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München, May 2017
Interview with ESC lighting designer Jerry Appelt
1. Thank you for taking the time for this interview and congratulations on being
selected for this project. Last year’s lighting designer, Fredrik Jönsson, called
the Eurovision Song Contest the Holy Grail of television. You have twice had the
honor of designing the lighting for the Eurovision Song Contest. Is it still
something special for you, and what does the project mean to you?
Well obviously it’s a great honor for me. Especially because the Eurovision Song
Contest is not the sort of event where you have tenancy. Unlike shows such as the
Bambi Awards or the Echo Awards where you’re part of the production team and you
do these regularly, the Eurovision Song Contest is completely new every year.
Depending on the local production capacity of the host nation and how the event is
being organized, a new lighting designer is nominated each year. If you’re selected
you’re naturally delighted and it’s a sign that the work you did the last time must have
been pretty good.
2. The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in Kyiv in about three weeks’
time. At the moment you’re hard at work testing everything out. How excited are
you right now? And what would be your greatest nightmare?
I’m feeling really good right now because I’m lucky enough to be doing what I’ve
always wanted to do. I like comparing what we do to playing with a box of Lego for
adults. I get a real kick out of exploring all the different possibilities and being inventive.
And the consequences would be different of course for an airline pilot or heart surgeon.
We always have the time and the opportunity to improve things and fine-tune. Lots of
rehearsals have been scheduled for the Eurovision Song Contest. In this phase I love
seeing our ideas come to life on stage and seeing that a large proportion of the
concepts we’ve devised actually work. I also like the wonderful family reunion at the
Eurovision Song Contest and working with my core team, technicians, operators, spot
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callers and the traveling international team on creating something beautiful. Obviously
there are always a few problems and certain expectations which are always different
from country to country. This or that is wrong, or there’s something missing, or the
catering portions are too small. But they’re just little things, and part of the gig. At this
year’s Eurovision Song Contest we’re not anticipating any serious mishaps so I’d say
joy was the overriding emotion.
3. What are the preparations like for a TV event such as the European Song
Contest? How long do they last, and what’s the size of your project team?
The Eurovision Song Contest is one of my largest projects and has kept me and my
team busy for about half a year. The whole thing generally starts with meetings with
other creatives from the production side where we develop a basic idea and a concept.
We then go into detailed planning. This involves a large number of coordination
sessions, and actual work begins about three months before the event. This is when
we sit with the core team and go through the individual contributions from the various
countries, preprogramming each one. With all this in the bag we traveled to Kyiv about
one month before the start of the Eurovision Song Contest. We had about two weeks to
set up and do our internal tests before launching into the tough rehearsals with the
delegations.
4. 42 light shows for one event – where do you get your inspiration? Where do your
ideas come from? And how much input comes from the artists themselves?
Working with the delegations is a crucial element. Each country has known its song for
quite some time and often has a very clear idea of how it should be staged. This input
is very welcome and provides us with a basis for what we can create visually, obviously
well aware of what tools and toys are available to us, what is feasible and which ideas
needing to be discarded because they are impossible to implement. A great deal of
coordination and communication with the delegations is needed here and is also
desirable.
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5. Are there any national preferences in terms of stage lighting or light colors?
Have you come across any particularly unusual requests?
Yes and no, I wouldn’t put it down to national preferences, more to general trends. In
some years, for example, great emphasis is placed on interaction with the content. In
other years – and this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is a good example – there is a
high proportion of ballads. I think that’s a good thing because emotions play an
important role and because it’s difficult to go through an entire show at a hundred miles
an hour. I don’t then have a dramatic arc. I always like it when the mood changes and
we have a nice curve. Some of the creatives in the delegations have their own style.
Some of them have been involved with their countries for years so you have an idea of
what they like and don’t like.
6. What’s the overall concept for the lighting design at this year’s Eurovision Song
Contest? How many spotlights will you be using?
The theme for this year’s lighting design is “lighting architecture”. For me, this means
being able to create visual spaces with light. Specifically we are aligning the lighting
around an imaginary central energy point above the stage. We have called this stylistic
device the “beehive”. Lighting gantries, trusses and media support structures are
positioned in a circle around it. They’re really versatile, so we’ve called then the “Swiss
knife”. Just as a Swiss knife has a tool for every job, we can use this equipment to do
lots of different things and create three-dimensional spaces. We are using about 1,870
spotlights, plus a few special ones for certain delegations.
7. Which light show should viewers particularly look out for? Do you have a
favorite among all the countries?
What I especially like is the enormous bandwidth at this year’s Eurovision Song
Contest. Personally, I think “1944” which Jamala will perform again in the first semifinal is fascinating. We worked on that country’s project only yesterday and we’re very
pleased with the results. And off the top of my head I’d say Australia is my other
favorite. The light show for that one is really beautiful, and the song is great too. Over
the past few years I have worked closely with the Australian delegation and have been
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impressed by their sincerity, professionalism and dedication and also surprised how
popular the Eurovision Song Contest is with them. Viewers can also look forward to a
surprise or two with the opening and interval acts.
8. Is it a major challenge for you as a lighting designer to come up with something
new for the Eurovision Song Contest? What role do new products play in all
this?
I’m basically not a product person. I’m interested not so much in the various lamp types
and technical details but more in the effects the products create and what the products
can be used for. Obviously I keep an eye on the market and I’m always on the lookout
for new functions and features. When the new Sharpys were launched, for example, I
had to have them of course. But basically I’m now trying to get away from pure show
effects and explore three-dimensional possibilities. And naturally I’m interested in
taking advantage of state-of-the-art equipment. For example here in Kyiv we are using
only LED spotlights for the audience lighting, which of course has a beneficial effect on
power consumption. It would no doubt have been very different five years ago.
9. You mentioned Claypaky Sharpys just now. In an earlier interview you said you
particularly liked working with Claypaky products. Why is that, and what do you
appreciate about these spotlights?
That’s right. I like working with Claypaky because I appreciate their powers of
innovation. My main workhorse on the stage is your Scenius Unico. It is reliable and
represents the latest incarnation of a powerful lamp which offers a broad spectrum of
applications. It can wash, it can spot and it can create a beam. What’s more, I can work
with this product whatever the size of the budget, bearing in mind that here in Ukraine
pockets are not as deep as in some other countries in Europe. But I’m very reluctant to
go without my workhorses and backbones because I appreciate their added value, so I
always try to get them on the equipment list. If I have to make compromises I much
prefer to target the peripherals and the trusses.
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10. This is your third decade in the lighting business. What have been the greatest
changes in this time and where do you think the journey will take us in the
coming years?
There have been several major changes. In my early years it was the development of
moving lights which could be assigned more than just one task. The second great
revolution was the introduction of LED technology. If we look at the setup here in Kyiv
we have a large number of lighting units equipped with 20 x 65 W chips from Osram
located above the audience. That’s a lot of light. If anyone had told me that ten years
ago I’d have laughed in their face. Prices have changed over the years too, so there
are now LED lamps that many organizers can afford. When I was starting out that was
completely unimaginable. Technology never stands still. Right now, integration is the
big thing – how do I integrate lighting design in the actions of people and how do I
interweave individual stories. It’s an enthralling subject, and one in which I’ve been
heavily involved in recent times. I believe there is still enormous potential here in terms
of event staging.