something right.”

— James, Lead Pre-visualisation Artist, Drawn to the Light

Photos by instagram: @jakephilipdavis & @hirobjones | @khromacollective

One of their recent showcases was a project for İşbank, created entirely with Depence R3 and recorded using Dataton. The result impressed their client base with a seamless blend of virtual and real-world visuals. “Our customers claimed that the R3 screen was a real live image, a camera image, very realistic” the team shared.

Depence plays a central role in their workflow, especially in the context of Türkiye’s timecode-heavy production style. Thanks to the software’s photorealistic rendering capabilities, the team is able to deliver strong visual presentations that clearly communicate their creative ideas.

A technical hurdle they faced during the İşbank production was related to fixture channels, as there were materials with different channel positions and they needed to create new ones. This was solved using the built-in Asset Builder in Depence, which allowed them to modify and create fixtures as needed.

Additionally, using VR headsets for client presentations turned out to be a valuable tool. It allowed them to provide a more immersive preview and helped bridge the gap between design concept and final production. Overall, Depence has proven to be a key element in their workflow, supporting both the technical and creative aspects of their projects and helping them present their work in a more compelling and professional way.

In 2025, the event took place in Basel, Switzerland, where the St. Jakobshalle was turned into an immersive arena filled with dynamic lighting, massive LED walls, and moving scenic elements. Responsible for the show’s spectacular lighting visuals was Lighting Designer Tim Routledge, supported by associate Lighting Designers Morgan Evans and James Scott. To bring their ambitious creative ideas to life, they relied on the real-time design and visualization software Depence. From early concept development to pre-programming and detailed visual simulations, Depence provided the ideal platform to explore and refine every aspect of the show’s visual design, long before stepping into the venue.

This year’s stage, designed by Florian Wieder, was both conceptually sophisticated and visually striking: Inspired by the Swiss grid system, there was a huge set behind the main LED wall. It was built of a huge, three-dimensional light installation consisting of a complex grid of spotlights. Within the 3D grid, a further two-dimensional grid with additional lighting elements was integrated, supplemented by numerous moving spotlights.

Constraints such as the venue’s relatively low ceiling were creatively turned into advantages. A smartly designed ground support system created a theatrical proscenium arch that framed the stage and enabled dynamic camera shots from all angles.

From the earliest design phases, Depence played a central role in shaping the creative and technical process. 3D stage models from Vectorworks were imported via MVR and turned into interactive, true-to-scale visualizations in Depence. Associate Lighting Designer Morgan Evans was responsible for making the models, he developed the Depence Project – from simplified pre-rigs to a fully patched and animated production project with moving trusses, media servers, camera angles, special effects, and more.

Depence made that goal achievable: lighting cues, video content, timing, movement, and visual effects could all be tested and refined in real time – helping the team make confident creative decisions long before arriving on site.

During creative “speed dates” with the delegations of each country, realistic simulations rendered in Depence allowed the lighting team to preview full performances including camera movements, floor lighting, pixel content, and pyrotechnics - all from a single virtual project.

ESC 2025 was one of the most technically advanced productions ever visualized with Depence, with more than 800 DMX universes of lighting and effects simulated in real time. Thanks to the latest GPU hardware like the NVIDIA RTX 5090, the team could handle vast numbers of fixtures, moving elements, LED floors, and pixel-mapped screens without compromising performance or quality. “So, the performance for us has been really great. We're running over 800 universes of DMX as well as automation, video camera angles, and Depence is being able to keep up with all of that and more, so we're really, really happy with the performance.” Says associate Lightning designer Morgan Evans.

But Depence didn’t just serve the lighting department. Screenshots, camera views, and rendered animations were utilized across multiple departments, from rigging and automation to directing and content. The software proved to be an essential tool for communication, collaboration, and alignment between teams.

Another key factor in the show's success was the close collaboration between the design team and Syncronorm. With the Eurovision Song Contest pushing the boundaries of what’s technically possible, the demand for a reliable and responsive visualization system was higher than ever. The team worked with a large number of brand-new fixtures that had never been used in Depence before, requiring rapid integration and continuous software updates.

“We needed the system to be fully reliable […] If software and the fixtures changed, they've been working with us really fast to get us what we need, support us, help us with, you know, tweaking the software and giving us functionality that we needed.” -Tim Routledge, 2025

Thanks to this responsive partnership, the team could rely on Depence throughout every phase of the production.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 demonstrated once again how essential modern tools like Depence are for realizing world-class productions. It’s more than a visualization platform – it’s a creative engine, a simulation powerhouse, and a communication tool all in one.

With Depence, Routledge and his team turned a complex technical vision into a unified, breathtaking show experience – optimized, rehearsed, and pre-programmed before a single light was rigged. And when the show finally aired live to millions across the globe, the result was nothing short of spectacular.

Credits:

Lighting Designer: Tim Routledge

Associate Lighting Designer: James Scott, Morgan Evans

Programming, Operating Movinglights: Tom Young, Alex Mildenhall

Programming, Operating Keylight: Marc Nicholson 

Latenight-Programmer: Alex Passmore, Martin Higgins

Follow-Spot-Caller: Louisa Smurthwaite

Gaffer: Keith Duncan, Mark Henry

On 9 November 2024, Berlin celebrated the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead of the traditional central celebration at the Brandenburg Gate, this year the city opted for a decentralized concept with five stages at different locations. In addition, 5,000 posters designed by Berliners marked the course of the former Wall, visualizing the historic moment in a memorable way.

A central highlight of this commemorative event was the lighting design, brought to life by Flo Erdmann, a 36-year-old lighting designer from Solingen, working hand in hand with artcollective phase7 performing.arts. Together with director Sven Sören Beyer and the Light Art Studios programming team, Erdmann helped to realize the collective's artistic vision for this special day. The big challenge was to create a lighting design that was quick and easy to set up, but which also emphasized the formal language of Sven Sören Beyer and Janik Albrecht's set without dominating it. Using GLP X5 IP bars, it was possible to extrude the video content via pixel mapping and create a more spatial presentation. This technical and creative approach resulted in a visually stunning production that brought the content to the fore.

The Depence software, which Erdmann and phase7 used for both pre-production and visualization, played a key role in the implementation. In the run-up to the event, a five-day pre-programming session was held in Berlin to visually prepare all the scenes and make the most of the limited rehearsal time. A teaser video created with Depence 3 was used at the press conference to give a first impression of the show. The use of Depence was essential given the very limited time available for set-up and rehearsals. With only four set-up day and one rehearsal day on site, detailed pre-production with the Visualizer was essential. Thanks to the Viz-Key integration and the accuracy of the fixture library, the entire show could be seamlessly programmed on a GrandMA3 system.

The team could not imagine their workflow without Depence. The ability to pre-program shows in detail and create high-quality renderings at the same time makes the software an indispensable tool for professional productions. ‘In addition to detailed visualization, Depence provides a pleasant working environment and is always up to date thanks to its proximity to users.’ says Erdmann.

Finally, they emphasized that Depence is in good hands with professionals. Anyone who wants to prepare productions at the highest level and work efficiently will find this software to be a reliable partner. The lighting design for the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is an impressive example of what Depence can do - a symbiosis of creativity, precision and technology that leaves a lasting impression.

Technik:

92 x GLP X5 BAR IP

24 x  GLP Impression X5 MAXX

16 x Fusion X-Par 12Z

120 x Cameo Zenit W600

26 x Cameo Zenit W600 SMD

24 x Robe iForte LTX

2 x Elation Proteus Brutus (PRG Follow Version)

Credits:

Client: Kulturprojekte Berlin

Artistic realization/ design: phase7 performing.arts

Director: Sven Sören Beyer

Lighting design: Flo Erdmann

Programming: Raphael Grebenstein, Ole Güllich (Light Art Studios)

Operators main stage: Raphael Grebenstein (show light), Ole Güllich (white light)

Operators other stages: Johannes Laugwitz, Alina Schmidbauer, Leo Künne, Daniel Vetter

Video art: Studie Eigengrau, Till Vanish

Realization 5.000 pictures: compactteam

Booking/ Org. Rockin 1000: Büro Döring

Technical planning: IVV / Bärlin Team

Technical service provider: Production Resource Group

Stage: Neumann Gerüstbau/ Megaforce

Headquartered in Emsdetten, Germany, POOLgroup is a leader in event technology and production for a variety of markets. The company's portfolio ranges from major festivals to television productions, making it a trusted partner for events of all sizes. Their comprehensive services include technical planning, project management and the operation of state-of-the-art event technology such as lighting, sound, video and rigging.

Held annually at the Hockenheimring, the Glücksgefühle Festival combines music, culture and entertainment in a breathtaking setting. Thousands of visitors gather to enjoy live music, DJ performances and elaborate light shows. Set against the backdrop of a motorsport venue, the festival offers a unique platform for spectacular stage setups, with ample space to execute an elaborate show design.

POOLgroup seized the opportunity to push the creative boundaries at Glücksgefühle, using the festival's expansive setting to deliver an extraordinary show that combined music with immersive visual storytelling. The Euphoria Stage, which hosted a number of high-profile pop acts throughout the event, was transformed with a bespoke design featuring large LED displays, inventive lighting setups and multiple towers to create layers of visual depth. A total of 320m² of LED surface and just over 900 fixtures were used.

Central to POOLgroup's work on the Closing Show was Syncronorm's Depence software, which served as a vital tool for integrating lighting, lasers, video and pyrotechnics into a cohesive, synchronized performance. The software's real-time visualisation and programming capabilities allowed POOLgroup's operators to meticulously plan every aspect of the show before it went live, ensuring flawless coordination and optimal creative output.

Using Depence, the POOLgroup team programmed individual elements in advance, creating a seamless blend of light, laser and pyrotechnic effects that contributed to the powerful emotional impact of the show. POOLgroup’s operators praised the software for its realistic renderings, which allowed them to visualize how every element would come together, making it possible to fine-tune the show’s timing and design before going on-site. The team expressed pride in their work on the Glücksgefühle festival, emphasizing the thrill of delivering a grand finale for festival-goers. As a highly innovative and creative endeavor, the event demanded the full technical and artistic expertise of the team. Working on this scale underlined POOLgroup's commitment to quality and innovation, pushing the boundaries of live event production.

Reflecting on their experience with Depence, POOLgroup was impressed by the software's user-friendly interface and the seamlessness it brought to their creative process. Any minor issues encountered were quickly resolved by Syncronorm's dedicated support team, whose commitment to improving Depence ensures that it remains a reliable, first-class tool for live event production.

POOLgroup highly recommends Depence as a solution for anyone in event production looking to unify and visualise complex elements within a single, intuitive platform. With Depence, they were able to create an exceptional show for Glücksgefühle that left a lasting impression on both the audience and the industry.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with Depence […]. I’m always relieved when I see Depence in the festival previz suite—it really makes the process smoother.”

Conor Biddle began using Depence at festival previz suites and was very impressed with its capabilities. Last year, he covered a colleague's show that had been timecoded using Depence and was amazed at how few changes were needed when transferring to real-world values. Following this experience, Biddle switched from another program and has been using Depence since.

Recently, Biddle was working on KNEECAP's sold-out Irish and UK tour. KNEECAP, the Northern Irish trio known for their distinctive fusion of punk and hip-hop, were set to embark on their tour, featuring an impressive lighting and production setup. With a reputation for thought-provoking lyrics and engaging performances, KNEECAP combines powerful social commentary with infectious beats. The tour showcased their latest songs alongside fan favorites, all enhanced by dynamic visuals and immersive stage design that elevates the live experience. The main design brief was to create an atmospheric show with strong, homogenized looks that follow the music tightly to enhance each musical quirk. The design aimed for a strong minimalist industrial look, incorporating shadow play and a heavy smoky atmosphere. Most of the sources are out of sightlines, and the design primarily uses soft wash and strobe sources with no beam fixtures.

Depence was utilized from the very start to create static and video renders of the initial design to send to the artist. The realistic render engine was invaluable in providing the artists with an accurate idea of their show. Once all the design elements were finalized, Depence was crucial for the programming. Using NDI, Biddle could live program the visuals as well, using Resolume. He programmed in his studio and used screen capture to send full sessions to the visual artist and the rest of the team. They would make notes, then reprogram and re-render. With the entire show being timecoded, using Depence meant they knew exactly how the show would look, resulting in minimal tweaking at the venue. This was fantastic, considering there are over 13,000 timecode events for the lighting alone. The show was designed with touring in mind, featuring ACME Pixeline as the main fixture. Perfectly visualized in Depence, the Pixeline resembled compact, powerful and durable enough to withstand the intensity of a KNEECAP stage.

The assurance of knowing that all off-site programming would closely relate to real-world values, along with realistic and flattering renders to convey the design ideas to the client, was a significant benefit. This show is one of the most complex and tightly synced Biddle has been involved in, using over 5,000 recipes, 3,000 cues, and 13,000 timecode events. The accuracy and quick frame rate capabilities of Depence allowed for tight synchronization with any track in both lighting and visuals. The confidence of knowing all the time spent in the studio was invaluable.

“This was a strong, minimalist design that followed the tracks and visuals with precise detail—achieved only because the band and management trusted us to spend two weeks buried in the previz studio. The result is a show that integrates cutting-edge technology for a tight, cohesive experience. It wouldn’t have been possible without Depence […].”

Under the motto ‘Power of the Tribe’, the concept of this year's Defqon.1 festival was designed entirely around coming together and celebrating past editions. For this reason, the main stage, also known as the RED stage, was realized with a special concept that took design elements from past festival concepts and integrated them into a new design to match the character of this year's anniversary show. The dutch lighting design and show entertainment professionals from Happy Technology around major lighting designer Robbert Vernooy were also responsible for the show design of the RED stage, along with more than 10 other stages, and presented a closing ceremony that was second to none. With over 70,000 daily visitors from 52 countries, it is a festival of superlatives, and the visually stunning shows do it justice just perfectly.

The shows of all stages around the six different areas are timecode-based and were created in advance using Syncronorm’s Depence multimedia show design and visualization software. The software thereby was a huge advantage in presenting the show designs to the respective clients well beforehand, which made the rehearsing time much shorter than usual. While pre-programming for about a month’s time before the event, programming at the location was basically done in about three hours, including programming lasers, SFX and pyro as well within the Depence file. That also includes working with video content as well in Depence in regards of the other stages at the festival.

_Credits:

_{^{Jonas Schmidt: Creative Director Q-dance}}

_{^{Tamiel van Draanen en Dennis van Harten: Set Design Q-dance}}

_{^{Robbert-Jan Vernooij: Lighting Designer / programmer RED}}

_{^{Thijs Brouwers: Lighting Programmer Blue}}

_{^{Fabian Fisniku Lighting programmer Black}}

_{^{Pascal Parent Lighting Programmer UV}}

_{^{Micky Dordtrechter: Lighting Programmer Theatre}}

_{^{Carly Eijlander: lighting programmer Holland Casino}}

_{^{Keylight programmer Red : Joost Wijgers Light-H-Art}}

_{^{Niels Kieboom: Depence Master}}

_{^{Jari van Leerdam: Technical Producer Backbone international bv}}

_{^{Teun Schilders & Joost van Straten: Technical producer Q-dance}}

_{^{Jenno Roelofs: Technical Producer Backbone international bv}}

_{^{Stan van Winden: CAD Master}} 

_{^{Lennart Lindhout: Project manager Lighting and Rigging Production people}}

_{^{Kevin van Setten: System Tech lighting Production People}}

_{^{Jeroen Winnubst: Laser Designer}} 

_{^{Robin van der Linde: Creative Producer Q-dance}}

_{^{Joshua Dutrieux: Audio Composer Aepic platform}}

_{^{Lucas Gerritzen: Pyro Designer Pyro 4}}

One of the outstanding teams responsible for this spectacle was Concept K from France. Their responsibilities included the stage design as well as lighting and laser programming for the show. By utilizing three Depence R3 licenses, Concept K were able to deliver a meticulously pre-programmed visual experience that combined lighting, lasers, and special effects. Depence’s powerful visualization capabilities allowed the team to visualize and fine-tune the entire production well in advance, ensuring a seamless and perfectly synchronized live performance.

The preparation for the event involved a year of research and development, plots, meetings and brainstorming. That was followed by a month of intensive pre-programming at Concept K’s Creative Studio in Paris. Thanks to Depence’s integration with timecode tools such as Timecore and ADREM, the team was able to synchronize complex lighting sequences with music and live performances with precision well beforehand. The show was set up in under a week, with only one rehearsal needed before the live event—a testament to the efficiency and accuracy of Depence’s simulation and programming capabilities. By using Depence, the team was able to streamline their workflow, reducing the need for multiple rehearsals and long setup times on-site. The ability to pre-visualize the entire show in 3D meant that the team could test and refine creative concepts in advance, ensuring a smooth and efficient build-up to the live event, optimizing and streamlining the overall workflow perfectly.

Throughout the event, Depence was used to control an impressive array of lighting and laser equipment, including 72 Robe iForte LTX units, 150 Robe MegaPointes, and 12 high-powered laser systems from Laser System Europe. This complex setup was flawlessly coordinated, delivering a vibrant and immersive visual experience for both the competitors and the 250,000 visitors in attendance.

Syncronorm is thrilled to have contributed to the success of the WorldSkills Lyon 2024 Closing Ceremony by providing our leading show simulation software, Depence. We are proud to see Depence continually used to enhance the world’s most prestigious events, offering both creative freedom and technical precision to production teams on a global stage.

This year, lighting designer Marek Papke from GERDON design, alongside technical service provider schoko pro, crafted the remarkable main stage concept for NATURE ONE. Key to this achievement was the use of Syncronorm’s Depence software, which allowed the team to pre-visualize and optimize every lighting and video element well before the event. Depence enabled the designers to see exactly how their creations will look in real-world settings. This capability was crucial in ensuring that the lighting rig, which extended not only over the main stage but directly above the audience, was perfectly positioned to provide a seamless, 360-degree visual experience.

Papke explains that the festival organizer, I-Motion, wanted the Open-Air Floor to feel like a true club environment. To achieve this, the lighting and video design didn’t just focus on the main stage but also included a lighting rig directly over the audience, creating an immersive overhead visual experience. Pre-visualization through Depence played a pivotal role in bringing this to life, allowing the GERDON design team to simulate the complex lighting setups and optimize the effects from various perspectives, ensuring flawless execution of the production. In recent years, the central stage at NATURE ONE has also featured a pyramid-shaped truss construction, originally designed for circus tents but re-engineered for the festival’s needs. This structure, enhanced with lighting and video elements, is a centrepiece of the festival experience. Depence allowed the team to adjust early on, avoiding last-minute changes and streamlining the setup process on-site. The design aimed to incorporate a strong architectural theme, with clean, structured elements like Layher scaffolding angled at 45 degrees to create a skyscraper-like appearance. GERDON design also developed custom video content for the festival's three large LED walls (6x6 meters each), blending visuals with lighting fixtures and construction.

The lighting setup relied on powerful equipment like the outdoor-ready Cameo OTOS H5 Hybrid Spot-Beamlight, which shaped the lighting on the main stage and pyramid structure. SGM Q-8 strobes and floodlights enhanced the lighting along the stage’s outlines, floor, and the pyramid’s center. The team also employed Cameo ZENIT P130 LSD fixtures to bathe the truss structure in color, while lightweight Martin Aura XIP fixtures added dynamic lighting and effects from above. 160 SGM LT-200 tubes accentuated the architectural elements of both the stage and the pyramid. Using Depence, the lighting design team was able to simulate these fixtures accordingly as pre-programming the entire light and video show in Depence was essential, especially given that many festival attendees view the performances not just from in front of the stage but from various angles, including from nearby bunker hills.

The lighting show was executed using MA Lighting grandMA3 consoles, but the programming still relied on the MA2 platform. According to Papke, their long-standing experience with NATURE ONE allows the team to operate the show efficiently, which also benefits the tight-knit GERDON design crew. The festival is handled with passion and expertise by the team, which includes long-time collaborators like Annika Hinzmann and Florian Grimm on show operations, and Max Schmalenberger, Artur Kechter, and Lennard Jason Thurner on visuals. Felix Heilemann and Marek Papke took charge of show calling, project management, and lighting design.

Source: EventElevator

Under the motto “Love, Friendship and Music”, the festival has been held annually in western Poland since 1995 (although under another name), with the highest number of visitors being a staggering 750,000 people. The team at Green Beam used the latest version of the Depence system to make the lighting design unique for this already bombastic project. The unforgettable atmosphere of the festival, which took place in Kostrzyn nad Odra, attracted and captivated several hundred thousand fans and truly left its mark.

“A key element of this project was the use of the advanced Depence visualization tool from Syncronorm. Thanks to it, we were able to precisely plan and prepare every aspect of the stage lighting, which was crucial for creating dynamic and coherent visual effects that emphasized the energy of the festival.”

Green Beam thereby used two Depence licenses in the pre-programming phase, which allowed them to perfectly reproduce the intended lighting effects, as well as to perfectly synchronize the show with the music and atmosphere of the festival. The lighting was done by designer Jacek Chojczak, who once again proved the quality of his shows. In turn, Tomasz Szwelicki was responsible for the pre-programming as he also implemented all artistic assumptions of the project with maximum precision. In implementing the lighting, Green Beam used a wide range of equipment, which allowed them to achieve impressive visual effects. In total, the team used 35,758 parameters in the project, which were controlled by using multiple GrandMA3 consoles.

“The precision and technological advancement provided by Depence allowed us to perfectly match each lighting element, which created an unforgettable live show. Pol'and'Rock Festival 2024 was another milestone in our work for us [...]. Thanks to advanced technological solutions from Syncronorm and our passion for creating unique visual experiences, we were able to provide the audience with unforgettable impressions.”

The key fixtures used at Pol’and’Rock Festival 2024 read as follows:

^{24 pcs. ROBE iForte
56 pcs. ROBE Forte
152 pcs. CLAY PAKY Sharpy
32 pcs. AYRTON Cobra
16 pcs. ROBE iBolt
16 pcs. ROBE Robin iBolt
48 pcs. CHAUVET Maverick Storm 2 Beam Wash
92 pcs. ACME Pixel Line IP
60 pcs. ROBE 800 Led Wash
96 pcs. MARTIN MAC One
107 pcs. PROLIGHTS SunBlast 3000 FC
48 pcs. GLP JDC-1
16 pcs. GLP JDC-2 IP
48 pcs. GLP Impression X4 Bar 20
192 pcs. ELATION Fuze Par Z60 IP
106 pcs. CLF Ares
80 pcs. THOMAS Pixel Par 90
48 pcs. SHOWTEC Sunstripe DMX Active
398 pcs. PAR 64
144 pcs. THOMAS 4-Lite Blinder
16 pcs. THOMAS 8-Lite Blinder
1 pc. VARI-LITE VL 6000 Beam}

More information about the festival can be found on the organizer's website: https://polandrockfestival.pl/ 

Pictures by Green Beam and Black Studio.

Under the motto “United by Music” this year's ESC took place from 7^th to 11^th May in the Arena Malmö, which, with a maximum capacity for 10.000 people for this event, offered an exceptional opportunity to experience the phenomenal acts up close. As every year, an ingenious and fresh stage concept was designed, which this year was arranged in a kind of cross construction on which the various delegations could perform in four different directions. As another central design element, five video cubes were installed above the stage, which were used on a massive scale, as were a total of 2168 moving lights, led bars and strobes in total. The stage design was developed by none other than Florian Wieder, who placed particular emphasis on enabling interaction with the audience. The contest was not intended to look like a conventional tv production, but to create the atmosphere of a concert, in which respect the venue provided a clear advantage. Lighting Designer Fredrik Stormby of Green Wall Designs, based in Stockholm, thereby made the other decisive contributions to the show concept. All under the technical lead of Senior Technical Director and Eurovision Guru Ola Melzig, they did a remarkable job in growing the event into something truly special. The cross-shaped stage for example, consisted of a video floor with an area of 186 square meters. This was complemented by a 340 square meter video wall in front of which the acts could deliver their performances. This video surface was also able to be divided in the middle. The stunning amount of LED in this show was a total of 1000 square meters. Together with Stormby, Wieder developed a design with a strong emphasis on kinetic movement that radiated an incredible dynamic, using 3500 meters of truss. To that an absolutely crushing amount of 199 C1 hoists, which were also visualized in Depence, was used to create the kinetics. The arena had to support an equipment weight of 210 tons.

The lighting design of this year's ESC was primarily intended to reflect the identity of the city of Malmö, i.e. modernity and urbanity. This principle was combined with a representation of the Northern Lights, as they can often be seen in the sky in Scandinavia, which graphic designer Sidney Lim endeavored to achieve. Things became experimental when Stormby and the lighting design team used so-called infield pods. These were side elements that operated between the audience and the stage, but also surrounded the entire set from behind. The flexible lighting level formed in this way was equipped with wash lights. As the audience was to be more involved in this year's ESC, the stage design had to be adapted accordingly. For this purpose, the arena was illuminated with audience lighting, which created a beautiful ambient effect throughout the building. Only the key light was a challenge due to the very spacious and dynamic stage, especially because of the many mechanical movement possibilities. A follow-me system was used for this, which was operated by eight operators.

A particularly well-equipped FOH was needed to handle this massive show. A total of 19 MA3 consoles were used, with which 663 DMX universes were managed. The team around Melzig, Stormby, Ishai Mika (Lead Programmer FX Light), Isak Gabre, Dom Adams (Lead Programmer Keylight), Leo Stenbeck and Linus Pansell were thereby able to rely on first-class support for the Depence Previz system from Syncronorm GmbH, who provided fast and effective fixture and tech support to ensure that all elements of the show were seamlessly integrated in the pre-production phase. Syncronorm also helped to optimize the project file to simulate this massive stage in real-time. The Depence software system was used extensively to gain a time advantage, as programming 37 shows in the given time would not have been logistically possible, giving the team a distinct advantage throughout the pre-production period.

^{•  Ishai Mika (LX Director / Lead Programmer for FX)}

^{•  Dom Adams (LX Director / Lead Programmer for Key and White Light)}

^{•  Isak Gabre (LX Programmer)}

^{•  Linus Pansell (LX Programmer)}

^{•  Leo Stenbeck (LX Programmer)}

^{Collaborating Designers:}

^{•  Mike Smith (Associate Lighting Designer)}

^{•  Michael Straun (Associate Lighting Designer)}

^{•  Louisa Smurthwaite (Assistant Lighting Designer / Viewing Room Coordinator)}

^{Additional Support:}

^{•  Per Hörding (Follow Spot Caller)}

The project started with a rough stage sketch from Bocatec Sales & Rent (www.bocatec.de) as a starting point. Lukas used Depence to program the lasers with Pangolin Beyond, using Depence as a real-time visualization and allowing him to seamlessly synchronize light, video and lasers.

After the event, the show was further refined by developing the stage in D3 and using the new pyro effects in D3.1 to give the show that extra something. With Depence as the central tool, the show video was optimized and can now be used for future promotional purposes.

The flexibility of Depence allowed the show to be customized according to the laser show designer's vision, adapting the existing moving heads and pyro effects to his needs. While the focus was on the lasers, Depence also allowed for the control of other lighting elements such as moving lights and blinders that were synchronized with Pangolin Beyond.

Lukas Lange was particularly impressed by the ease with which he could program pyro effects and integrate them into the show. Depence also offered great possibilities for video mapping, allowing him to seamlessly insert video content into the scenery.

For the final video, each camera position was rendered in Depence and then edited in Final Cut Pro to create a stunning 4k 60FPS video. The workflow was efficient and allowed him to showcase his work quickly and professionally.

The benefits of Depence 3.1 over previous versions were evident in this project. The ambient light setting added a more authentic atmosphere to the visualization, while the indoor fireworks provided many opportunities to make the show look even more spectacular.

"The advantage that Depence gives me as a laser show designer is an all-in-one solution to perfectly stage my content." // Lukas Lange, 2024

For laser show designers like Lukas Lange, Depence is not just a tool, but an indispensable partner in turning creative visions into stunning reality.

The following equipment was used at the real event (excerpt):

• Explo GX2
• Explo Powerflame
• Explo X2 Waveflamer
• Explo X2 RX 30K
• MagicFx Stadium Shot 2
• Lightsky Aquabeam
• Q7 LED
• MDG ME 2
• Smartstage 51 8x6 Trailer Bühne
• Lightcraft Shot Fog
• 25W Kvant Laser 20x
• Hog 4

A special thanks to Lasershow.no for their great support in creating this visualization.

The Qlimax Festival 2023, known as one of the most spectacular indoor hardstyle events to this date, took place on 18 November in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Themed "Enter the Void", the festival offered a unique mix of laser and light effects paired with magical electronic sounds that created an almost mystical atmosphere. Visitors were treated to a night of intense musical performances from top acts such as Deepack, Blademasterz, Showtek and TNT, as well as first-time appearances from Hard Driver, Warface and Deadly Guns. Returning acts Devin Wild and Vertile were also part of the line-up, as well as the premiere of new live act 'The Enlightenment' by B-Front x Phuture Noize. As the voice of this ritual, Villain led the night and contributed to the unforgettable experience, where around 27.000 people attended.

At the centre of the design process was the young yet highly experienced company Happy Technology, which handled the pre-programming for the festival by using our Multimedia Show Design & Visualization Software Depence. The team around Robbert-Jan Vernooij relied above all on the realism of the visualisation and the particularly strong performance in live mode, while using lighting consoles from the grandMA brand. The lighting design was intended to tell a story that played with the contrast between light and darkness. To this end, an imaginary narrative figure was devised to guide the audience through the evening and set the visual guidelines. The "illusionist" was to lead the audience into the so-called "void", where the boundaries between reality and fantasy become blurred and a unique collective show experience takes place.

Credits

^{Jonas Schmidt: Creative Director Q-dance}

^{Daan Jansen: Show Creator Q-dance}

^{Tamiel van Draanen en Dennis van Harten: Set Design Q-dance}

^{Robbert-Jan Vernooij: Lighting Designer} 

^{Thijs Brouwers: Lighting Programmer}

^{Micky Dordtrechter: Lighting Programmer}

^{Niels Kieboom: Depence Master}

^{Jari van Leerdam: Technical Producer}

^{Teun Schilders & Joost van Straten: Technical producer Q-dance}

^{Jenno Roelofs: Technical Producer}

^{Stan van Winden: CAD Master}

^{Lennart Lindhout: Project manager Lighting and Rigging}

^{Kevin van Setten: System Tech lighting} 

^{Kevin Walenciak: VJ 250K}

^{Chris Hoogwerf : VJ 250K}

^{Jeroen Winnubst: Laser Designer} 

^{Robin van der Linde: Creative Producer Q-dance}

^{Joshua Dutrieux: Audio Composer Aepic platform}

^{Lucas Gerritsen: Pyro Designer Pyro 4}

_{“The design process for lighting, video, laser and stage design is generally carried out with Depence R3, as we have a closed workflow from design to preprogramming and can also deliver impressive preview renderings.” – Uwe Schröder, visualprime}

To realize their vision at last year's Fairground Festival in Hanover, visualprime once again relied on the Depence software system, specifically version R3. In the first year, the studio was responsible for lighting and video operating as well as FOH at system level, while in the second edition taking place in 2023, they were also responsible for the design processes of the lighting, laser and video design of the three floors as well as for the technical advancing of the guest operators. The client here was the organizer himself, as he, like the team at visualprime, appreciates the direct contact, the "short official channels" and, above all, the all-round support they have provided. The same applies to communication with the technical service provider.

While working with Depence, visualprime particularly appreciate the extensive possibilities for displaying light, video, and laser. Flexible working without being tied to a fixed workplace also made production much easier as the general technical service provider was located in the Czech Republic, the organizer in Hanover and the team at visualprime in their design studio in Cologne.

_{“Of course, it is an immense advantage for us to be able to use screenshots and video renderings from Depence R3 to very quickly turn ideas into images that the customer can understand and to respond to customer requests. At the same time, we can also clarify many technical aspects with the technical service provider in advance, which significantly simplifies the preprogramming process.”}

After the final design decision with the customer, visualprime were able to go straight into pre-programming, while the specialist planning was carried out by the technical service provider in close coordination. Preprogramming in the studio enabled the team to save an immense amount of time on site in Hanover and also made things much easier for the guest operators at the festival, as extensive technical advancing with patch and show files, video mappings and show files for the laser system could be provided. At the festival itself, Depence R3 was also available together with a lighting console to offer guest operators the possibility of extensive and stress-free pre-programming if the programming slots in the sound check were not sufficient. This option was also gladly used.

_{(c) pictures on location by Maximilian Steinke, renderings by visualprime}

The aspiration to create a visual journey for the audience shaped the production, as did the distinctive artistic aesthetic of Hans Zimmer himself, who is able to send the listener on a unique musical journey. As Hans Zimmer's music spans several internationally acclaimed films and numerous different genres, the lighting design also had to be conceived in such a way that it could reflect all these facets in different ways. The range extends from the Asian sounds of a movie like The Last Samurai to the menacing music of The Dark Knight and beyond.

In order to reflect the flow of the themes in the music, Featherstone relies primarily on cues in the design of the show that are fluid and musical, and not too mechanical. Nevertheless, there are moving trusses and architectural elements on the stage. His preferred fixture to realize most of the looks was the Robe MegaPointe, which can also cover the beams typical for rock shows between strongly fanned light. The architecture of the rig was designed so that Zimmer is located in the downstage center while the band and orchestra are placed on risers behind him. The architecture of the rig was designed so that Zimmer is located in the downstage center while the band and orchestra are placed on risers behind him. The stage is also illuminated with plenty of sidelights on both sides with the help of the MegaPointes. The color scheme of the shows reflects the flexibility of the lighting design itself, with everything from pastel looks to razor-sharp saturated hues.

The show itself starts with the title track to the movie Dune, which is also reflected in the light show. The band is cloaked in striking desert tones while the Oscar-winning soundtrack is played. The second score that can be heard is the one from Gladiator. Here Zimmer pays attention to the fact that there are no strong female leads in the film, which is why the idea was to let the music take on this role. The lighting design here also takes the approach of elevating the mood from soft to extremely bombastic. The music from The Dark Knight, on the other hand, is more like a study of order and chaos and everything in between, almost comparable to the eternal battle of good and evil. This plunge from order into (mental) chaos is largely supported by the lighting design, which virtually attacks the audience with wild beams and red blasts from Robe Tetras. As far as the overall color scheme of the tour is concerned, great attention was ultimately paid to the respective storylines of the films for which the music was written.

Along a super great team, Featherstone was especially proud to work together with his daughter Hailey, who acted as tour lighting director. Chris Herman served as programmer on grandMA3, while the pre-programming in Berlin was done by using the Depence multimedia show design & visualization software system. However, Featherstone also points out that the entire project has been highly collaborative. Influences in the design are blurred and the lines in the production overlapped. This can also be seen in the arrangement of light and video content, as the two design elements merge seamlessly. The team's way of working, as well as that of Hans Zimmer himself, is reflected in the entire project process and in the design.

^Credits

• ^{Technical Direction: Tobias Busskamp, Thomas Schmitt}
• ^{Lighting Design: John Featherstone}
• ^{Lighting Director: Hailey Featherstone}
• ^{Lighting Programmer: Chris Herman}
• ^{Scenic Design: Derek McLane}
• ^{Media Design: Peter Nigrini}

^{Lighting Crew}

^{Jens Modigell- crew chief}

^{Sascha Laue- systems and networ}

^{Marvin Jürgens- robo spots and systems}

^{Kevin Schulze-Borgmühl- dimmers}

^{Ludwig Sigel- kabel 1}

^{Christoph Konermann- kabel 2}

^{Mona Rapp- kabel 3}

^{Peter Hermanns- kabel 4}

^{CyberHoists: Tobias Frey, Boris HölscherIngo, Ingo Koenzen, Florian Renisch}

^{Pictures by Lindsay Cave}

The collective phase7 performing.arts under the artistic direction of Sven Sören Beyer was responsible for the creative concept of the opening ceremony as well as its planning and implementation in cooperation with mediapool Veranstaltungsgesellschaft on behalf of the Local Organization Committee Berlin. POOL Group GmbH was responsible for the technical implementation. Flo Erdmann created the lighting design, Raphael Grebenstein acted as lighting director and showlight operator, alongside Johannis Laugwitz as keylight operator as well as Ole Güllich as overhead lighting technician and Younes Rellmann (von|BERG) as gaffer.

The team made extensive use of Depence R3, which was already used during the pitch phase for the creation of the renderings and in the follow-up to the pre-programming in the Solingen studio and finally on site in the Berlin Olympia Stadium. Since there was no full access to the system at first, on-site was initially programmed in Depence and adjustments were successively made to the live system. The location of the headlight systems was done in Vectorworks whereas the setup was imported via MVR into Depence R3. “The clear advantage and the necessity lie in the preparation, which takes place in a relaxed and focused environment. The production time on site did not allow us to implement the programming phase exclusively on the live system, which is why we had to rely on the software solution”, Erdmann says. The implementation of the stadium lighting and the number of fixed devices in the stadium was a challenge for the software, which was solved nonetheless thanks to the excellent Syncronorm support. The stadium's house system was natively incorporated into the GrandMA3 system, and the roof lighting was controlled from both the console and the media server. Parameter expansion was also inevitable in this project and was implemented thanks to Syncronorm. In this way, it was possible to access all local parameters without interfering with the house system, and these could also be programmed in advance, which saved a great deal of time on site. Thanks to the integration of the VizKey in Depence, many network processors could be dispensed with.

The requirement for the lighting design was to illuminate a 360° playable set consisting of the public area, infield, and center stage. In addition, the existing in-house lighting system had to be natively integrated into the lighting programming.  540 moving lights (incl. X5 Bar IP) and approx. 180 LED spotlights were used. The setup was controlled via 4 x GrandMA 3 Fullsize. The roof lighting of the house was additionally controlled by a Pixera media server via pixel mapping. The whole setup was pre-programmed with Depnece R3 at the company von|BERG GmbH in Solingen and visualized in advance. The special feature for Depence R3 was clearly the necessary performance with a total fixture count of over 3500 fixtures (stadium lighting included).

“The performance of Depence R3 once again proved the enormous visual and also technical advantage in the field of visualization software. We were once again able to rely on the excellent support and thank Syncronorm for the great cooperation. A project of this magnitude shows how important it is to be able to rely on your technical partners. Depence R3 offers lighting designers the possibility to focus on the creative work and keeps you stressless with their intuitive software.” – Flo Erdmann, 2023

With the BBC as client, this year's Eurovision lighting design was done by none other than the team around Tim Routledge, winner of multiple TPi Awards, who relied on Syncronorm's multimedia show design and visualization software Depence R3 for the pre-programming of the entire project. Together with his team including associates James Scott, Morgan Evans, Alex Mildenhall, Mark Nicholson, and Tom Young, who were responsible for different aspects of the pre-programming and Depence project, Routledge created over 37 shows, including intros and interlude performances in an amazingly short time.

The preprogramming took place at Neg Earth Lights in London, where the team around Routledge has built a Depence machine especially for this demanding project, running the latest release of the software namely Depence 3.1. In this way the team could rely on the newest features and performance boosts, some of which were developed simultaneously to the ongoing project to make the ESC pre-programming possible. In addition to the Depence visualization the team utilized three GrandMA consoles for the programming process, which were connected via VizKey technology to Depence to enable a flawless, fast, and stable workflow.

For this year, a visualization teaser was created for the first time for the ESC, which was also broadcast by the BBC. Responsible for this Depence visualization was Morgan Evans. The teaser should already give an impression about the design of the stage and the general mood in advance. Thereby, not only generic fixtures were considered but the entire rig, e.g., all kinetic and moving elements, extras like LED tape or prop extras of all delegations. Depence R3 has made the visualization of some special features possible, which cannot be found in any other visualizer. For example, some shows of different delegations required the so-called Star Filter effect on the cameras, which could also be implemented in Depence to create the most realistic image of the different scenes. During pre-programming, over 3000 fixtures with tens of thousands of individual LEDs on more than 300 DMX universes were used, which were also placed in Depence, and which could be visualized without any problem at all. The team also worked very closely with Syncronorm to keep all fixture characteristics and profiles as close to the real devices as possible to ensure the most accurate pre-production.

Read the full story of Syncronorm's involvement with even more information in the latest issue of TPi magazine here.

The lighting for this year's Superbowl was designed by Al Gurdon and was based on one thing above all else and that was functionality. This was mainly due to the number and combination of fixtures used, which was composed of the following:

• _{146 Vari-lite VL3600 Profile}
• _{72 Robe Robin 1200}
• _{35 Vari-lite VL2600}
• _{325 GLP X4}
• _{76 TMB Solaris Flare}
• _{3 MA Lighting grandMA3 Full Size}
• _{1 MA Lighting grandMA3 Lite}
• _{6 Strong Gladiator IV}
• _{6 Britebox Flame LT3000}
• _{6 PRG Best Boy Ground Control Long Throw}
• _{4 MDG The One}
• _{8 Reel EFX Diffusion DF-50}
• _{8 Reel EFX Fans}
• _{2 zactrack PRO servers}
• _{4,200 PixMob Nova}
• _{12 PixMob IR Transmitters}
• _{7 PixMob Kore Receiver}

"When approaching a previz project, especially one of this scale, we always look towards Depence as our preferred previz software. The flexibility, fidelity, and efficiency offered by the program helps us to create previz projects that are useful tools in both the design and programming process. For this Super Bowl Half Time Show, we utilized DMX motors to simulate the moving platforms, and NDI video input to replicate the under-platform lighting that was provided by PixMob. Depence's toolset allowed us to begin rehearsals with all of our homework complete while simultaneously allowing us to create a full animation of the show that we were able to share with the rest of the creative team." // Nick Coauette, Earlybird 2023

The physical layout of the fixtures on the halftime show can definitely be described as "straight forward”, due to a unique environment with many complex factors to how and where fixtures can be hung. Once the design was finalized, Earlybird took an approach that focused primarily on how to best utilize the fixtures effectively given the hang and very large area to light. Huge straight trusses finally complement the design, which is also meant to maintain its charisma from afar. The distances in the stadium are a challenge especially for a light show, which the team mastered with bravura.

The demand on their own work was to have an almost perfectly running show for the first rehearsal. Since there are only 3 nights of rehearsal with all cameras, cast, and scenery; being prepared for these small windows was vital to the success of the lighting team on the show. For Earlybird, Depence was a powerful tool in helping assess the approach for lighting the scenery and cast, while learning how to best work around the huge distances within the stadium. Artistically Depence could help with the assessment of the design ideas, becoming both a design and programming tool throughout the process.

Line of sight was another incredibly important part of the show. The team had to be aware of the background throughout the performance as the camera direction was very specifically changing which direction the story was being told in. The DMX camera feature in Depence helped the team replicate the camera storyboard therefore allowing key light and the background composition to be allocated based on the direction of each shot. Depence was also used to simulate the various platform automation positions in the show. These were programmed in Depence with the help of simulated motors and adapted to the sequence, giving the programming team the complete picture at all times.

Although they had almost no time to spend with the real set, the lighting team were perfectly prepared for the show thanks to the help of Depence and the incomparable realism of the visualization.

_{Designer: Al Gurdon
Lighting Director: Ben Green
Lighting Director: Harry Forster
Lighting Director/Programmer: Eric Marchwinski (Earlybird)
Lighting Director/Programmer: Mark Humphrey
Pre-viz/Depence Tech: Nick Coauette (Earlybird)
Vendor: PRG}

The design work at GERDON is still classically done in tools like Cinema4D and Vectorworks, but it gets specifically interesting when the first design drafts can be loaded into Depence, and the team can control their design from a GrandMA console for the first time. The MVR workflow is especially helpful here, so that as little time as possible is spent translating between the different software "worlds." So, positions, rotations, fixture types and patches come right along, and the system is ready to play right away. Depence greatly helps the team at GERDON look at the design in real time from different angles. This way they can get a good idea of possible lighting positions already in the design process. Also, the content connection on the different LED surfaces via NDI helps a lot to control the viewing angle and arrangement of the different screens.

“Compared to productions without Depence in preparation, the very fast availability of fixtures is definitely an advantage for us. We had 100 Ayrton Cobras in use, which were just new at the time of pre-programming. Depence visualized these in great detail; this of course saves a lot of work on site. I think the Depence software is on the right track not only to be a visualization software, but also as an intermediate tool to bring the process from initial design drafts to production implementation and on-site support closer together and simplify it significantly.” // Marek Papke (Gerdon Design)

https://gerdon.tv/de/

Live Pictures of show content by Julian Huke

Behind the scenes pictures by Gerdon Design

Demonthy, who was entrusted with the conception and realization of the lighting design for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, is otherwise active in the fields of TV, automotive, special events, live and musical design. This time he relied on Syncronorm's show design and visualization software Depence to express his creative ideas and visual output. His connection to the ESC reaches way back to 2017 and 2018, when he had the opportunity to work as Lighting Director for the big brother of this event, held in Portugal at the time. In addition, Demonthy has provided lighting design support to several delegations at the ESC.

The Junior ESC is basically a smaller version of the worldwide known and popular music format, in which various artists compete against each other, and at the end of which the audience of the participating countries votes to determine the winner. However, in terms of effort and staging, the JESC does not have to hide from its larger variant. Broadcasters such as the BBC also broadcast the show to the 16 participating countries, while the show reached over 33 million viewers.

For the 2022 edition of the show, Demonthy can call on a great creative team that brought a lot of experience to the production. Chris Moylan, light designer and light operator took over the complete show light programming for this job. Matthias Schöffmann programmed the media servers. Matthias Hagel programmed the key light and follow spots, he was also at the ESC 2011 in Düsseldorf. Tobias Heydthausen was there as lighting design assistant and during the rehearsals as contact person for the delegations. Nick Charalampidis, also a veteran in the ESC business, was server engineer. Christian Glatthor and Matthias Held were responsible for the Follow-Me System.

To make his workflow for the production of the JESC as optimal as possible, Demonthy turned to Syncronorm’s Depence visualizer for preproduction. First, he drew his designs in Vectorworks to take the venue's technical specifications into account. This drawing was then imported into Depence using MVR export, and it was already here that the first benefits of pre-production visualization became clear to him, as he was able to check whether all the angles and positions created were suitable for the lighting.

“In the next step, I immediately use this file to create renderings. And there I have to say for me that Depence is in my opinion, for fast realistic renderings exactly the right tool, where I can create live quickly and effectively my light images and it is not far from the real world, but I have often had that customers have asked me whether it is now real or yet rendered.” - Raphaël Demonthy, 2022

The set design of the JESC was mostly shaped by the video-ready LED tubes, which frame the stage above and below. Demonthy tried to enhance the stage itself by using the lighting design to let it appear much bigger than it was. For this effect he tried to fill the gaps of the stage with lighting. This means that the traverses in the stage area, which are arranged in a circular manner to follow the shape of the stage, can offer the possibility for individual looks for every participating country. In this way, totally different looks for each show could be achieved, while the stage is staying the same. 8 of the traverses can also be brought into different positions and angles due to C1 motors to achieve different looks. To that the team also relied on additional C1 light pods, which were equipped with ClayPaky Axcor 600 profiles.

The main LED wall is framed by Tambora Battens, because Demonthy was meaning to give this part of the wall special attention in terms of visually strengthen the outer lines of the video content design. Left and right to the stage, spot and wash lines were placed to achieve the desired effect of widening the stage to give it more presence and radiance. Both catwalks which are leading from the stage to the green room, where each candidate is resting in between shows, are framed by Mythos 2 as well as Mini-Bs.

“Since I had already created the file for the renderings, it was obvious that we also do the complete pre-programming with Depence. But with the size of the system, we are talking about a lighting system of over 1,200 fixtures + C1 + LED tubes etc., we were not quite sure if the performance is sufficient and we have to say we would not have expected it, but the performance in terms of fluidity, which affects extreme timings as well as the much better real representation of light properties of the fixtures and the effect on objects is a lot better in Depence than with another popular visualizer from Canada.” – Demonthy

Full Equipment List of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022:

^{78x CP Scenius Spot}

^{70x CP Scenius Unico}

^{60x CP Axcor Profile 600}

^{36x CP Shotlight wash}

^{72x CP Arolla MP}

^{22x CP Arolla HP}

^{92x Lightsky F230}

^{80x CP Mythos 2}

^{85x CP Beye K25}

^{80x CP Beye K20}

^{22x FineArt 1537 Led Wash}

^{42x CP K10 Wash}

^{60x FineArt 1519 Pixie}

^{200x Mini-B’s}

^{94x CP Tambora Batten}

^{94x CP Tambora Linear}

^{40x PR lighting Bar}

^{30x M1500 Led Par}

^{6x MDG}

^{6x Fan}

As programming days on location are becoming more and more short, Demonthy praises the possibilities of Depence in terms of preprogramming at the Prefocus studio in Berlin beforehand. He also states that the real-life parameters of fixtures are a huge help while doing so, as much more knowledge about every lighting fixture out there is needed while using visualizers from other companies. With Depence, he is able to work as close to reality as possible due to the real-time lighting behavior of the fixtures. For Demonthy, the combination of different components such as NDI or C1 and the nonetheless stable and high frame rate is also a big win.

“The bottom line is that it was really fun to design the lighting with Depence and we are very confident that it will bring us even further forward for future projects.”

_{(c) pictures on location by Optikalusion}

Light Art Studios, a young five-headed preprogramming studio, newly established in Hamburg, Germany were responsible for this year’s creative part of lighting design at the venerable German entertainment show “Wetten, dass..?”. The show around cult presenter Thomas Gottschalk attracts an audience of millions every year and is structured around bets to be won by various participants. In addition, world-famous show acts also perform and heat up the audience between the bets.

The studio, in which the preprogramming for these shows took place, includes two fixed lighting desk workstations and an optional additional workstation as well as a dedicated 3D workstation. The team is primarily active in the areas of TV, concert, touring, theater, musicals, trade shows, advertising and corporate. A special feature of the new studio in Hamburg is also that it is open to other designers and operators.

As for the show act itself, no other than famous music acts such as Robbie Williams, Tate McRae, the Moulin Rouge musical show and famous German singer-songwriter Herbert Grönemeyer were entertaining the audience in between the candidates and their bets. Light Art Studios worked very closely with the lighting designers of the various acts, to ensure a fabulous show experience for the live audience as well as everyone in front of their TVs. Lucas Hoyer, employee at the studio, thereby did the work on the Depence file while preprogramming. Raphael Grebenstein was responsible for the lighting direction and operation for all four show acts. The main client for the production was the German TV channel ZDF, on which the program was also broadcast. ZDF also provided the responsible Director of Photography Volker Schmidt and Tom Stockinger as well as the operators for deco light and white light. The decorative light was set up on site by ZDF as well.

“Depence is an integral part of our workflow, both to quickly present results to clients in the form of renderings, to check feasibility in set designs, and to pre-program productions and save time and money on location.” – Raphael Grebenstein, 2022

In their workflow, Light Art Studios first worked with Vectorworks to draw the plans for the show concept, this also included addressing the lights on stage. The set design was then mostly created in Cinema4D, which was then edited and polished again in Depence. The same applies to the LED wall and UV mapping. In Depence, all the threads then came together, and the various project elements were merged thanks to the extensive import functions of the software. This was followed by an adjustment of the respective textures. In the Depence project, different layers have now been created to manage the shows of the four acts. The camera movements were then carried out via DMX camera.

“Since we now have 3D CAD plans available in 90% of cases anyway, the import into Depence is done quickly and so results can be achieved quickly even on the road without a lighting desk. Fast support is also another PLUS.”

The project itself relied on the following equipment:

^{170x Martin Mac Encore}

^{160x Elation Smarty Hybrid}

^{61x Martin Mac Quantum}

^{51x Robe Robin 800 LED}

^{JB Lighting Sparx18}

^{5x Robe Forte Followspot}

^{3x Robe Forte}

^{19x GLP S350}

^{58x GLP JDC-1}

^{180x Expolite Tourled42}

^{12x GLP creativ light1}

 ^{48x Varilite VL5 LED}

 ^{06x GrandMA3 light}

 ^{12x GrandMA3 PU}

 ^{13x GrandMA3 8port Node}

 ^{2x GrandMA3 4port Node}

Live-Picture Credit: ZDF / Sascha Baumann