Pre-production Update

Hi gang! Sorry for taking so long to get this up and running. Besides being mentally busy, there has also been some server problems………. But now it’s all fixed, and we’re ready to get started!

Enjoy!

Here is our future home during 6 intensive weeks in April and May: The Malmö Arena. It’s a great venue, with a fantastic infrastructure, both inside and outside. And it’s kind of pretty too!

With its steep bleachers, load capacity in the roof, and 22 meter clearance, it’s a perfect arena to do television, without losing the live feeling, which is a central part of our ambition. A first ever is that we will have a standing audience on the floor, and by doing so, we’ll reach the producers wish of fitting a minimum of 10 000 spectactors in the room during shows.

We then realized that we needed to put ALL cameras, including cranes, on risers, and all of a sudden it became a bit more tricky.

And it comes with GREAT office facilities…………….! And a Chinese restaurant outside the main entrance. World class! Closest neighbor to our venue is Scandinavias biggest shopping mall. I know my wife is happy over that fact…..I can see many new shoes coming her way…………..

Speaking of, our office in Stockholm is a stand alone building called Stenskjulet. I think they put us there to get some peace and quiet in the rest of the office compound. Stenskjulet is a long building built in the early 1700’s. In one end it hosts our Eurovision production, and in the other end, Melodifestivalen has their offices. We stuck the set designers in the middle, and that is also where we’ll put the lighting designer and his team for pre programming. This is our show producer Christer Björkman, re arranging the outdoor furniture toghether with our script writer Edward af Sille’n. This was in the middle of August. It took them an entire day to get it right, since they couldn’t agree on the design, next day winter came. Game over………..

One of the most crucial parts in the start up phase is to identify what has not been done before, what has been done before, that we can do much better, and, maybe most important, what has been done before that did NOT work. There are MANY examples of the later. Is there any new technology out there that can give us that unique look, or is there a new crazy way to use existing technology to give you that new look. We simply had to go to London, to the PLASA show, and see what we could find. And while there, me and our dear Lighting Designer, Fredrik Jönsson, took the opportunity to pose in a really manly way………..

Besides walking 236,165 miles at the trade show floor, it’s also nice to see people outside the tradeshow. So when we got the chance to go to the Canada House for a cocktail hosted by the High Commission of Canada to honor CAST Software, we took it. It’s right on Grosvenor square, and REALLY hard to find………….

Fredrik was SO happy when he saw that the dear Canadians actually put two dots on top of the o in his last name, creating an ö. A split second later, he saw what company he belongs to according to the Canadians, and SWOSH, no more joy from Mr Jönsson that day. But I had a new employee! THANK YOU CANADA! (They should totally be in this show! Why are they not in this show? They would most probably send Bryan Adams, and that is why they are not in this show!)

Next morning, still grumpy, I took him to an American Coffee House chain that starts with Star and is owned by Buck! (enough name dropping)
4 251 calories later, Fredrik was happy as a pancake in a syrup pond.

Now I only had to please my Show Producer Christer Björkman. Lucky for me, he fell head over heels in love with Mandeville, so we left London with a giant plastic doll, a Lighting Designer that gained 20 pounds in weight, and a bag full of crazy, good and amazing ideas. We had a plan, and we were ready to rock the socks off ourselves, and all of you.

To be continued in the beginning of March………

Stay tuned! And do not toast bread while taking a bath!

Joan