SHANGHAI SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Founded in the United States by Eunice Kennedy-Shriver in 1968, the Special Olympics is officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a showcase of sporting skills for people with mental and physical disabilities.

In October, the event was held for the first time in Asia with over 7,500 athletes from 165 nations displaying enormous courage over 10 days in Shanghai, China.

On October 2, the People’s Republic of China President Hu Jintao officially launched the 2007 Special Olympics at Shanghai Stadium, and for the opening ceremony, Don Mischer produced an elaborate show with a lighting design created by Bob Dickinson in collaboration with Liu Wenhao.

Dickinson assigned A&O Lighting Technology GmbH and Procon Event Engineering to supply the bulk of the lighting equipment and implement the design. As well as deploying 44 Falcon Universal 7kW Xenon Searchlights from Alpha One, with Beam and Flower attachments, the design also incorporated around 850 Martin MAC 2000 Washes and 100 MAC 2000 Performances, along with 93 Martin Atomic 3000 strobes.

Other key fixtures included 114 Vari*Lite VL 3500 Spots, 184 VL5Cs, 116 VL6Cs, 30 VL2402s and 122 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPEs.

Despite the set-up being delayed by the threat of Typhoon Wipha, and also the need to work around inappropriate power voltages, 10 days of rehearsals with 2,500 artists went ahead, trouble-free.

Tim Obermann, who assumed the position of project manager on behalf of A&O Technology, commented: “We fixed 32 Falcon Beams about 65m above the ground. An additional eight Falcon Beams, as well as four Falcon Flowers were installed as floor spots in the trench between the rink and the seats. All Falcons were connected with each one of 10 power supply units.”

Obermann continued: “The set-up took place without any problems, however, we had some difficulties with the power supply due the voltage of some PSUs being only 180V. In addition, we had to deal with a voltage fluctuation of /- 30V. After the back-up fuse for the supply voltage of four Falcon searchlights was activated, we decided to shut down the entire Falcon system and disconnect it from the electricity grid. That way we were able to avoid major damage to the equipment.”

CONCEPT
Lighting designer Bob Dickinson told us about his approach to his part of the event’s production. “The concept was to create a lighting design that interpreted the creative aspect without distracting from the message,” he said. “This involved using light sources that were very powerful and could be projected over long distances.”

Why did Dickinson choose Falcon searchlights within his design? “Reliable new technology is always important. But it’s that crisp, clean light source that ultimately brings out the potential of the Xenon bulb that draws me to the Falcon systems.

“At each point in time these searchlights follow the cues with an incomparable, impressive precision. The future of large scale events will continue to demand that the distance between the subject and the light source will increase. Dependable Xenon searchlights have been needed for some time and finally I feel we have one in the Falcon.”

“The MAC Washes performed superbly,” continued Dickinson. “The colour options and consistency between units was extremely uniform which is always a big concern on televised projects. Because of their intensity and long throw abilities they allowed me to light more of the vast areas that this show took place in at one time.”

Dickinson is a long-time user of the Vari*Lite Virtuoso lighting console, and continues to favour it above all others. He said: “It’s the only desk I’ve found to be reliable in huge scale installations — the only console capable of synchronously controlling such a great number of intelligent searchlights. I absolutely trust this console.”

As well as lighting, the Special Olympics organisation committee put an exceptional emphasis on quality when selecting the sound equipment. The sound design was handled by Patrick Baltzell who previously served as sound designer for several Olympic Games and Grammy Awards ceremonies.

For the Special Olympics, the sound system was provided by LAB China Ltd. No less than 326 L-Acoustics enclosures were deployed for the event: 46 V-DOSC, 36 KUDO, 116 dV-DOSC, 24 SB218s, 24 115XTHiQs, 76 MTD108a boxes and four 108Ps.

Bob Dickinson offered a final observation: “China is a marvellous country. Indeed, the collaborative work between East and West was very enlightening. The Chinese understand and embrace large scale productions with enormous enthusiasm.”