Stage: Forum Discussion
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I want LED!!!!
I think you can incorporate LED in something bold and original, the one doesn't have to exclude the other, it's just that we've had a bit of "the same" lately so we need to have fresh minds, but I fully think it's possible to combine.
LED does give the acts more possibilities to elevate their entries visually for the viewers, without them Eurovision looks more like some "standard" concerts and the entries look pretty much the same visually (Oslo 2010 and Lisbon 2018). It's not like you're forced to use the LED, just like you're not forced to use background dancers, but the option should be there and the acts should use what they think works best for their entries, why do we want to limit the choices? With all limitations we also get less diverse acts.
Also, it's more costly to come up with props etc. if you can't use LED, which again with lead to more visually scaled down performances, and again I am not against scaled down if it works for the specific entry, but I also am not in the camp that everything needs to be scaled down because again more options - more diversity!
I'd like to see something from the SanRemo stage being incorporated. It uses LED's but you're not seeing them as a flat arena-sized TV.
Although something worth noting is that I can't find any other award shows or any modern stage design from Italy other than SanRemo. Maybe our Italian correspondents can help?
ag89
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Why not something classy with such elements? 
Like for the Oscars? Of course, not literally the same, but I am a bit tired of Wieder although at first you might conclude each of his stages were different...In reality...hm. I don't really. Wieder is great, I just find it illogical one team has a monopoly over stage design year after year.
Like for the Oscars? Of course, not literally the same, but I am a bit tired of Wieder although at first you might conclude each of his stages were different...In reality...hm. I don't really. Wieder is great, I just find it illogical one team has a monopoly over stage design year after year.
sucof
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this is X Factor Italia, and this is one of the candidate arenas to host Eurovision, the Assago forum in Milan
That's more like it!
Additional: EMA 2015 was hosted in the Mediolanum Forum and Florian Wieder designed the set. I don't want that guy this year, for an absolute reason: this one stage is sh-
Why not something classy with such elements?
This reminds me of Festivali I Kenges 2018, which is another one that is as interesting for its golden curtains. It's simply breathtaking!
A-lister
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This staging is boring though (then I'd take another Wieder one instead)
Plus X-Factor isn't really a good example since it's franchise and I think they all "need" to look the same everywhere? (obviously this one is clearly big and I'm surprised to see X-Factor so popular in Italy).
A-lister
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His Eurovision stuff is much better though, also 2015 is quite some time ago... EMAs/VMAs normally had much lamer stagings than Eurovision had (maybe not if we go back like 15+ years, but in newer editions).
I can't say the same to EMA 2016 afterwards, their stagings were quite intricate compared to 2015 downwards.
Still, Florian's design might be symmetrycally good and the details were clean as heck, but the formulas are really repeated: LED TV, stage in simple shapes like circles or trapezoids, satellite stage or a runway, and a big lighting ornament surrounding the stage. I get tired of seeing the same things 4 years in a row.
A-lister
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I completely agree with that, just pointed out that the examples given were some of his obvious worse works wheres his Eurovision stagings were much better.
But yes, I think it's time for a fresh mind here, as I wrote previously I hope the LED stays though as it gives much more alternatives for the entrants to work with, but the general staging designs have been quite the same year after year now and I hope that they get some new designer onboard to break that and come up with something else.
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Preuss
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LEDs, I really didn't like the editions in Oslo and in Lisbon
if you don't have LEDs, you take away so many possibilities such as Anouk's birds, Conchita's wings, Jamala's tree, Salvador's forest, etc. Sure, you gain a new approach to stagings when there are no LEDs, but Eurovision isn't the same without LEDs imo...
if you don't have LEDs, you take away so many possibilities such as Anouk's birds, Conchita's wings, Jamala's tree, Salvador's forest, etc. Sure, you gain a new approach to stagings when there are no LEDs, but Eurovision isn't the same without LEDs imo...
anto475
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The LED debate rears its head again. If your song can't do well without LEDs then it was a weak song to begin with. A reminder that this is the Eurovision Song Contest, not the Eurovision Visual Effects Contest.
LED will help some countries with their limited staging choices, too. No LEDs have an effect on Croatia and Georgia 2018 for example, they looked quite empty and uninteresting.
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GermanBango
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The 2018 stage is still giving me nightmares - so boring, so dull, most of the acts looked exactly the same. Honestly Eurovision is supposed to be entertaining, right? So it`s not a shame to visually enhance your song. I find the "if your song can`t stand without LEDs.... "-argument kinda weak considering that the whole thing is not solely a music competition anymore - if it was we could like listen to it on the radio.
So yeah, give us LEDs but don`t make it flat and meh.
So yeah, give us LEDs but don`t make it flat and meh.
A-lister
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That's just nonsense, we had some great entries throughout the years using LEDs.
Eurovision isn't a radio contest, it's also about the performances and overall package including the visuals, to elevate the entries with the stagings and give the viewers a great experience.
I'm genuinely surprised we're in 2021 and people are afraid of a bit of modern graphics.
anto475
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Of course we've had great entries with LEDs, and yes they do work well and enhance entries and of course give the viewers a great experience, no one is saying otherwise, but we don't need a wall of them every year, it just gets boring and unimaginative. No one is afraid of modern graphics, if anything I'm saying let's work with more modern technology and stop resting on LEDs and whinging whenever stages features less LEDs.
A-lister
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I hear you, but the "if your song can't do well without LEDs then it was a weak song to begin with" was a bit unfair imo, it sorta implies that entries rely on LED instead of seeing the LED as a tool to enhance them.
You're not totally wrong of course, there were indeed cases when entries were in fact weak and LED effects were used to, I guess, "cover that" up (for some reason Estonia this year comes to mind), but I wouldn't categorically use that argument.
I mean the problem is that stagings are costly, but with LED you sorta give broadcasters who might not be super rich to play on a somewhat even playfield with others that can come up with whatever props and technical solutions to enhance their entries. Pyros for instance, from my understanding, are paid by the delegations if they want to use them. I think we need to take this into consideration too before dismissing LEDs as a "cheap tool".
But I do agree with everyone in here, including you, that ESC needs a new designer onboard with a fresh mind on things since the stages have indeed been kinda "same" looking. I don't know however of any technology that can be used instead of LEDs though to help create diverse backdrops etc, and 2010 and 2018 were both kinda boring looking. The question is, how to create an original stage design, yet give room for the entries to also look visually diverse (and not just changing the colors)?
The 2016 stage by Brattstrom is a good example. Even if people can argue it's like an enhanced Melfest stage, the background LEDs are arranged in such an unorthodox way it looked refreshing and 'new'.
Aside of that, one name always comes to my mind : Julio Himede!
anto475
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That's not unfair, that's true. Look at "Heroes". Would that have done as well without the light show? Or Russia 2016?
I do agree on the rest of your points tho