Spotrack’s TrACME system was deployed by the lighting design team for stadium finals of TV singing competition....
Sing! China is a Chinese TV singing competition broadcast by Zhejiang Television. The show is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. The latest season of the show recently came to its climax with a spectacular Finals production staged at the iconic Beijing National Stadium, known globally as the Bird’s Nest. Watched by millions on TV, the show attracted a live audience of more than 60,000 in the stadium itself.
The show’s production values were of the highest order, with its designers sparing no creative efforts in presenting the artists in an incredibly dynamic and high quality presentation. On stage, a 360-degree rotating decoration with a four sided screen was deployed to present every detail of the show and this year, the team fully upgraded its follow-spot technology to further enhance the audience experience.
In a large capacity stadium like the Bird’s Nest, which covers 21 hectares, traditional follow spots can be difficult to use to maximum advantage. The design team at Sing! China elected to use the Spotrack TrACME dynamic tracking system supplied by ACME. Spotrack manufactures the world’s leading remotely operated follow spot system, which is fast revolutionising the industry’s approach to spotlight control. The system enables an operator to remotely control from any location, moving lights as follow spots. Compatibility is key to the system - it works with any moving light and any lighting console, in any performance space and can be used in all entertainment sectors for live production from anywhere in the venue. Spotrack systems are now to be found in action all around the globe at similar high profile events, as more and more lighting designers and production managers acquaint themselves with the clear advantages the system delivers.
For the Sing! China Finals, which comprised a wide stage and numerous performers, the designers deployed eight TrACME systems, each of which is able to control up to four moving lights from any vendor in a single universe. With no need for sensors, belt-packs, or the setting up of transmitters or receivers, the systems were calibrated during rehearsals and then controlled from back-stage by an operator via camera, monitor-screen and mouse. Performers were tracked precisely, with every movement perfectly presented for the enthusiastic audience in the stadium and at home on TV.
Spotrack CEO Liam Feeney comments:
“The Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing is a truly iconic venue and we are delighted to see TrACME in use in such a high profile setting for what was a superbly produced event. The pressure to deliver every aspect of a show with absolute precision is ramped up by it being broadcast to millions on TV. The Sing! China team did a fantastic job and it was great to see TrACME deliver great results whilst making their job more efficient and less stressful.”
ACME Lighting Technician and Spotrack operator for Sing! China 2019, Mr Wen gives his view:
“Having received numerous recommendations and then seeing the system in action at a trade show, we saw Spotrack as being very suitable for our needs. This was the second time we had used it on a large scale production, so we were confident it would work well for Sing! China 2019. It’s simple to use with a mouse to track the performer and a keyboard to control the function of the lights. From a lighting designer’s point of view, it’s not ideal to set up a light tracking truss on the stage, in addition to which, traditional follow spot lighting can’t be used for certain blind areas. Spotrack TrACME resolves these issues perfectly and offers easy and safe operation. The show was a great success and we were pleased by the performance of this new level of follow spot performance.”