The luxury cruise ship of AIDAprima is the new flagship of AIDA Cruises, built by
Mitsubishi Shipbuilding in Nagasaki, Japan to carry a maximum of 3,300
passengers.
Commissioned to design the lighting for the grand launch ceremony at the beginning
of May, the technologically advanced on-board lighting was designed by Bjorn
Hermann, and prominently featured among the fixtures were 50 of the new GT-1
hybrid light and no fewer than 342 impression X4 Bar 20, GLP’s versatile and high
performance battens.
Commissioned by the agency East End Communications GmbH, Hermann worked in
close cooperation with the show production company phase7 performing arts and
technical service company Ambion to deliver the solution required by AIDA Cruises.
The ship features a number of entertainment spaces including the Theatrium, with
its amphitheatre style bench seating, which offers lively production shows and
cabaret, the Aida Bar and dancefloor, which also presents live bands and a separate
discotheque.
Hermann was given a free hand with his lighting interpretation to bring the spaces
to life. Working in close cooperation with phase7 founder and artistic director, Sven
Soren Beyer, who had imagined the ship as a giant lighting matrix at original
concept stage, the designer could instinctively see a major role for the X4 Bars.
The broad concept had been to create light sources to all levels of the ship from the
centre, with the overriding effect being the giant matrix formed from the 342 X4
Bar 20s. These were located in the balconies on custom made rain covers (that in
the event were not required), transforming the AIDAprima into a giant 300-metre
wide lo-res screen effect, on which graphics and messages could be represented.
A 30 minute timecode lightshow followed the christening ceremony, which featured
actress Emma Schweiger and the ship’s captain. At the mid-point of the show, the
company Potsdamer Fireworks provided a spectacular display, creating a perfect
interplay with the music and lights.
As for the GT-1, Hermann placed 14 of the fixtures as a centre effect in the
AIDAprima Theatrium, with a further 12 units on the stern of the ship on six floors,
each with two fixtures. Another 20 lamps placed on land colour washed the entire
ship with a carefully-keyed zoom, also delivering stroboscopic effects and gobo
patterns.
In terms of control several fully redundant control stations were set up using
grandMA2 consoles (Full-size) with master control on the AIDAprima. This used
wireless (microwave) show control technology from shore to ship, under the
supervision of Gerd Trapmann, with timecode transmission to all systems via UHF,
fully backed up.
The entire integration was made possible thanks to a team of highly skilled
professionals. These included lighting operator (effects lighting) Marc Brunkhardt
and lighting operator (white light) Markus Ruhnke, while in charge of the network
technology was Martin Mayer.
