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Ofer Jacobi illuminates “Ninja Warrior Israel” with Robe

The fifth season of “Ninja Warrior Israel”, an endurance sport competition TV series, was recorded on the waterfront of the Haifa port industrial setting, overlooked by cranes and container ships unloading at the adjacent docks.

All the action - as competitors negotiated a series of increasingly difficult obstacles against each other and the clock - was filmed overnight due to the extreme heat, and lit by lighting designer/director Ofer Jacobi working in close collaboration with director Oren Levi.

The site was a 20,000 square metre outdoor arena-like space, and Jacobi chose Robe moving lights to help light vital elements of the show. The Robes included 14 x BMFL Blades, 30 x Spiider LED wash beams, 23 x Pointes and 12 x LEDBeam 150s, supplied by Israeli rental company Argaman Systems Ltd., along with approximately 1500 other fixtures on the rig.

Fourteen substantial constructions/games were designed and built by the “Ninja Warriors” international team ATS. The games/obstacles, which consume several kilometres of trussing, change each season, with one constant factor across the whole franchise and that is Mount Midoriyama, a final challenge that contestants must conquer to win the cash prizes and the ultimate title of “Ninja Warrior”.

Two of the BMFL Blades were positioned on the floor either side of the Midoriyama Mountain and were used for following the action, with the other twelve on a circular central stage in the middle of all the games which had a video floor. From there, the BMFL Blades could beam around, searchlight style, and pick up contestants on all the surrounding games.

The Spiiders were dotted all over the site, rigged on various trusses and used for general washing and TV lighting. The entire central area could be illuminated with spiders, and they were rigged in positions where they could quickly swap between the different games’ sets, replacing the need for substantial numbers of static Lekos and LED panels.

The Spiiders’ range of colours includes CT whites, although they were mainly used in the show’s signature electric blue. Some lighting cues were co-ordinated with the games action as everything flipped red when a contestant crashed out or hit the water pools underneath the games.

The Pointes were distributed around the set and the various games. The LEDBeam 150s were deployed in two vertical lines ascending the mountain and used for making geometric beams in the air and filling the arena with effects as well as augmenting the Pointe beams in some looks.

Ofer Jacobi worked closely with his regular programmer Ronen Ben Harosh who operated the two Compulite Vector consoles (one for effects lighting and one for “conventional” TV lighting) running a total of 24 x DMX universes of control. Before getting to site, the pair worked through everything in WYSIWYG which gave them the optimal lighting positions.

The crew were on site for three weeks including the build and rehearsals, followed by eight nights of overnight shooting with a crew recovery/sleep day in between each recording session. The production company was Keshet, and the show will be broadcast on their Keshet12 channel.

(Photos: Louise Stickland/Paul Clarke)

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