Robe Helps Crystallise New koda Octavia Launch posted: 16/02/2020
Lighting designer Michael Kuehbandner worked closely with creative director Achim John from Jack Morton Worldwide and the show direction team from Quinton's Concept to deliver a spectacular visual extravaganza for the VIP launch of the new fourth-generation koda Octavia car at the Prague National Gallery's Trade Fair Palace in the Czech Republic.
Assisting Michael was over 180 x Robe moving lights - a mix of MegaPointes, Spiiders, LEDWash 1200s and DL4S Profiles.
The eye-catching event was production designed / produced by marketing and communications agency Fischer Appelt in collaboration with leading global brand experience specialist, Jack Morton Worldwide.
Michael was working directly for adhoc engineering, German-based interdisciplinary events and technical specialist, who were responsible for coordinating the full technical production and implementation led by Maik Ragheb as technical director.
The Octavia is considered the heart & engine of koda and is the top-volume benchmark model for the iconic Czech brand which is now part of the Volkswagen Motor Group. 2020 marks the 60th anniversary of the first Octavia being produced.
The ethos of the Octavia 4 is crystalline, sculptured and timeless an elegant design embodying the practical, comfortable, economical, and sustainable spirit of koda.
The 6-minute reveal show reflected these core values and starred three new Octavias, one of which emerged from a crystal-shaped set piece that split apart!
Two of the cars were driven along a crystalline light tunnel' created by Michael using the MegaPointes and Spiiders to the sounds of Opus Octavia a specially composed piece by Jazz musician Jesse Milliner, performed by the Prague Philharmonie (Pra sk komorn filharmonie) orchestra and the Time for Three string trio.
Two cars were parked up on turntables onstage, with the third positioned in front of the open' crystal, also on a rotating podium. They revolved gracefully in all their glory to the hugely impressed guests plus tens of thousands of fans following the live video stream.
The crystalline light tunnel' was approximately 25 metres long and in the centre of an overall performance space 60 metres long by 25 metres wide which also included all the tiered guest seating and platforms for the amassed global press and media.
The walls at the back of the seating tribunes were clad with projection screen surface, and there was a large LED surface at the back of the presentation stage which flew up to reveal the orchestra. This LED screen also tracked sideways to make room for the cars when they were driven onstage.
A network of trussing - trimmed at 9 metres above the performance area - was installed in the roof to provide the lighting positions, and the key areas that Michael needed to light were the crystal set piece, the light tunnel and the reveal stage.
The crystal was lit with around 12 of the MegaPointes and 12 of the Spiiders.
The MegaPointes' two prisms and animation wheel helped Michael create the specific crystalline sharded' look that the client wanted for this stunning creation.
The other 52 x MegaPointes and 82 x Spiiders were mainly distributed on the trusses above the crystalline runway.
The MegaPointes were used to produce a variety of intense beam looks required to make the crystalline light tunnel a dynamic environment and a dramatic visual centrepiece of the reveal sequence. They were also used in conjunction with 16 specially adapted moving mirror devices installed around the space and some static mirror panels along the floor of the runway.
These acted as bounce surfaces to bend, reflect, and refract the light coming from the MegaPointes in multiple directions, creating dazzling sparkling and shimmering effects evoking the clean crystalline look at the essence of the presentation aesthetic.
The Spiiders were also used as beams; the nice, fat high-quality light output was ideal for the job.
Michael researched thoroughly before finding the optimum mirror devices that would act exactly the way he wanted, and he conducted a test setup at Robe Germany in Munich to determine the best gobo / prism combinations and measure the output at various distances.
The MegaPointe was a clear winner to its effects and the beautiful white light colour of the discharge lamp, he commented.
The Spiider also proved its flexibility with Michael utilizing it for powerful beams as well as with the flower effect from the 60W central LED for softer more ephemeral looks.
They also served as classic wash lights to evenly illuminate the cars along the light tunnel and onstage. The Spiider is a very versatile tool, he stated.
The ten DL4S Profiles were rigged above the stage and used to illuminate the various speakers during the presentation section of the event, and the 24 x LEDWash 1200s, a long-time favourite in the world of automotive lighting, were used to highlight the cars on the revolves.
All the Robes plus another 400 odd fixtures - some other LED washes, over 200 LED spots, LED floods, LED flood strobes and some small tungsten fresnels - were used in the show space and the reception / feeder room, car display and after-show areas.
They were controlled by two grandMA2s. The show console was programmed by Markus Axmann and run to timecode, while the second console ran all the periphery area lighting and was operated by Marek Papke.
The event's lighting equipment was coordinated by AVE-PRO, the set was built by Nuessli and the architectural event space designers were Formkontor.
Michael has been using Robe products in his work for about four years. He thinks they are manufacturing some very innovative products and is further convinced of the quality and passion synonymous with the brand since recent
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
14/03/2026
Combines mic, USB interface & wireless IEMs
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, HISONG have announced that their innovative AirStudio S1 device is ...
13/03/2026
Spotify has always been built around your taste. More than 80% of listeners say personalization is what they love most about us. Now we're taking that even ...
13/03/2026
The new Spotify Legends Club has opened its doors. Its members: select German-sp...
13/03/2026
Pushing drum sampler technology into new territories
The latest version of Klevgrand's software drum sampler has just arrived, boasting a newly designe...
13/03/2026
Expanded headphone support & engine improvements
IK Multimedia's recently introduced ARC On-Ear system brings the power of their monitoring-correction s...
13/03/2026
Extra sound collections, more presets & new Keys category
UVI's rhythm and pattern instrument has just received a major update that introduces four new ...
13/03/2026
13 Mar 2026
VEON Delivers Record Digital Growth: 4Q25 Digital Revenues Grow 84%...
13/03/2026
Friday 13 March 2026
Sky Adds Blood on Snow to Original Film Slate in Acquisiti...
13/03/2026
RT has announced today that Rick O'Shea is the new presenter of Arena RT Radio 1's flagship weeknight arts and culture programme. Rick has been pres...
13/03/2026
Lights! Camera! Action! The 98th Oscars set to air live as RT backs the Irish n...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
Robe Helps Crystallise New koda Octavia Launch posted: 16/02/2020 
