The good life

Spring time 2010 photos

2010-05-14T10:52:00.006+03:00

Accordion Wrestling by Kimmo Pohjonen and Helsinki Nelson in Turku.

Sami Yaffa, Nasty Suicide and Mehtis. Michael Monroe @ Tavastia Club.

Photo by Juha Seila.

Michael Monroe. The one and only.

Photo by Juha Seila.

Me and my girl Hipstamaticiced.

The boys already do the rock-pose, time will tell how things will build up..

Back online, but not quite...

2010-05-13T15:34:00.003+03:00

It's been a long time since my last blogging..

I've taken it easier during the first months of 2010 and my goal is to get back to business after summer.

Next season seems to be very active in terms of different projects around Europe.

With three major tv-shows kicking of within a month it looks like we're headed for another season with no speed limits.

I'm finishing my 7 months "rest" in a perfect way; by doing 2 shows in Japan with the one and the only Michael Monroe and his kick-ass band. It's a great honour to be working with Michael, I've been a fan since 1984 when I was 13 years old! So it's a full circle for me!

Also Apocalyptica's new tour setup has been on the design table and will be on the road later 2010. The setup will be more theatrical in many ways..

The new album sounds fantastic and the band rocks harder than ever. I'm trying to do my best to support that from the visual side. What's great is that Pekka Martti is going to operate the tour again and he's definately numero uno when it comes to this type of shows.

Next season there's also very interesting projects with the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen and the Norwegian National Ballet at their brand-new opera house in Oslo. Not to forget our own cradle of art, the Finnish National Opera.

2010 has been great so far. With the best ever winter behind us I'm aiming to do a good time in the Helsinki City Marathon in the end of the summer. In few weeks I'm off to Stockholm to participate in the legendary Stockholm Maraton. At the moment I'm not in shape for any record run, but slowly getting there...

Now I'm spending quality time with the kids, which is the best thing! They are growing so fast and daddy is getting old...

I wonder where they disappeared while I was writing this...? Gotta run...

See u guys later in 2010!

Mikki

Thoughts

2009-11-26T14:03:00.002+02:00

Year 2009 is getting closer to the finishing line, which means the Season Of Light 2010 is very heavily being worked on.

This year I'm doing 2 installations at the same time in the heart of Helsinki.

The Senate Square will be the first location just like this year's SOL2009 was. But the installation will be something quite different. It will be a projection -based piece with not much other lighting fixtures at all.

The second site is the Parliament House, which will then be totally a lighting installation. It's mostly (99%) a led source installation where we're using brand new Robe fixtures. There will also be some BigLites.

Other than SOL, the season starts to be over for me and soon it's time to start my big break. I will retire for 7 months starting mid january. This season has been super hectic and looking at the statistics it surprises me too to see that with all the productions together this year the total number of spectators is 30 million. Quite nice figure?

I'm pretty sure my last blog will be updated before Xmas and then there will be a long break..

Shine on,

Mikki

Press

2009-10-29T10:45:00.002+02:00

http://www.claypaky.it/press1/HanoiRocks_eng.htm

Decisions and progress

2009-10-05T17:11:00.004+03:00

It's been a really hectic season so far.

With Play Me, Peppi, Mielipuolen Päiväkirja, Black Water, Swan Lake and Napoli all premiering before Christmas it's simply been mad at times. Now out of these it's three down, three to go.

Outside the black box of the stage the tv-shows have also been running, this season it's been Big Brother and Talent Finland. They've both been super succesful, which is good for us all.

For the last weeks I've travelled between Malmö Opera in Sweden and The Royal Danish Theatre in Denmark and Helsinki.

In Malmö we are opening with Jorma Uotinen's Black Water on Saturday this week. The piece looks really good with costumes by the one and only Erika Turunen and a fantastic sculpture by Kimmo Schroderus. The score is from Nightwish (the heavy metal band) / Tuomas Holopainen, which has now been arranged for a symphony orchestra. Jonas Nydesjö has done amazing job arranging the music. Visually Black Water is very stark, high contrast - both very bright and very dark at the same time. A lot of the lighting design is based on reflections from the high shine floor.

Anyways, times are hectic and at times I've wanted to concentrate a little more on both the life outside this job and also on learning new things... to concentrate on developing the process of working. This has to do with both the methods of designing and purely the economical side of running the business. Now I've come to a decision and I'm taking some time off starting January 2010. It'll be a long break, at the moment 7 months, during which I wish the smoke clears enough to clarify the future a little more.

Black Water & other activities

2009-09-22T16:40:00.003+03:00

Writing this time from Malmö, Sweden.

Here working on Jorma Uotinen's new piece Black Water.

We are premiering on the 10th of October.

The choreography looks really good already - we had the first stage rehearsals today.

I also started with lights on stage yesterday and already got an idea of what is to come..

So hopes are high!

The score for this production is from Nightwish, the heavy metal group from Finland.

It's a fantastic arrangement for a symphony orchestra, a very rare treat I have to say.

Below a picture from the first lighting session last night.

The sculpture on stage is by artist Kimmo Schroderus.

Last week we premiered Mielipuolen Päiväkirja at the Alexander's Theatre in Helsinki.

This is a legendary monologue by Gogol performed by a virtuoso actor Martti Suosalo, one of Finland's finest.

It was a nice change from the world of PlayMe as I used only 10 lights!

The piece will be playing for a long time, so get your tkts now. They will sell like hot cakes.

Speaking of hot cakes, I just heard that PlayMe has sold already well above 20.000 tkts!

Parallel with the Malmö production I'm preparing a new production of the classical ballet Napoli for the Royal Danish Ballet.

It's great to be back there working with them again. Just visited them this morning for a brief meeting and looks like soon we have everything prepared for stage!

Also looking forward to see the video projections that the set designer has created.

Ha det bra,

Time passes...

2009-09-14T10:23:00.008+03:00

Ok. So it's been forever since the last blog update - which means the season 2009/2010 has kicked off with incredible speed.

I've been most busy with Svenska Teatern's new musical production Play Me, which premiered on the 090909. I designed the sets, screens and lights for the production and also programmed it all on a Grand Ma Full Size console. It was one hell of a ride, I tell you.

I'm proud to say that I had the best possible team making this piece. Peppe Tannemyr and Lennart Wahlin from Beacon, Stockholm created all the screen content for this production. I think in the end I use like 1% of stock content, so pretty much everything is custom made for this piece. Peppe and Lennart are really so fantastic to work with. working with this kind of people is what makes this job taste like honey from day to day. Also, I would not be doing these productions without Johan West, he's the one who sorts out the pixels and then tries to explain it to me too... When it comes to Green Hippo and Hippotizer mediaserver my words are not enough. Again we pushed some borders and beta used some ground breaking features the world has yet to see. Video Mapper is the brainchild of Johan West and it will change the world as we know it. The way Green Hippo corresponds to all customizing requests made by yours truly is just amazing. There's still plenty in store and I'm sure our collaboration will go on in the same manner in the future. So special thanks to Nigel, Sean, James and really everybody at Green Hippo. The same goes for Ma Lighting for their support. Once again I was able to sort out some programming issues by the kind help of Mr. Ubergerman Marcus Krömer.

In Play Me like any other big production it's a core question how the creative team works together and this time collaborating with director Maria Sid and choreographer Reija Wäre was really pleasant. They both are great personalities and they both put their hearts into this crazy business. Svenska Teatern is a small theatre that tends to make productions bigger than it's capacity, so very ambitious and unique I'd say. The real strength they have is the team spirit and good athmosphere in the house. I had such a fantastic time working with each and everyone at Svenskis. I guess they eaven taught me a little swedish... Jävla...

During the Play Me rehearsal period I also designed the screens and lights for a contemporary flamenco production of Peppi Pitkätossu for the Helsinki Festival / Kaari Martin Dance Company. This was a production for the kids and the screen content was 95% from one of our most incredible artists, Rosa Liksom. Most of the screen content was based on the drawings she'd made of Peppi. Then I animated them and added some clouds, colours, effects etc.. Peppi was played in National Opera's Alminhall. Again, for screens and lights it was Grand Ma & Hippotizer. Johan West carried out the technical setup for the mediaserver & Panasonic projectors came from Johan / West Lighting as well. I have been super happy with Panasonic projectors as I use them also in Play Me. Their quality is superb and they are very straight forward to use too.

I'm also very happy to be part of this years Elämä Lapselle charity concert. To make schedules eaven more challenging, the concert date was 090909! So I ended up rushing from Play Me press premiere on the 8th straight to Hartwall Arena for overnight programming, then after sleeping for an hour did the camera rehearsals and again rushed back to the Svenska Teatern for last corrections before the opening night. I was ready just 30 minutes before the show - so perfect timing!

For Elämä Lapselle I donated my design and all my equipment needed for this show. This is an annual project where the goal is to collect money for the kids hospital in Helsinki. It was also good to see that we got all the equipment needed for the show free of charge. Every single rental company in the country is willing to participate in this good cause. Especially Moving Light Oy was very pro for this cause. Not to forget Eastway, who handle the crew and so on. I hope we can continue this eaven further next year. This year's design was based on using semi-transparent projection screens. As the A and B stages were back to back in the center of the arena (to maximize the capacity), I wanted to block as few sightlines as possible. Showtex delivered the white gauzes and Panasonic / KaukoTelko Oy delivered the Panasonic projectors. The screen setup worked eaven better than I had thought. We used 8 pcs 10.000 Ansi-Lumen projectors to deliver the punch needed, and they sure did. Needless to say, Johan West was the center of all evil in terms of projection / mediaserver setup. Hippotizer, Grand Ma.. All the basic goodies. Pekka Martti (who's most likely the best Grand Ma operator when it comes to live music) was the light OP. All in all the gig was a grand success, though we had to make some drastic cuts in the original plan and personnel for budget reasons. Mini Me a.k.a. Jussi Kallioinen was the production damager for the show. For us up here in Santa Claus Land Jussi is really out of this world with the job he does. Hats off everybody, when MiniMe comes around.

No rest for the wicked.

I'm just on my way to Alexander's Theatre in Helsinki. One of our best actors, Martti Suosalo, has a one man production that premieres on Wednesday this week. Two more days of rehearsals still ahead.

www.green-hippo.com

www.playmeon.net

www.ckm.fi

www.malighting.com

www.westlighting.com

www.elamalapselle.fi

www.digigobos.com

New Gallery

2009-06-09T09:45:00.002+03:00

New gallery under construction, finally :

GALLERY

Stockholm

2009-05-30T08:15:00.008+03:00

Since 5 years I have been here for the Stockholm marathon. Again, staying at the same hotel and all that. But this time I won't be able to start the race as the fibula bone in my left ankle broke in training. This happened 5 weeks ago in Boston. Coming back home from Boston I went to 2 different private doctors within 2 weeks and got 2 false diagnoses. They both said there's nothing really dramatically wrong with it and did not eaven x-ray. Just "go and run". The second "specialist" at Mehiläinen -hospital in Helsinki eaven encouraged me to participate in Helsinki City Run 1/2 marathon. But luckily I got better advice and decided to get a 3rd opinion. The result was : The fibula bone has been like fully broken in two. No running this summer.

What is the fibula?

The fibula is one of two bones that run through your calf. The other bone is called the tibia. The fibula is the smaller of these bones and connects to the back of your ankle. The fibula doesn't bear weight in your leg.

How does the fibula break?

It's always direct or indirect trauma that causes a fibula break. You can also break a fibula by twisting the calf, which occurs in some industrial accidents.

What are some symptoms of a broken fibula:

Pain
Loss of mobility
Difficulty walking
Swelling

How do you treat a broken fibula?

If there is no tissue damage to the area that requires sutures, the calf area can be addressed with a cast. If there is significant tissue damage or the fibula is shattered, then surgery will be necessary.

Most people who have broken fibulas need 6-8 weeks to heal followed by physical therapy.

Well, mine broke because my anckle was blocked from training and it resulted in the foot twisting a little too much so all the weight came onto the fibula instead of the tibia bone that normally bears the weight.

So now I'm here in Stockholm anyways. Going to go and visit the race office in few hours to see what's there this year. Then heading to Beacon Gobogroup studio to start a screen content workshop for 4 days with Peppe and Lennart. They are the best when it comes to custom made screen content. We also worked together in the 2007 Eurovision song contest in Helsinki.

So a little different race day for me this year... But it is like it is.

No guts, no glory.

Meanwhile..

2009-05-29T23:15:00.001+03:00

1 - Johan West is testing projection materials with me for PlayMe musical.

2- Screen test build up on stage at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki for PlayMe musical.

3- Images from the sets designer for the Swan Lake at the Finnish National Ballet.

TTK 2009

2009-05-12T11:57:00.000+03:00

Backstage shots..

2009-05-12T11:52:00.001+03:00

The Finale of Lets Dance took place on Sunday the 10th of May.

Here are some shots from the rehearsals before the final.

And a few more coming soon...

May in Helsinki

2009-05-09T19:58:00.003+03:00

Time surely flies. Looks like its only a stone throw to the summer holidays. Also the Stockholm Marathon is closing in, which is nice. I meant to participate in the Helsinki City Run today, but the anckle injury I've been suffering prevented me from doing that. I tried to go and run a little last night, but turned back after 100m. Simply too risky for the whole season. I anyways went to the race office to get my t-shirt, I payed the starting fee so why not. There's a first time to everything and this was the first time I returned my timing chip to the race office before the start of the race. But it's surely better to try to get back in shape for STHLM. It all started to go wrong during those 88km I run in 5 days whilst I was working in Boston a few weeks back. Well, no guts no glory..

Workwise its busy as hell. Here's a list of what is on at the office at the moment :

Season Of Light 2010 is well under construction. A LOT of meetings and negotiations are taking place all over the city. Again it is my pleasure to work with the City Of Helsinki and Salla Anttola. Jussi Kallioinen is my production damager also this time around, which is super good. A lot of interesting plans are being talked about and I'm sure Season Of Light 2010 will take this event to the next level. Just wait and see. We'll go public with the plans as soon as we've got things confirmed enough far.

http://www.hel2.fi/senaatintorinuusivuosi/valon_aika2.html

PlayMe (musical for the Svenska Teatern in Helsinki) sets are being built and the rehearsals are happening very actively. I'm happy to work with Johan West again in the screens and mediaservers part. Moving Light will supply our extra gear in terms of moving lights (of course!) and MDG Athmospheres = showfog. The screen setup is both projections and led -screens and basically most of the screens are moving ones. This production is worth checking out.

www.playmeon.net

Swan Lake at the Finnish National Ballet. That's what's next for me at the national opera. It is one of the classics I always wanted to work on. With the lighting setup and the crew at the opera this should turn out to be a very enjoyable production. We're opening in October if I remember correctly.

www.operafin.fi

Napoli is a classical ballet production at the Royal Danish Ballet. This production will be staged at the Old Stage, which is the most beautiful theatre in Copenhagen. Napoli is one of the loved ballets of August Bournonville and very close to heart for the danish ballet family. This version of Napoli will be presented as a part of the international climate conference program, which will also be staged in CPH later on this year. We aim green with this one. Time will tell how green we can get, but at least we'll give it our best shot.

www.kglteater.dk

Black Water is the title for Jorma Uotinen's up and coming production for the Malmö based Skånes Dance Theatre. The production will premiere at the Malmö Opera House. Erika Turunen is the costume designer.

www.skanesdansteater.se

Elämä Lapselle is an annual benefit gala concert, the biggest in the country of Finland, that collects money for children's hospital. This is the first year for me to be in the production. My intention is to get as much of the equipment used as donations so the production would not have to pay rentals. This way maximum amount of money will go to the kids. So far already Green Hippo and Panasonic have already agreed to help the kids out. Eastway is taking care of the tech and they also donate a chunk of the equipment for the event.

www.elamalapselle.fi
www.green-hippo.com

Barco DML 1200 demo programming is still not finished! But will be finished during next week. I'm doing a design and programming for Lightpower (Germany). The 3min 30sec piece will very straight forward demonstrate the most important features of the fixture. The demo setup includes 2 pcs DML1200, a Grand Ma Light, a ProTools 003 Rack and Ableton Live software. It'll run on timecode / midi.

www.lightpower.de

Talent 2009. That's the next tv-format-show for yours truly. The production kicks off right after the summer holidays, though the finals are later on in the fall. A very interesting and inspiring production.

www.nelonen.fi/talent

Strictly Come Dancing / Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa. The final for 2009 season is actually tomorrow evening. This season has pretty much been business as usual from the visual point of view. I'm pretty happy with the whole run and also the competitors have been absolutely fantastic. Pasi Saari has been operating the show like before. The main change to last season was the Martin LC screen that was installed behind the band. This gave us a lot more depth especially in the interview shots after the performances.

www.mtv3.fi/tanssiitahtienkanssa/

Other than these there's a few more productions happening still within 2009.

I'm also looking forward to receiving the ESP Vision version 3 software THAT WILL RUN ON MAC! I finally get rid of the pc's at the office. Finally. Selling and buying any equipment with Windows on it should be criminalized.

www.espvision.com

Another day at the office?

2009-04-28T10:43:00.001+03:00

What a day at the office it is! Two pcs of Barco DML 1200 moving multimedia projectors just arrived this morning. I'm designing a DML1200 -demo show for a company called Lightpower in Germany. I'll be using the onboard Hippotizer mediaservers and a Grand Ma console for the demo. Also, ProTools 003 Rack together with Ableton Live will provide the soundtrack and timecode for the show. As my brand new Grand Ma2 console just arrived today too, I have yet to decide weather I'll do this one with Ma1 or Ma2!! Nice problem to have.

In the picture above you'll see the new Ma2 sitting on top of an old MS-lezlie cabinet. This is how old school meets new school in real life!

Other things.. well.. Play Me sets are under construction.. The next Season Of Light -festival is well under consideration..

Oh, and yes I went to Boston Ballet for a week to see how Sleeping Beauty is doing after 3 years since the opening.

Boston was very good as usual, I like the city a lot. And the Boston Ballet crew is just amazingly awesome. They once again made my life very easy.

When it comes to the more important things in life : Ice-Hockey World Championships have kicked off in Switzerland. Good news is that Finland has won both 2 games so far and team Sweden lost last night to Latvia. Go Latvia!

My marathon training has suffered a major setback. I did 90 km in 5 days in Boston and now I've got some sort of an injury in my left foot. On medication to take away the inflammation and pain, but lets see if I make it to the Helsinki City Run that's on the 9th of May. At least this should not mean I need to cancel Stockholm.

Rock like fuck!

2009-04-15T11:54:00.001+03:00

The past week went by very quickly.

I was working on the Farewell shows of the legendary Hanoi Rocks.

This is (or actually was) the band that really got me into rock and roll in the first place.

I was a huge fan in my teens and I still am.

What a great pleasure to work on these songs that I know so well by heart.

The band gave a hell of a performance every show and the crowd left the show very happy.

The show just kept getting tighter and the last night was just pure rock'n roll celebration.

In terms of equipment I used 30 Jarag-5 units and 26 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300's.

Then 3 Robe AT700 Spots as front lights and some good old parcans too.

A photo album collage before the show was done with Hippoportamus mediaserver and Panasonic 6500 Ansi-lumen projector.

The video technology was supplied to the event by West Lighting.

The lighting was from Moving Light.

Front of house I used a Grand Ma Full Size, of course.

Oh and the above photos are courtesy of Stefan Bremer and yours truly.

BTW : Ma2 should arrive this week...

Laulu Suomelle images

2009-04-08T10:13:00.000+03:00

Back to Mystery City

2009-04-04T20:48:00.004+03:00

Just noticed it has been a while since I updated my blog.
So it's about time to take a look at what has been cooking since..

Firstly Porvoo 1809 show with YLE is over and done with quite successfully.
The production was created to celebrate The Diet Of Porvoo in 1809 and took place in the Porvoo Cathedral exactly 200 years after.

Here's some more details from Wikipedia :

The Diet of Porvoo (Finnish Porvoon maapäivät, or unhistorically Porvoon valtiopäivät[1]; Swedish Borgå landtdag), was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

During the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, the four Estates of Russian occupied Finland (Nobility, Clergy, Burghers and Peasants) were assembled at Porvoo (Borgå) by Tsar Alexander I, the new Grand Duke of Finland, between March 25 and July 19, 1809. The central event at Porvoo was the sovereign pledge and the oaths of the Estates in Porvoo Cathedral on March 29. Each of the Estates swore their oaths of allegiance, committing themselves to accepting the Emperor and Grand Duke of Finland as the true authority, and to keeping the constitution and the form of government unchanged. Alexander I subsequently promised to govern Finland in accordance with its laws. This was thought to essentially mean that the emperor confirmed the Swedish Instrument of Government from 1772 as the constitution of Finland, although it was also interpreted to mean respecting the existing codes and statutes. The diet had required that it would be convened again after the Finnish War, which separated Finland from Sweden, had been concluded. On September 17 of the same year, the conflict was settled by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, but it would be another five decades until the Finnish Estates would be called again.
During the rise of Finnish nationalism later in the 19th century, it was claimed that the Diet implied that a Treaty between States had been signed at the Diet between Finland and Russia. According to Emeritus Professor Jussila of Helsinki University, it is true that Alexander said that Finland had been raised to the status of a nation among nations, but the claim of a Treaty between equals was simply a device invented for the political realities of the struggle for independence.

Swedish era :

Around 1580, King John III of Sweden, who had previously (1556–63) been the Duke of Finland (a royal duke), assumed the subsidiary title Grand Prince (Grand Duke) of Finland (Swedish: Storfurste, Finnish: Suomen suuriruhtinas) to the the titles of the King of Sweden, first appearing is sources in 1581 (though first used by John III 1577).[1] In those years, John was and had been in quarrel with his eastern neighbor, Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, who had a litany of subsidiary titles as Grand Prince of several ancient Russian principalities and provinces. The use of Grand Prince on John's behalf was a countermeasure to signify his mighty position as sovereign of Sweden, also a multinational or multi-country realm, and equal to a Tsardom. Not only was Finland added, but Karelia, Ingria, and Livonia that all were along the Swedish-Russian border. It is said that the first use of the new title was in an occasion to contact Tsar Ivan.
During the next 140 years, the title was used by John's successors on the throne, with the exception of Charles IX who listed Finns as one of the many nations over which he was the king during 1607-1611.[2] As the title had only subsidiary nature without any concrete meaning, it was mainly used at very formal occasions along with a long list of additional royal titles. The last Swedish monarch to use the title was Ulrika Eleonora who abdicated in 1720. However, in 1802, King Gustav IV Adolf gave the title to his new-born son, Prince Carl Gustaf, who died three years later.

Russian era :

During the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia, the four Estates of occupied Finland were assembled at the Diet of Porvoo on March 29, 1809 to pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, who had already earlier during the war adopted the Grand Duke of Finland to his long litany of titles. Following the Swedish defeat in the war and the signing of the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809, Finland became a true autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland as a part of the Russian Empire.
The Emperor ruled Finland through his governor and a native Senate appointed by him. The country nevertheless enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, until its independence in 1917. Finland was declared an independent republic, but after the Civil War, there was a brief attempt for the monarchy.

So : Alexander I of Russia (23 December 1777 – 19 November 1825), also known as Alexander the Blessed served as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland (1809 - 1825).

Anyways, the production was very successful and we also managed to do something historical actually! For the first time in world history we used live effects of the Green Hippo Hippotizer mediaserver on the actual broadcast. This happened in two different ways. Firstly all the inserts that were shown on the thin white gauze screen in the Cathedral were also sent back to the OB van. This effected feed was then used on the broadcast. Another scene was 3 drummers live on stage - this scene was filmed normally with the tv cameras, then the PGM signal was again sent to Hippo, some effects were applied and then the end result was again feeded back to the OB van and used in the broadcast. The end result was very good. I do remember having this idea like 5 years ago, but I never thought it would be a historical drama production in a Cathedral where I'll get to do it first time!

Side by side with the Porvoo production I've also prepared for the last Hanoi Rocks shows at the Tavastia Club next week. I have to say this is a very special project for me. Back in the days of childhood Hanoi Rocks was my wake-up call to rock and roll. It's a great honour to get to work on these shows, I really appreciate it.

I'm also working on a musical production called Play Me, which opens on the 9th of September at Svenska Teatern, Helsinki. The sets are already being built and it's going to be quite heavily screens and moving lights. The production is directed by Maria Sid and Choreographed by Reija Wäre. I've got Johan West on board for the screen and mediaserver side of things. I hope we can get all the bells and whistles that have on the wishlist!

Same time with Play Me opening there is the annual Elämä Lapselle benefit concert, which is the biggest fundraising happening in the country. The concert (and the Kummit -organisation) collects funding for childrens hospital in Helsinki (http://www.kummit.fi/). This is a cause which is close to heart for a lot of artists who join the concert every year. This is my first year with the concert and the goal is of course to make a great looking show. My plan is to make the technical production as much donation basis as possible. I've already got a few companies donating their equipment for the concert for free. Surely others will follow and we'll be able to make maximum benefit for the kids.

Oh and yes, I just visited Pro Light & Sound exhibition in Frankfurt. A very well organized event with all major manufacturers present. Was good to see many familiar faces and really some interesting new products too. I was impressed by Vari-Lite's new LED fixture the VLX. The LED and plasma technology are moving fast and we are soon laying some serious competitors on the table for the conventioal sources. That's good news. Ma Lighting was again presenting the new Grand Ma2 console, which I've also ordered already. They are shipping already, so I expect to lay my hands on my console pretty soon. One neat feature is that the new "OOPS" button will take you back a hundred steps. I guess that would be the last five productions then?

Next week Lightpower from Germany is shipping me a few Barco DML 1200's which I will then design and program a demo sequence for. So the neighbourgs can expect to see some psychedelic lights flashing from the office windows for the next weeks... I also decided to use a Pink Floyd song as the soundtrack, which ensures the psychedelic fx!

Things other than work.. Well, at least training for the Stockholm Marathon is again well on track. Been able to do something like 40 - 70 km per week since a few months now. Already looking forward to Stockholm..

Ok now back to Hanoi Rocks ...

".. the nights are wearing me down..."

Porvoo 1809

2009-03-23T10:39:00.000+02:00

This week I'm working on a historical drama production in a church in Porvoo.

We're live on air on Saturday and expecting to have a very high profile crowd at the show.

Hippotizer, Vari-Lites and Grand Ma - the usual suspects...

Lets Dance

2009-03-23T10:34:00.000+02:00

Let's Dance 2009 season.

Updates.

2009-03-07T22:30:00.002+02:00

So.. Kuorosota is over and done with for this season at least. The production was a success, I guess in everyones books. Congrats to Timo Kotipelto, who won the whole thing and got 40.000 euros to forward to a hand picked charity.

The day after we finished in Lahti Hall with Kuorosota the setup of Strictly Come Dancing (or Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa in finnish) commenced in Helsinki. The studio feels sooo small after the luxury of having all that space in Lahti. Anyways, we've got some new things up our sleeves for this season of Dance too. I'm sure it's going to look great. Pasi Saari is again operating the show and running most of the season. Yours truly is behind the console only for the opening of the season.

Other than work... Well, this is the time of the year when one needs to start to get in shape for Stockholm Marathon. That is in case one is going to get through those 42195 meters.
My training is not bad at all. I've been able to do eaven a few 70 k weeks. And that's good.
Just ran back from the studio today.. and got lost on the way home a couple of times.. so it turned out to be a 20 k today as well...

Flying to Copenhagen on Monday morning. Meetings for future productions at the Royal Danish Ballet and Malmö Opera in Sweden.

This past week Nightwish LD Matti Leinonen has been accomodating my ESP Vision studio putting together the looks for their upcoming European Tour. I hope to get to see the show also live soon!

Last but not least.. Season Of Light was a major success and it is now clear that there will be more to it. We are already working on the next event that will also kick off with the New Year celebrations in the end of the year. Some really great plans are on the table already. I'm sure this year Season Of Light will be eaven better than the first one was! So just watch this space..!!

Kuorosota

2009-02-17T11:34:00.002+02:00

There is another finnish blog from the High End/Clay Paky dealer Soundata and Mr. Valo Virtanen covering the lighting and screen production of Kuorosota.

The production has run rather smoothly. I did the last sunday broadcast myself as Pasi Saari was away on holidays with the family.

It's quite an easy rig to control, thanks a lot to Grand Ma, I basically build all the cues during the same day just following the camera script.

The gear is now in its final state more or less and counts as follows (I can't remember all the numbers now..) :

HES ShowPIX (10)

HES Showgun (5)

Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 (22)

Robe AT 700 Spot (16)

Martin MAC300 Wash (30)

PAR64 4-bar CP88 (18)

4-mole

2-mole

Jarag-5 by Chromlech

ETC Source4's

2kW Fresnels

Green Hippo Hippotizer HD with SDI capture card.

12000 ansi.lumen projectors stacked (2)

For control it is Grand Ma Full Size with NSP and same system as backup.

What else... well, it's a fun show to do!

And if you get bored there at Lahti Hall, you can always try some ski jumping, they've got three huge ski jumping hills there next to the hall.

The update to the Kuorosota rig are the newly installed CP Alpha Beam 300's. These fixtures are the best thing since they invented PARcans.

Everything about this fixture is right on the money.

Talking about skiing... I'm gonna go now..

Kuorosota 15.2.2009

2009-02-16T10:52:00.001+02:00

We like Showpix. We do.

And so does Niko Nykänen, the multicamera director of the show.

Two more Kuorosota -shows to go..

The Scheme Of Things opening tonight

2009-02-05T12:21:00.000+02:00

Den Haag and Scheme Of Things

2009-02-03T12:52:00.000+02:00

With the opening night closing in (this coming Thursday) we are getting the visual decisions closer to final I hope.

Parts of the piece look really good already.

Strangely this was to be a happy and "light" piece - but it turned out rather dark and serious I guess.

Check out www.ndt.nl and www.terosaarinen.com for further details.

Some good shots from Season Of Light

2009-02-02T00:56:00.001+02:00

These great photos were taken by Jaakko Oksa. Thanks!

Scheme Of Things

2009-02-02T00:52:00.000+02:00

Work in progress in Den Haag

2009-01-31T11:23:00.004+02:00

Tero Saarinen's new creation is already in stage rehearsals at NDT.

Yesterday was the first day on stage and we're going to have some more lighting time tonight.

Lucent dance Theatre has a very good stage, though the orchestra pit area is quite deep.

That means the stage setting feels at times a little remote from the audience.

We're opening on thursday this coming week, so there's still plenty of time to make adjustments.

Kuorosota - Körslaget EPS 1

2009-01-28T21:19:00.002+02:00

Den Haag

2009-01-28T20:40:00.002+02:00

Yes, it seems to be a super busy season for me. We just celebrated the successful opening night of Daddy's Girl at the Finnish National Opera last Saturday night. Then on Sunday morning it was time to head to Lahti, where the first live show of Kuorosota (battle of choirs) happened Sunday night. Then already 7:45 monday morning again off to the airport and rushing to Copenhagen for a production meeting at the Royal Ballet. And just to make sure that was not enough, taking the afternoon flight from CPH to Amsterdam where there was a car waiting for me to take me here to Den Haag. We are making a new creation (as we like to call new productions in dance world) with Tero Saarinen and Erika Turunen for NDT (Netherlands Dance Theatre). Opening 5th of February, so quite soon.

To start from top, Daddy's Girl was again a pleasure to work with. Finnish National Opera is turning into a great house! This is a production where I've designed the sets and lights. Working with the workshops of the opera has never disappointed me, they are so professional and so nice to work with. And the same experience this time -absolutely joyful production.

As far as the lighting department goes, they have gone through a massive change in the way they work. The house rig has changed drastically and they've gone from mostly conventional rig to a fully automated one in one bang. Now they have more or less 150 Vari-Lites and other automated fixtures there. Also the control has been updated to Grand Ma. At the moment the situation is nearly perfect from my point of view. Working with the best possible equipment is so great after all those productions around the world where the technical facilities give you restrictions and grief. Now it was possible for me to literally program the Grand Ma myself up to the point when the cuelist was ready for show. Then I handed the console over to the operators. What a great way to work! I also use a Darepro LED-screen and a Hippotizer v3 HD in the production. Hippo is controlled from Grand Ma and a lot of the timing and effect functions of both devices are used.

The set design changed very little now that the production was brought in the National Opera. Originally this piece was created for the Savonlinna Opera festival a few years ago.

We used the stage elevators this time, that was the biggest change. Otherwise I was able to bring the sets in almost as they were. Of course some dimensions changed according to the space.

The end result is very touching. I really like Olli Kortekangas' score. It is an opera worth attending to - especially if you happen to be a finn. Our collaboration with the two directors Anna Kelo and Michael Baran was as good as ever. They are very good to work with. And as so many times before, Erika Turunen created the costumes for the production. Erika is the best.

(I'm just waiting for her to arrive here in Den Haag as I'm writing this..).

Then there was Kuorosota. This is a special kind of a tv-show as we have 120 singers on stage at the same time. I made the stage super wide to get that BIG feeling into it. Why not use the space when we have it! It is not very often these productions are staged in such a great space like the Lahti Hall is. I hope we'll make more tv productions there in the future. The only "downside" is the 1+ hour drive from Helsinki.

The first episode was good. Everything run quite smoothly. Only one camera track broke down before the show and they had to push the camera manually. The track system was rented in from Sweden, so lets blame it on Mats Sundin.

The general feeling with Kuorosota is somehow taking me back to the times of the 1st season of Idols some years ago. People seem to have very enthusiasted opinions about the show, also the artist. Normally this could be a sign of a good and long lasting show? The more its talked about the more the kids love it.

For the rest of the shows Pasi Saari will be operating the lighting.

The gear for Kuorosota is from Moving Light Oy. The rig holds Showguns, Showpix, Robe AT700 Spots and starting this week also 24 pcs of Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 which I really look forward to seeing in action. Oh, and also more or less 20 Jarags together with conventional molefeys and other fixtures.

Now we are working on Tero Saarinen's new piece and tomorrow morning starts the technical setup on stage at the Lucent dance Theatre. The rehearsals today looked good and now I just wait to get the rig up and running. Will be posting photos here later on when we get to rehearsals on stage.

Kuorosota 1st show tomorrow..

2009-01-24T13:44:00.000+02:00

Kuorosota setup

2009-01-20T18:24:00.000+02:00

With the first live show on this coming Sunday, Kuorosota, it is time for the battle of choirs.
All things are on track and we should arrive to quite spectacular show indeed!

The setup is ongoing in Lahti, which means a little driving back and forward during the 6 weeks of the production.
Lahti is like 1+ hour drive from Helsinki.

Pasi Saari is operating Kuorosota. Gear and crew supplied by Moving Light Oy.
Grand Ma, Hippotizer, Showpix, Showgun, Robe.....

The stage is 35 m wide and 20 m deep and we have 120 people on stage at most.
The kids will love it!

Daddy's Girl rehearsals

2009-01-20T18:15:00.000+02:00

Daddy's Girl

2009-01-20T18:12:00.000+02:00

Daddy's Girl opera composed by Olli Kortekangas is opening on saturday at the Finnish National Opera.
The rehearsals are soon reaching the level we have been after and it's time to get the piece shown to the public.
It's a great piece of music and I'm sure it'll be a grand success at the national.

I'm still very happy with the design and hope people will like it too.

Here's a few stills from the rehearsals.

Have a closer look at the piece at www.operafin.fi.

Season Of LIght images

2009-01-19T15:15:00.000+02:00

KTV 3

2009-01-12T13:12:00.000+02:00

Kultainen TV 2

2009-01-12T13:05:00.000+02:00

Golden TV

2009-01-12T13:02:00.000+02:00

2009-01-09T13:10:00.000+02:00

Season Of Light

2009-01-05T23:59:00.004+02:00

Season Of Light is ongoing daily downtown Helsinki on Senate Square.
It is a 15 minute piece with lighting by yours truly and soundtrack, Klarion, composed and performed by Kimmo Pohjonen.
So far it has been a success. No major problems and the crowd has gathered at the square every evening to attend the event.
I heard we've had more or less something like an average of 300 spectators every show. That makes like 2400 spectators per night! Not bad at all.

Above a photo I borrowed online. Nice beams from the Big Lites.

Today we started setting up the led screens at the National Opera. Olli Kortekangas' Daddy's Girl is premiering 24th of January. I'm starting lighting it the day after tomorrow. It's really cool to get to work on an opera production in the national now that the lighting rig is all Vari-Lites. This production has all my favourites; Grand Ma for control, Hippotizer for mediaserver and Vari-Lites for moving lights. Can't complain at all.. What could possibly go wrong..?

New Year

2009-01-03T14:25:00.002+02:00

Happy New Year 2009 everybody!
We had a good show at the Senate Square.
The show was broadcasted live by YLE (our national broadcaster) and it looked very good on tv.
Unfortunately YLE is not yet on HD, which would improve the result still quite a lot.

www.yle.fi

Eastway provided all the tech and we managed to arrive to the show without any major issues.
Jussi Kallioinen from EW has been my project manager both for the New Year's show and Season Of Light installation. Jussi has done a great job once again.

www.eastway.fi

The list of equipment included 25 pcs Robe 700 AT spots from Moving Light, 5 pcs HES Showguns, 10 pcs HES Showpix, around 30 pcs CityColors, 40 pcs Chromlech Jarag-5, Grand Ma consoles and NSP's, Green Hippo Hippotizer HD mediaservers from West Lighting, 112 pcs Darepro LED screen modules from Screen Factory. Oh and lets not forget 6 pcs Zap 4K Big Lites and 12 pcs Vari-Lite VL3500Q Spots with domes from Procon, Germany.

www.movinglight.fi
www.screenfactory.fi
www.westlighting.com
www.procon.com

I programmed and operated the show with Eero Auvinen.

BTW : The soundtrack for Season Of Light is run from Ableton Live 7 that runs on a Mac Book Pro and has ProTools Rack 003 attached to it. Ableton Live is triggered by Grand Ma Light simply by sending a midi note that is mapped for playing back the session. Live then sends SMPTE back to the Grand Ma enabling timecode programming.
Very handy system and super fast to program too.

Markku Aalto from Pyroman created the pyro fx for the New Year's show.
www.pyroman.fi
Jan Yrlund created the graphics for the stage drops.
www.darkgrove.net

Season Of Light installation is running daily from 4 PM to 11:15 PM until the 11th of January.

New Year on Senate Square, Helsinki

2009-01-03T14:23:00.000+02:00

programming on site

2008-12-30T10:09:00.000+02:00

Set up day 2

2008-12-28T19:57:00.000+02:00

Martin Stage Cyclo's in the bell tower seem to work pretty ok.

Some VL3500Q Spots with their winter coats on.
They said they do not really fancy the cold weather of Helsinki..
So we gave them nice plastic coats to keep them warm and happy.

Generator Village.

Zap Big Lites are so nicely bright!

Looking forward to programming the rig tomorrow night!!

Setting up for the new years show..

2008-12-28T11:09:00.000+02:00

Christmas athmospheres..

2008-12-25T14:28:00.000+02:00

Christmas!

2008-12-25T14:21:00.000+02:00

Short but very warm and nice Christmas holidays are soon coming to end for me. We've had a great Christmas with the kids and the family. Santa was here last night and the kids just loved it all. Great food, a bit of snow, candles and the loved ones - that makes the Christmas! If you ask the kids, it's the gifts that's most important though..

Tomorrow it is time to head back to work with the Senate Square project setting up. I'm expecting to do some pre-programming with ESP Vision before doing it for real in few days.

Oh, I also just got a brand new mac and I love it. I will for sure lose all my pc's within 6 months.I just wonder why I didn't do it earlier...

Looking forward to January - it's going to be super busy. . .But first, lets get this New Year celebration and Season Of Light done before thinking too much into the future.

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-19T13:55:00.005+02:00

I'm getting ready for the Season Of Light installation at the Senate Square in Helsinki.
The thing is that my ESP Vision workstation has been kaputt since 2 weeks literally. So all schedules related to the pre-programming have failed.
Luckily this is not as bad as it sounds - I expect to be up and running early enough to complete the programming before New Year. Things are cooking also at Eastway as they are supplying the bells and whistles for the show. The BigLites and Vari-Lites have just arrived today I heard.

Idols finished and we had a super finale at the Old Ice Hall. The stage, lights and screens worked just like I expected resulting in a fantastic ending for the 4th season of Idols.

Daddy's Girl is already in stage rehearsals at the opera, though screens and lights will start to build up from January 5th on. The set looks very promising, the workshops have done outstanding job again.

Idols Grande Finale

2008-12-16T14:33:00.000+02:00

2008-12-13T15:00:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I was interviewed on Radio Peili, a finnish radio channel. Here is a link to the interview : http://www.yle.fi/java/areena/dispatcher/1717396.asx?bitrate=1

Now getting ready for Idols last final that's tomorrow.
Next week is really hectic with the Senate Square Project getting closer..

:)

6th of December 2008

2008-12-09T16:51:00.008+02:00

Last Saturday marked a very important milestone for me.
I was invited together with Tiina to attend The President's Independence Day reception at the Presidental Castle in Helsinki.
This was of course a huge honour and the evening was just perfect.
We enjoyed the reception a lot and spent really good time there.
Independence means really everything for us finns, and this is the greatest honour to get to celebrate it with our President and 2000 guests.

Erika Turunen helped us with designing Tiina's dress and my suit.
She did a fantastic job, thanks Erika!

Now life is back to normal. I just arrived to DenHaag from Lyon, where I attended the Festival Of Light. It is a huge happening based solely on lighting installations throughout the city. Hopefully we'll see something like this in Helsinki in few years time.. Lyon was so crowded at nights you won't believe it. And the festival looked great, the public enjoyed it very much, me too.

DenHaag it is NDT and a start for Tero Saarinen's new creation.
Technical meetings and rehearsals.

And.. Looking forward to the Idols LAST Final on this coming sunday!!!

Big Brother Final 2008

2008-12-02T09:54:00.000+02:00

Idols Final 4

2008-12-02T09:50:00.000+02:00

A night to remember

2008-12-02T09:06:00.001+02:00

Last sunday was really a night to remember as I had 2 major productions going live on air.
First there was Idols final number 4 at the Finnish National Opera going live on air at 7 30 pm.
Then Big Brother Final started at 9 pm.
So I can say it was kind of a busy day I guess..

At Idols...
We used the Finnish National Opera's stage lifts in the opening number so that the band rised up with the whole stage to 4 m height revealing one of the contestants underneath. In the end of the song the lift took the 4 finalists down under the stage and the band was back at zero level again. It was really impressive. Let's see what we come up with (or down with for that matter..) next sunday..

As BigBrother also finished last Sunday it was kind of a "super-sunday" for me.
I rushed from Idols to BB as soon as the last song finished at the Opera.
BB was really good this season. I think the simplicity of the talkshow set worked great and we succeeded really well with lighting too.
The space in the studio is really tight (on purpose actually) and the steadycam moves all around. We managed to avoid 99% of the shadows and still had proper lights on the people too. Pasi Saari was operating the BB Talkshow as usual.

Well, no rest for the wicked.. Now I'm programming the Senate Square "Season Of Light" at the office with Eero Auvinen.
Also the Idols LAST final design is ready with all the bells and whistles.
That's going to ge the tv-gig of the year, really.
Also Isän Tyttö (Daddy's Girl) opera is being set on stage this week for the first time at the Nat Opera here in Helsinki.
I guess on friday we are checking the sets for the first time on stage. I'm sure this version of the opera is going to be a lot tighter visually than the original one we created for the Savonlinna Opera Festival a few years back.

I'll be off to Lyon for the Festival of Lights this coming weekend.
Also visiting NDT in DenHaag on the way home from Lyon. That is for the new creation we are working on with Tero Saarinen and Erika Turunen.

But before heading to Lyon me and Tiina have the honour to attend our Independence Day celebrations on Saturday hosted by our President Tarja Halonen. That should be a night to remember!

Softandhard....

2008-11-29T16:17:00.002+02:00

SOFTANDHARD opened last Tuesday at the Helsinki City Theatre's Elsa Stage.

My very own Grand Ma Light console is performing with 72 par36, one 4K HMI fresnel, 4 pcs SGM Giotto washlights and some etc and ADB profiles. Really, a small but effective rig there.
The show is run by Vesa Ellilä from the house.

It was very nice to meet Anton Lachky (the choreographer) again.
We got to know each other when we both worked in Akram Khan's "Ma" some 5 years back.
It's a small world. Especially the world of performing arts.

Kimmo Pohjonen & Proton String Quartet

2008-11-24T11:56:00.001+02:00

A few shots from the gig in Louhisali, Espoo (Finland) last friday.

Snow is here!

2008-11-24T11:48:00.000+02:00

This is how it looked like last night when I came home from Idols.
We got like 50 cm of snow in one night.
Me like. Time to get the winter gear out..

:)

Idols Final 3 shots

2008-11-24T11:38:00.000+02:00

Idols Final 3

2008-11-24T11:36:00.000+02:00

softandhard 2

2008-11-22T14:59:00.000+02:00

softandhard

2008-11-22T14:58:00.000+02:00

Premiering next tuesday at the Helsinki City Theatre.

Back on track

2008-11-11T16:31:00.001+02:00

I'm back on track with ESP Vision 2.3!
After some strange problems with rendering this file its all good again.
Press is tomorrow and then its all out in the public.
Wheels start turning a little faster and we take one important step ahead with the production.
VL3500's are booked from Procon, Germany and other gear is supplied by Eastway locally.

More about this all later...

Idols Final 1..

2008-11-10T11:51:00.000+02:00

Idols Final 1 photos

2008-11-10T11:49:00.000+02:00

I love them Showguns!

Idols Final 1 more

2008-11-10T11:47:00.000+02:00

Idols Final 1

2008-11-10T11:46:00.000+02:00

91N photos

2008-11-07T09:40:00.001+02:00

Premiered by the Finnish National Ballet
Choreographer Jouka Valkama
Costumes by Erika Turunen
Music by Toni Wirtanen
Sets by Tytti Wiinikka
Lights by Yours Truly

The piece is still running in the repertoire of the ballet until 27th of November.

New Years rendering

2008-11-04T16:00:00.000+02:00

ESP Vision pre-programming for the New Year in Helsinki is happening at the moment.
This is very early still, but someting already.

I'm quite anxious to get my hands on the new ESP Vision 3...
The guys at Vision studios told me it would be early next year when that release is coming out.
I might change all my computers to mac then.

Now I'm off to get my new Gossen Colormaster 3F lightmeter!!

Las Vegas

2008-11-03T09:23:00.001+02:00

Just returned from Las Vegas back home to the cold of Helsinki.

Enjoyed very much the Cirque Du Soleil -shows as usual and of course it was a pelasure to see a lot of familiar faces at the LDI exhibition and at Ola & Joan Melzig wedding party!

Not to mention the Apocalyptica gig on Halloween at the House Of Blues.
It sure was great show. I also liked the puppet show (created by Perttu and performed by the band) a lot (that opened the evening)...

But now... back working on Idols finals that start on this Sunday.

More Jarag!

2008-10-31T23:29:00.002+02:00

I've just gotten 12 more units of Jarag par30 blinders.
Now totalling at 37 units it should be enough to make use for one's ray-bans.
Also available for dry-hire.

:)

MTV3 KÄRPÄT - METALLURG

2008-10-23T13:36:00.000+03:00

91 NORTH @ FINNISH NATIONAL BALLET

2008-10-23T13:33:00.000+03:00

Rendering new things...

2008-10-21T09:05:00.005+03:00

ESP Vision 2.2 rendering for a new dance production that is being created.

This is just a "work in progress" shot and might not have anything to do with the end result..

Girls more

2008-10-20T13:18:00.001+03:00

Girls 3

2008-10-20T13:16:00.000+03:00

Idols Semifinal Girls 2

2008-10-20T13:15:00.000+03:00

Idols Semifinal Girls

2008-10-20T13:14:00.000+03:00

Idols

2008-10-17T13:53:00.000+03:00

Idols first semi-final

2008-10-17T13:49:00.000+03:00

Dynasty tour

2008-10-13T09:24:00.000+03:00

Last night I went to see the last show of Dynasty -tour. With The Rasmus headlining and Mariko and Von Hertzen Brothers opening the show, it was one of the best shows I've seen for a long time. Also visually the three were very very good. Especially Rasmus looked great and sounded great too. Their LD Mikko Enäkoski has done a really good job there.

It was a weekend of concerts as I went to check out the Apocalyptica gig in the old ice hall on saturday. They are still in top form and the show kicks ass as usual. This might not have been their best gig ever, but good enough to please the crowd of 3,000.

The week seems to start very slowly.. Trying to cope with the cold I caught a few days back.

NYT more

2008-10-11T09:51:00.000+03:00

NYT Party last night

2008-10-11T09:48:00.000+03:00

NYT @ Eliel

2008-10-10T20:35:00.001+03:00

Helsingin Sanomat NYT -party at the Helsinki Central railway station tonight.

Renderings for the New Year

2008-10-06T08:20:00.001+03:00

Just working on the New Year's show and the lighting installation that stays on The Senate Square 1,5 weeks after it.
ESP Vision renderings offer again a great way of communicating.
This project is showing it's power very clearly as the project needs to be presented to many city and government parties.

A bridge too far

2008-10-06T07:34:00.001+03:00

This is Jorma Uotinen's Uni as it was performed in Budapest some many years ago. I just found these photos I did not know I had.
I remember this was set in a new tv-studio, where I had the pleasure of being the first to use their StudioSpots and StudioColors.
They operated the rig with ETC Expression, which is not the 1st choise for a moving lights console usually. A lot of faders anyways, which is always good for conventional tv lighting.

I remember it was a super short stay in Budapest that time, I think I came in the day before the show, set up, focus, plot the show. Then it was showtime and back home again. The dance company was started by and run by Andrea Ladanyi. I have not heard from her for a long time, but I hope they are still going strong!

Uni is a piece that was originally created for Introdans (NL). The costume design is by Erika Turunen and the music is Kimmo Pohjonen.
It was a fantastic period to work with Jorma and Erika and we all have very fond memories from Arnhem and Introdans.

HES news article

2008-10-03T08:06:00.006+03:00

SHOWPIX SHINE ON KTU BAND TOUR

'IT HAS A STRONG CHARACTER
IN TERMS OF STAGE APPEARANCE,' SAYS LD MIKKI KUNTTU

LD Mikki Kunttu, who debuted SHOWGUNs on the
Apocalyptica tour last year, recently tried out
the new SHOWPIX Pixelation Luminaires with the KTU Band.
After their gig at the Tavastia Club in Helsinki, Finland, she says,
"SHOWPIX is an extremely expressive fixture.
It has a very strong character in terms of stage appearance.
Also it is a perfect companion to SHOWGUN, sharing the
same aesthetics and opening new doors in a similar
creative way. In brightness and color it is second to none.
One great thing about the SHOWPIX is that you can use it
as a LED pixel display, as a wash light or even as a blinder
– and all this within the same song, if you will!"

".... I'm very happy the High End Systems
PR department finally brought out the woman in me...." Kunttu adds...

Hockey Studio

2008-10-01T19:59:00.000+03:00

On air in 15 minutes..

MTV3 Hockey Studio

2008-10-01T19:56:00.000+03:00

Pre-programming with ESP Vision

2008-10-01T01:06:00.000+03:00

Tonight I've been working on the lighting design for the Senate Square in downtown Helsinki.
This production starts with the New Year Celebrations and ends some 1,5 weeks later.

The project has many very interesting details to it. Like the fact that it just might get like -35 c here during the run of this installation.
So some serious weatherproofing needs to happen.

All is still work in progress, but again ESP Vision is of great help.

Hopefully the New Year will also be the first production for my new Grand Ma 2.

And now... some sleep... before the mac 3 vs vari-lite 3500Q spot take on round 2 at the national opera in the morning.

:)

Jarag has arrived

2008-09-30T21:15:00.001+03:00

Just delivered this morning only 24 hours late, but early enough to make it for the show anyways, here are the 25 pcs Jarag blinders.
I'm working on mtv3 hockey studio and we are broadcasting the first game tomorrow evening.
It's all quite simplissimo, but effective too. And Jarag really delivers.

More about this topic later on...

Now back to ESP Vision and some pre-programming..

BB part 2

2008-09-29T08:23:00.000+03:00

Big Brother Talk Show Studio 2008

2008-09-29T08:21:00.001+03:00

Design by Yours Truly
Operator Pasi Saari

This is the 4th (I think..) season of BigBrother Finland.

It ain't what you do..

2008-09-26T08:26:00.003+03:00

... it's HOW you do it!

This is a Robe 700 AT Spot modified to work as a followspot for the "Next Of Kin" performance.
What could possibly go wrong?

What else is new today...? Well, I just sold my Hippotizer mediaserver.
Useless crap, who needs them...

Not really, I'll get a laptop version for my design use and Mr. Johan West's servers for productions from now on. Johan's West Lighting also have all the bells and whistles to go with the servers.

Lasse

2008-09-22T08:36:00.002+03:00

Yesterday I took part in the 35th annual Lasse Viren's Run in Myrskylä, Finland.
I participated the same event 4 years ago after 2 months of picking up running.

This year the conditions were great, the weather was crisp and sunny and I can see the the crowd is getting bigger year by year. My condition, however, was not the best possible.
I didn't do any training basically after the Helsinki City Marathon and I could feel that too.
I finished in 1h 36min according to my own watch. Not bad, but certainly not good.
The race left me with a very positive feeling and it's a good start to a new running and skiing season. Next year my goal is to beat 3h 30 min in Stockholm and 1h 30min in Lasse.

Ok. Back to work now...

Rental business..

2008-09-19T09:44:00.002+03:00

Well, I times are changing.
I just placed an order for 25 pcs of Chromlech Jarag-5 PAR30 blinders.
I know I was the one who said never ever to get into rental business.
I guess I better think again.

With all the moving lights and leds wobbling about, Jarag was still the eye-catcher for me at the Plasa Show in London. White light, look no further.. A little bit retro-feel to it too, which is nice.
The name "Jarag" is most likely the worst and least appealing product name I've ever seen, but who cares as long as the job gets done.

So, get your Ray-Bans out- Jarag is coming.

Check out :
www.chromlech.com

Rocket to Russia!

2008-09-18T12:51:00.000+03:00

This was me with 200,000 people in Kazan.

Late night edition of afterparty at the hotel lobby.
Kimmo Pohjonen, our local hostess (sorry forgot her name), me and Pitkä (the fuck you -guy).

Doesn't get any better than this, does it?
Eric & Julie Slick (of Adrian Belew Power Trio) , Yours Truly, Keith Emerson and Eddie Jobson enjoying the Kazan hospitality.

This is Kimmo Pohjonen of KTU performing his Elvis Presley tribute, I guess...?

Tonque-tied and twisted..

2008-09-17T20:23:00.000+03:00

Enough said.. for today at least..

Helsinki City Marathon 2008 in pictures

2008-09-16T12:42:00.000+03:00

More highlights

2008-09-11T07:58:00.000+03:00

What a great surprise it was to meet Eddie Jobson in Russia.
This is the man from U.K. that I have listened since I was 14!

Yet another amazing meeting was of course Adrian Belew!
I used to TRY to learn his scales and shreads when I still played guitar.
Adrian has played with everybody. Zappa, Bowie, King Crimson.... you name it.

Eddie warming up for Patti Smith guest appearance backstage with one of his unique instruments.

Aftershow party at the hotel in Moscow.

The best of Russia

2008-09-11T07:47:00.000+03:00

KTU with our guide Alex.
Thanks for hosting us in Kazan!

Backstage dressing room before the show.

The crowd. They reported 200.000 people.
Anyways, it was A LOT of people there.

View from front of house.

KTU Tavastia 2

2008-09-05T10:40:00.000+03:00