Robe Helps Crown the Carnival Queen posted: 17/06/2019
Each year people flock to the Spanish island of Tenerife - the largest of the seven on the Canaries archipelago - to enjoy the world-famous Carnaval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which this year featured an all Robe moving light rig of around 170 fixtures rig for the gala event to choose 2019's Carnival Queen. The Queen contest is one of the carnival's biggest events, staged in the Recinto Ferial de Santa Cruz de Tenerife in front of a 12,000 audience the day before the street celebrations commence. It's also broadcast live on regional and national television. This year it was lit by Juanjo Beloqui.
Juanjo has been involved with the event for the last four years, however this year he was the lighting designer for the full carnival, and his remit included the outdoor opening and closing ceremonies plus the three Queen contest heats' and the final competition and show.
A freelance lighting and visuals specialist with over 30 years of production industry experience, Juanjo was also involved in the Queen show's custom video content creation - including sponsor stings, logos and play-ins. The challenge was creating a fabulous and magical visual ambience that worked equally well for the amassed live audience and all those tuning in on TV.
The Queen's Gala stage was an impressive 80 metres wide by 28 metres deep - an expanse that was only just large enough to contain the glittering line-up of dancers, performers, singers and of course the 19 contestants, one of whom would be crowned Carnival Queen.
Each wore their own extravagant, original, individually named outfits, all completely unique and often several metres high, weighing many kilos.
Juanjo worked with set designer Javier Caraballero for the third year, and one of the starting points for lighting was the width of the stage. Other technical challenges included the venue's flying capacities which were restricted, so Juanjo created a big back wall to support both the set and to provide rear lighting positions.
This meant he only had two trusses in the roof - a 60-metre-wide front truss and a 40-metre-wide mid truss which was split into three sections, with the centre run on vari-speed motors so it moved in and out. Due to the weight loadings, each rigging point needed a 4-way bridle to spread the load so getting them in the correct places was a tricky operation, and this also affected the height at which the trusses could be rigged.
The lighting equipment was supplied by rental company Sonopluss Canarias which has a large stock of Robe, supplied via Spanish distributor EES, and has made steady investments in the brand over recent years. Notwithstanding that, Robe is in any case currently Juanjo's first choice of moving lights, so it was a happy circumstance.
The total Robe count amounted to 54 x Pointes, 33 x LEDBeam 150s, 32 x MegaPointes, 32 x LEDWash 300s, 26 x BMFL Spots, 24 x BMFL WashBeams and 24 x LEDWash 1200s.
On the front truss, BMFL Spots were used for key lighting and also for lighting and texturing the vast set with gobos, while the LED Wash 1200s covered the stage and large areas of set with solid colours.
The mid truss was loaded with Pointes, MegaPointes BMFL Spots and LEDWash 300s which were used for assorted beamwork and supporting the washes on the front truss.
The top layer of lighting along the back wall comprised BMFL WashBeams, MegaPointes, Tarrantulas and LEDWash 300s, together with more Pointes and MegaPointes that were embedded in the set.
LEDBeam 150s provided side and cross lighting and were also ensconced in parts of the set, and at floor level were more Pointes and LEDWash 300s.
This gave Juanjo a powerful arsenal of dynamic lighting tools all around the performance space.
The main ambient lighting instruments were the Tarrantulas which created effects on the stage, augmented with the BMFL WashBeams.
During the Queen's Parade section of the show, two of the top-of-the-set BMFL WashBeams were used as rear follow spots, operated manually to back light the contestants, and all the critical upstage lighting positions were also covered with Pointes and MegaPointes.
With all these versatile fixtures, the beamy looks stood out dramatically and were very eye-catching.
Juanjo used the little LEDBeam 150s as side lights and admits to being amazed' with their punch and brightness! The zoom is so good that I could go wide and cover much larger areas as needed he explained.
He comments that with this many multi-functional fixtures, he effectively had a substantially larger rig than the 170 moving lights on the plot and was able to create no end of WOW-factor scenes and effects.
Juanjo is a big Robe fan and has been using the brand regularly in his work for the last four years, and right now, it's generally his moving light of choice. He particularly likes the MegaPointe and the LEDBeam 150. These two fixtures absolutely stand out and blow my mind he declared.
For the Carnival Queen Gala, the set included seven different LED screens with a mix of 4-mm and 8-mm resolution surfaces, so this provided a lot of high brightness areas in which lighting had to hold its own. Utilising all these Robes he was able to create a nice harmony between the two medias.
In addition to creating a dazzling show, the other challenges were dealing with the enormous stage space with action happening all over it and the venue - including in the audience - and needing to ensure that the wide range of camera shots, often decided on at the last minute, were all well and appropriately lit for the TV director Jorge Salamanca.
The lighting design assistant and second operator for all the Queen contests was Juanjo Bleoqui Lopez (AKA Juanjo Bleoqui Jr) who is Juanjo's son and himself an accomplished lighting professional. The
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
Robe Helps Crown the Carnival Queen posted: 17/06/2019 
