Robe Dreams Big at Puy du Fou Espa a posted: 17/01/2020
Award-winning independent French theme park, Puy du Fou, unveiled its first venture in Toledo Spain with an epic night-time immersive spectacular El Sue o de Toledo (The Dream of Toledo), creatively directed by Nicolas de Villiers and the team from Puy de Fou with lighting designed by Koert Vermeulen from Belgian creative visual practice, ACTLD. At the heart of Koert's lighting spec are 74 x Robe BMFL WashBeam and 20 x MegaPointe moving lights.
El Sue o de Toledo takes spectators on a hi-octane condensed one-hour journey through history - from the Reign of Ricaredo in the 6th century to the arrival of the railways - touching on the battle of Navas de Tolosa and the discovery of America along the way! The 1500 years of history is represented by 185 actors and a plethora of special effects.
Koert and Nicolas have worked together on several previous full-tilt, seat-edge Puy du Fou live shows and projects in France. The company is well-known for its commitment to high production values and providing the very best guest experiences, so Koert was delighted to work in Spain with Nicolas and the team with whom he enjoys a fantastic imaginative synergy.
The show is staged outdoors on a performance space approximately 125 metres wide by 100 metres deep, rising up towards the back. The set includes several permanent buildings and structures and a large lake, with the action taking place both on, in front of, and behind the water.
Nicolas briefed Koert on the historical narrative and Koert produced a lighting concept for the show which is played out by the large cast to a special soundtrack composed by Nathan Stornetta.
The show's essence was similar to some of those we have created in the French park, so some of the base principles and style needed to reflect a continuity, but it's a fresh, new and completely unique dramatic tour de force which needed a lot of attention to detail explained Koert.
One of the key Puy du Fou requirements was that the show was elegant and refined as well as providing lots of excitement. All of this had to be delivered in a classy collage of lighting, projection-mapped scenery and SFX.
With over 1000 lighting fixtures in total on the show, the 75 x BMFL WashBeams are undoubtedly the workhorses confirmed Koert together with some LED wash lights. Taking on this role, they needed to stand out from all the action and be a truly multi-functional tool.
Due to the site topography and the fact that no sky rigging was available for overheads, most of the lighting is shooting in from the sides, with some fixtures at the back and others scattered around the suite at ground level plus numerous smaller concealed luminaires and footlights.
Koert auditioned several products in a shootout for the job - initially in 2016 when the project was first confirmed and budgeted - and from this extensive trial, the BMFL WashBeam emerged as easily the best choice , especially for the 40 - 100 metre throw distances for which they needed something with serios power!
Another shoot out to find the best lights for aerial effects was won by Robe's MegaPointe. It's the nicest beam I have seen for a long time, commented Koert.
The BMFLs are positioned mainly at the sides of the performance area with a few around the front, while the MegaPointes are all hidden in the hills at the back.
The MegaPointes blast out into the night sky from behind set pieces, slicing through the haze, fog and general natural atmosphere with their piercingly bright beams. They are rigged at different heights to give a variety of positions and some interesting angles.
With any show of this scale, lighting is a smart combination of creating mood and ambience and lots of big statements as well as with highlighting and accentuating story-related details and complexities. Koert worked on the general environmental lighting treatments first, and then on illuminating more specific performers and action.
He worked closely with the PDF video team and with video content creators, Cosmo AV, so that lighting elements merged seamlessly and harmoniously with video-mapped onto some of the buildings adding a further layer of texture to the bigger picture.
He found the BMFL's frost options helpful in blending lighting into the projections.
The big challenge on this project was the time.
Koert and his own programming team of Christopher Bolton and Luc de Climmer had three weeks on site overall to get everything into the grandMA3 console, but out of that there was only one complete week of lighting programming.
Construction was ongoing for the whole period, adding extra pressure on all technical departments.
While the basic building blocks can be visualized to some extent, real time in situ is vital to focus on more complicated cues like the proper illumination of Olivier Beriot's impressive costumes all resulting in a truly breath-taking show for the public who are flocking to see it.
The show is currently breaking for the winter and will be back in full force in April to be enjoyed by thousands of visitors through 2020.
Europe Stories
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
18/09/2025
Individual phones could be tracked back to specific residential addresses
Sm...
18/09/2025
September 18 2025, 04:20 (PDT) Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, e...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
Leading space solutions company will use optical ground stations to deliver faster, more secure data from space
Luxembourg, September 15, 2025 - SES, a leading...
16/09/2025
Comscore Unveils The Scoreboard: An Interactive Destination Surfacing Consumer B...
15/09/2025
Global K-Pop sensation aespa is redefining what it means to be rich with the r...
15/09/2025
Every day, millions of people around the world turn to Spotify to enjoy the audi...
15/09/2025
After months of intensive planning and implementation, Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic...
15/09/2025
Unique sports content orchestration platform builds momentum among SES's cus...
15/09/2025
-- Opens door to growth in renewable energy New Delhi, India - 15th September -- Global business and industry leaders from around the world are joining technol...
13/09/2025
Harmonic's Software-Based XOS Advanced Media Processor Provides Unparalleled Efficiency and Unlocks New Business Models SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 13, 2025 -...
12/09/2025
For fans, we know how important it is to stay plugged into music culture and dis...
12/09/2025
Link ping, Sweden and Shipley, United Kingdom, September 12, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer expe...
12/09/2025
Feature-length retrospective from Studio Crook to air in 2026
Sir David Jason returns to the nation's favourite comedy channel, U&GOLD, for Open All Hours:...
12/09/2025
Friday 12 September 2025
The Boomtown Rats, Nyah Grace, Soweto Kinch, Royal Ballet and Madness also announced to perform at the ceremony on Tuesday
Sky today ...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom BeltpackAt IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero M...
12/09/2025
Wuppertal September 12, 2025
Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interfaceRiedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface fro...
12/09/2025
CORE+ virtually removes distortion, setting a new standard for church sound and giving worship teams the clarity and confidence they need.
Read the full artic...
12/09/2025
The Late Late Show is back with a bang after the summer break, and Patrick Kielt...
12/09/2025
The World Athletics Championships, Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final, the Irish Champions Festival, and two Sports Direct Men...
12/09/2025
The Records Show starts Sunday at 6.30pm on RT One and RT Player.
Katie Hanno...
11/09/2025
RADAR, Spotify's program for emerging talent, recently hit a major milestone...
11/09/2025
Link ping, Sweden, September 11, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability & analytics for service quality and customer experience, announced today the la...
11/09/2025
Under the USD 89.6 Million award, SES Space & Defense will provide global commer...
11/09/2025
Leading Balkan DTH provider adds capacity to consolidate its m:Sat TV platform at 23.5 degrees East and serve more customers across the region
Luxembourg, 11 S...
11/09/2025
UKTV's free streaming service U launches on Sky Q
Free streaming service U has launched on Sky Q in the UK, UKTV and Sky confirm today, expanding the footp...
11/09/2025
From the discreet 2061 lavaliers to 4099 and 4011 mics, the setup delivered clean, natural sound in one of the most challenging broadcast environments.
Read th...
11/09/2025
From rugged build quality to natural, detailed sound, the verdict is clear: big performance can come in a very small package.
Read the full review here!...
11/09/2025
Tonight on Prime Time
RT One and RT Player at 9:35pm
Tonight RT Prime Time...
11/09/2025
RT Statement: 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
At the General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in July, a number of EBU members raised concerns ...
10/09/2025
Lossless on Spotify Premium is here.
Lossless audio has been one of the most a...
10/09/2025
The Television Will Be Revolutionised Sep 10, 2025
Written by Sunit Kotecha, Director of Delivery and Operations, YouView
2025 marks a century since the f...
10/09/2025
First of Spains F110 frigates get future-ready with Rohde & Schwarz communicatio...
10/09/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Supports DOCSIS and Fiber, Enabling Midco to Deliver Reliable Multi-Gigabit Connectivity to Subscribers SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 10,...
10/09/2025
RT brings three days of live radio, live entertainment, live news, live weather, personal appearances, and more
Join RT Radio 1: Morning Ireland, The Oliver ...
09/09/2025
Since 2020, Spotify's RADAR program has been a launchpad for emerging talent...
09/09/2025
In 2020, Spotify launched RADAR with a clear mission: to identify, nurture, and ...
09/09/2025
If you're on BookTok, you know the drill. You scroll, you tap, and suddenly your To Be Read list is overflowing with trending must-reads. Not unlike Spoti...
09/09/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
Robe Dreams Big at Puy du Fou Espa a posted: 17/01/2020 
