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Aaron Russ chooses Elation for Dubai World Cup closing ceremony

Lighting designer Aaron Russ of ARLD turned to Elation Professional’s Proteus Excalibur and Proteus Maximus as the building blocks of a lighting design for the closing ceremony of the 2023 Dubai World Cup, a Thoroughbred horse race held at Meydan Racecourse each March.

The brief for the large-scale production called for something spectacular and unique, a show that highlighted the horse race, its creators and Dubai as the host city. The creative team delivered a show with pyro glider planes, drones, lighting, video and fireworks all working as one choreographed scene for onlookers both live and on television across the globe.

Technology solutions provider Creative Technology Middle East (CTME) worked as a key supplier for the closing ceremony event, delivering audio, video, lighting and comms on behalf of client Artists in Motion. The technical delivery solution consisted of 1,400 sqm of bespoke LED screens, content management, audio distribution, and a lighting and comms package.

CTME installed more than 500 lighting fixtures along with lighting control, a task overseen by CTME head of lighting Sam Connolly. “We worked with Aaron on-site about the possibilities and the realities of what he was trying to achieve and then worked with the scenic companies to make sure that everything was possible including getting fixtures on to the LED screen and speaker podiums”, he says. “We used many of our latest lighting investments on the project.”

LD Aaron Russ has worked on several Dubai World Cup closing ceremonies before. Lighting for this year’s event was about elevating the visual experience to new heights, filling in the blanks, and tying all of the various visual elements together, he says. The designer was familiar with both the Excalibur and Maximus from the Dubai Expo, where he was one of the WBD programmers in Al Wasl Plaza.

Russ reports that in the past ninety percent of the infield behind the screens would be left dark, and the same for the track space between the grandstand and the main screens. “I always thought this looked ugly on heli or drone shots - this vast darkness around a super bright screen”, he says. “I wanted to fill this space. The Excaliburs (40) were placed in clusters layered in the infield from the screen to the back straight of the track. Their output was needed to punch through the pyro and drones that gave off a lot of ambient light.”

Twenty-four Proteus Maximus were positioned on the level 8 roof top for keylight, about a 100 m throw to the front straight they were intended to light. “The 24 units covered roughly 200 m x 30 m”, says Russ and adds that special considerations had to be made as far as fixture positions in order to not blind the pilots in the planes and not light the drones.

Head of Creative & Show Director was Richard Lindsay. Stella Carmody was the Managing Director, Natalie Grassick the Project Director. Head of Design was Jonny Old, Creative Director was Caterina Vicaretti. Pyro was by Flash Art, the Glider Planes from Aerosparx.

The team also included Liz Goodyer (Executive Producer), Nick Newey (Technical Director), Matt Lock (Head of Motion), Alex Zaloudek (Head of 3D), Olivia Beale (Senior Producer), and Haitham Taha from Inframes (Notch Producer). The Tracking System came from stYpe, the music was composed by Vladimir Persan.

“We had over forty engineers and fifty crew working on the delivery and execution (of the show)”, notes Andy Reardon, Managing Director of CTME. “A huge thank you to Artists in Motion for engaging us on this event.”

(Photos: Elation Professional/Creative Technology Middle East)

www.elationlighting.com

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