Skywalker Systems claimed it had gone “better, stronger and with full motion repeatability” by providing the newest generation of wire camera systems for the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen this month.
For the Contest the company delivered an eight-wire 3D camera system with speeds of up to 10m/s, providing free flying and motion repeat controlled flights over the audience and stage, as well as a four-wire 2D camera system with speeds up to 6m/s above the stage.
During the rehearsal and shows the company were flying over 300km with the two systems, and during the three live shows Skywalker had around 350 shots, of which 90% were already pre-programmed to the precision of 1cm. A total of 2000m of rope were moving through the venue when the rigs were in action.
“I have never experienced such a professional and hardworking team as the Skywalker team during the ESC 2014,” commented Per Zachariassen, director, ESC 2014. “The wirecam system was very reliable, precise and stable, which gave us great shots and raised the bar for future high end television shows.”
Jesper Hvenegaard, 2D camera operator, added: “We did set a new standard for the way of using wirecams, and how it’s supposed to look in television!”
