Eurovision 2007 Semi Final: Full Success!

The EuroVision 2007 semi final in Helsinki is over. What a blast!

A brief description of the technical Setup:

• 5 Hippotizers (with 2 HD outputs each) were used in total: Nr#1 in PanMode for the LEDs on the left/right back the stage (this one also had SDI live inputs, but it was never visible in the broad casted TV signal). Nr#2 in PanMode for the 90° flipped LED at the center back the stage. Nr#3 in SingleMode for the circular floor of the stage. Nr#4 in PanMode for the long catwalk in front of the stage. Nr#5 in SingleMode for the screens on the left and right high above of the stadium (for the audience, not for broadcast TV).
  
• FOH (front of house, 100 meters away) remote control of all V3 Hippotizers through just one GUI (Gigabit network fiber optics)
  
• The synchronization followed external timecode (smpte) fed to the V3 Hippotizers through Motu timepiece MIDI signals to the V3 Hippotizers. External DMX and Hippotizer-internal timelines were used as well - complex but offers all the options you can dream of.
  

My overall impression of what was broad casted through TV was excellent. The footage was totally unique for most songs, featured extensive timeline programming with many live effects in up to 6 layers per hippo, different aspect ratios, dynamic in/out-points, masking, overlays etc! The full palette of the possibilities of Hippotizer V3 was used. It run all so smooth that it was just hard to recognize - it all just looked like being perfectly prerendered! The SDI Live Video inputs were used in one Hippotizer and displayed on the big LED wall behind the stage while interviewing the actors during the voting, but this was never broad casted in TV.

Because the displays are so incredibly BIG, things look very different if you stand in front (or above :)) of them or if you just look at a camera shot in TV. E.g. if the camera zooms on the head of an actor and you just see a very tiny bit of the LEDs in the background, it looks horrible if the visuals on the LEDs move too fast or if there are too many colors - but it looks great if the camera zooms away and you see the whole stage. So, in fact my overall impression is that the design team did a great job with very clever animations that looked good for all camera shots. Often it was the simple things that just looked great for both situations - sometimes even just static background! Big congrats and respect to Mikki Kunttu, Johan West, Sean Westgate, Peter Kaufmann, Nigel Sadler, Tom Etra, James Heron, Ola Melzig and all the others who worked so hard during the last weeks!

My personal favorites (both visually and sonic) were Moldova and Bulgaria - enjoy!

Moldova

Bulgaria

Oh, and not to forget, here is the list of the semi final winners (preceded by their start numbers in the final):

• 03. Belarus
• 06. FYR Macedonia
• 07. Slovenia
• 08. Hungary
• 11. Georgia
• 14. Latvia
• 17. Serbia
• 21. Bulgaria
• 22. Turkey
• 24. Moldova