Success story

If numbers don't lie, Israel’s Rising Star's ratings tell a clear success story: The show debuted to a phenomenal 38 percent of market share in primetime on Israel's Channel 2 network. The concept of Rising Star is broadly similar to Idols, The Voice or X Factor: A group of unknown artists compete to be the ‘best’ singer. The twist comes in the voting. Instead of call-in votes that are tallied over the course of a show with a winner announced at the end, audiences for Rising Star vote live on the air during a singer's performance, and their decisions play out in real time for the audience and the performer to see.

For lighting and video control, lighting designer and operator Ronen Najar relied on an MA System, consisting of 1 x grandMA2 full-size, 1 x grandMA2 light, 1 x MA onPC command wing, 1 x MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) and 1 x MA NSP (Network Signal Processor).

Najar explained: “I’ve been working for ten years only with MA Lighting control and it is my favourite. There is no other console that is so reliable and powerful. Also the philosophy of MA is the best in my opinion and I’m able to realise all my ideas with the grandMA2.”

“The goal of this TV show is to let the audience feel like an essential part of it and be participating interactively”, Najar continued. “We had to figure out a way to combine lighting appropriate for a TV show with video, together with the fact that the video screen blocks the light on the contestant while flying up and down. It was a bit of a challenge to synchronise the lighting and video systems, the motors and the flying video screen all in one cue, which has to happen at a specific time. With the help of the grandMA2 the synchronisation was simple and safe.”

Shay Bonder was the video system and content designer, Yahav Tenne was the video programmer and operator. The light crew manager was Itay Huli, the video crew manager were Eyal Shani and Yadin Hardon.

Aragaman delivered the light and sound equipment, Screen Light the video and motor system equipment, Stage Design the stage and truss equipment.

A.B. Electronics is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

Photos: © Doron Akerman

Use Equipment:

<link http: www.malighting.com en goto>1 x grandMA2 full-size
<link http: www.malighting.com en goto>1 x grandMA2 light
<link http: www.malighting.com en goto>1 x MA onPC command wing
<link http: www.malighting.com en goto>1 x MA NPU (Network Processing Unit)
1 x MA NSP (Network Signal Processor)