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Robe illuminates Israel 70 Independence Day celebrations

For the 2018 Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) Opening Ceremony on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, lighting designer Ronen Najar chose 55 x Robe MegaPointes and 68 x BMFLs - a combination of Spots and WashBeams - to illuminate the performance area built around the tomb of Theador Herzl at the top of the Mount of Remembrance.

The event was organised by the Culture Ministry and broadcast live on all Israeli TV channels. It was also attended by an invited audience of 7,500 who this year saw a cast of 1500 perform a specially devised show directed by Ran Zahor. This was a mixture of official ceremonial elements - including the lighting of 12 torches to represent the 12 tribes of Israel and an address by Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, Speaker of the Knesset - inter-spliced with an entertainment programme.

The set design by Nitzan Refaely was the first visual element to be finalised. This year it comprised a large structure incorporating the tomb in the centre towards the front. Behind this a slope with a walkway was created and covered in projection screen material, brought alive by images from 15 x 25K Epson laser projectors. The rear of the structure was rigged with multiple LED screens, and there were also projections across the field-of-play area.

A 25 x 40 metre box truss was flown above the centre of the performance space, suspended on sky hooks from two cranes supplied by Yehuda’s Cranes. Their masts were extended to 50 metres (from a total potential reach of 70 metres) and the load - heavy duty trussing, lighting fixtures and LED video border - was picked up on 12 points and trimmed at 18 metres above the show floor. Two large scaffolding gantries were built at the front of the field-of-play adding more lighting and audio positions and the backs of the three seating tribunes were also utilized.

The MegaPointes were all positioned on the stage set and used for back lighting, gobo projections and aerial effects. The BMFL Spots and BMFL WashBeams were deployed across all the other lighting positions and were used for multiple tasks, from key lighting for the speeches and torch-bearers, the military parade sections of the show, to washing the performance area with colours, some secondary gobo projections and for specials and highlighting specific sections throughout the performance.

It was the first time Ronen Najar had utilised MegaPointes on one of his shows. These and the rest of the lighting plus the audio system were supplied by the Simul Argaman Group. Najar worked with two assistant LDs, Jonathan Frixo and Matti Murray, using a GrandMA2 platform. In addition to the Robes, Najar used some other moving lights and a selection of generics.

The event’s camera director was Amir Ukrainitz and the playback video content was produced by Shay Bonder. Video and projection was supplied by ScreenLight and AVS respectively, the stage set was built by Bimot 88 and the rigging contractors were Gader Vagan.

(Photos: Louise Stickland)

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