The Story of Eurovision 2023 🇬🇧🇺🇦 • Behind The Scenes
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Uniting two countries in music, production, and spectacle. A unique year with with Ukrainian flavour and British ingenuity (after 25 years!). Plus the most watched Grand Final yet - but, how did they do it?
Join me as I take a deep dive into the behind the scenes production of the world’s biggest and longest running TV event - this year, in Liverpool! (and there was so much more that could be included, but brevity!)
Fernand’s Live Show Show - the show taking a look at the cool creative production madness happening behind the scenes in live TV.
A massive thank you to
- Lee Smithurst, Head of Show
- Nikki Parsons, Lead Director
for making invaluable appearances in this episode!
and a special thanks to
- Danny Hodgetts & Chris Abbott
- fellow TV bods in the industry
EXTENDED INTERVIEWS
- coming soon!
#eurovision #behindthescenes #howitwasmade
Insta, TikTok & Threads - @fernandsliveshowshow
Eurovision Wall Art! fullfatfoxart.etsy.com
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro - Looking Back
00:54 A Summary
02:04 How Did We Get Here?
02:42 What Do We Need?
03:52 It’s Liverpool!
05:19 A UK & Ukraine Production
05:44 INTERVIEW - Lee Smithurst, Head of Show
10:32 A Touch of Britishness
11:48 Love Laugh Live-rpool! (Ad)
12:37 The Venue & Staging
13:09 Stage Design
14:12 Lighting, Sound & Screen Content
18:28 Directing the Show
18:48 INTERVIEW - Nikki Parsons, Lead Director
21:34 Cameras
22:42 CuePilot
25:13 Graphics
26:32 Performance Secrets
28:44 The Voting Sequence
30:46 FLiSS Faves!
32:24 Ta-ra For Now
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SOURCES:
- Eurovision (TH-cam, & [Eurovision.tv](eurovision.tv/))
- BBC & BBC Eurovision
- The Guide Liverpool
- Liverpool Echo
- TPI Magazine - [tpimagazine.com](tpimagazine.com/)
- [LiveDesignOnline.com](livedesignonline.com/)
- Light & Sound International
- CuePilot [cuepilot.com](cuepilot.com/) (Special thanks to Chris & Danny!)
- Creative Animal - [creativeanimal.nl](creativeanimal.nl/)
- NEP Netherlands - [nepworldwide.nl](nepworldwide.nl/)
- Creative Technology Group
- IBC365
- OperTec
- SVG Europe
- Design Bridge & Partners
- Starlight Creative
- BBC News
- Sky News
- ITV News / Good Morning Britain
- Content
- Luke Dudley (@/lukedudley1 on Twitter
- Me!
- Images
- Corinne Cumming / EBU
- Chloe Hashemi / EBU
- Lee Smithurst
- TH-cam
- Eurovision Visuals
- Eurodiena
- Twitter
- @ThatPeterHayes
Music - Epidemic Sounds
And massive thank you (and apologies!) if I've missed you out here, you will have been credited on screen.
All rights belong to holders, content used here used under Fair Use Educational and Critique purposes. - บันเทิง
EXTRAS & CORRECTIONS
- the country onscreen at 25m31s is indeed Moldova, not Romania! Starlight Creative did infact do screen content for Romania as well.
- The UK's Jury Show 'win' was on the Friday night, not Saturday afternoon as mentioned.
There were a few more bits I wanted to include, but to keep things moving they're on the proverbial cutting room floor 😅
But they were:
- The UK, host country, closing the contest - a feat not seen since Denmark did in 2001
- France - having crew in black morph suits hidden within the prop for the big cloth reveal
- Loreen's winners walk in the corridor with all the BBC branding is reminiscent of the same walk Dana International did in 1998 where we saw the long (well, a few shots of it!) walk from green room to stage
- yes, *song* competition as opposed to singing competition - though (amongst other things) their *singing* is judged on too... 😉
- The show aimed to be as sustainable as possible, using alternative and greener forms for energy to power the show and generators
- for weeks after the contest, props and stage items were up for auction! Everything from the voting podium to the big hand props used for the opening number - auctions.ramco.uk/past-auctions/ramco-11297
Also, 12 points for spotting previous Eurovision slogans embedded in the script...
dude the production quality on these videos is insane! Loved all the interviews and behind the scenes footage, excited to see more from this channel!
Thanks so much and super glad you're enjoying! Do check out my other videos if you haven't already, and of course do stick around!
Being a media geek, working in radio and having attended all but the Covid related shows since 1995 I must congratulate you on the production. You deserve a wider following.
Goodness - I must say I'm envious of your run seeing all the shows! Are there any that are personal favourites - and how did this year compare for you?
And thanks for your kind words!
@@FernandsLiveShowShow what a difficult question. I have to try and compartmentalise the answers. Working as Press all those years as well as being in the live shows also colours my experiences.
I feel emotional every time I watch the opening of 1997 with Sir Terry walking out. The simplicity of the set and almost regimented perfection of the BBC's organisation for the rehearsals and live show appealed to my sense of 'doing it properly'!
Having to wear jackets watching the Parken rehearsals, as it was so cold, wasn’t a highlight nor the show's total lack of warmth!
This year was incredible. I couldn't fault anything except the impossibility of seeing the scoreboard details. They could have used the big screens for that. I know that it's a TV show but there are thousands in the arena too!
I’m a massive Eurovision fan, so I’m always skeptical about videos describing it. You’ve nailed it. The production is so high value. I didn’t see the dot on your subscriber count, I thought “how’s this guy only got 183k” the fact you’ve only got 1.83k is insane. Keep up the good work, man
Highlight of the year, love watching these videos each year! Already can't wait for Malmö 2024!
Oooh now I know SVT are going to have something big up their sleeve - this I can't wait to see!
Liverpool was buzzing on the night of the final! Going out after was so so much fun!
This video is good enough to be on the official ESC channel, wow!
IT'S HEREEEEEEE I'm so excited to watch all of this, I love your yearly Eurovision wrap-ups!
Edit: That was absolutely brilliant, one of your best ever eurovision recaps! It was an amazing deep dive into the production of the world's greatest shows and was worth every single second we've all been waiting for this! Some great interviews, fascinating insight into the stage design, cameras, and overall production of the show! Really loved the insight into the LED screens and their incredible mobility; I wish we'd seen them come forward a bit more often (initially this was the plan for Portugal's staging) but seeing it being used creatively for moving props on and off was pretty darn cool!
Thanks for stopping by! You were the first to comment - liking your edit, haha
And yes I agree the moving doors was very cool indeed being both beautiful and functional.
Really good video and really enjoyed watching and hearing your insights. Eurovision 2023 was a very special production.
I STILL dont get why you dont have half a million subs. This is beyond broadcast quality. Thanks Fernand!
You're very kind, thanks! And half a million - very hopefully soon! 🙏🙌
THIS IS AMAZING !! As someone who DREAMS to work for the French delegation of Eurovision and someone who is FAN of the Eurovision, your video was PERFECT ! It's so well made, the editing is on POINT, the people interviewed are so interesting !!
Thank you very much for this video dude 🙌
You deserve much more subscribers. Very professional video. Eurovision production always amaze me. Loved every second of the show!
Amazing Eurovision roundup video as every year!
After a kind of disappointing contest 2022 graphics-wise, I especially enjoyed the onscreen graphics this year. The title cards, the transitions, the scoreboard, the replacement of Gotham with Penny Lane, everything looks super sleek and modern.
What a lovely video - I was there also , and I had a fab time - Liverpool and the BBC did Ukraine proud - well done. One one my favourite bits was when Finland and UK performed
Thank you so much.
It was a dream come true to be inside the arena. I literally cried when I walked in 😊 one of the best contests ever!
AMAZING video, truly. just subbed. My favourite part of the eurovision fandom are the people who are passionate about the production. It's the part I know the absolute least about so learning about it is super exciting! this information is invaluable, Thank you so much.
Yay, was looking forward to this video!! Thank you!!
AMAZING :D Take that Suzy Sheep lol
As always an amazing video! 😍 Informative, excellent editing and fasvinating interviews. Need more of these in my lufe!
Great video as always. I love watching these "behind the scenes" videos. Already excited for the next year!
Regarding the "mid 2010s, we were lucky to have lasers" - the laser system was used a few times, but most of the time when there was a LED floor that was used for marking up positions, the way you phrase it sounds like that is a recent invention.
Hi! Thanks for stopping by.
Very good point indeed, LED floors for marking positions have been used for a few years indeed, and my point in this case is to compare the fast progression of tech to the now very much established standard of LED floors which has been around since approx 2014. What has been interesting is how productions posit this as a new innovation for the year, but is actually a nice progression of the year before with new features etc.
@@FernandsLiveShowShow if I recall correctly from the 2006 HD footage, the LED [or some predecessor tech] floor was used then to position set pieces. No idea if it was the first use though...
Absolutely awesome breakdown of the whole production. Your channel deserves way more views and subscribers.
This video is amazing! It's awesome that you're able to give credit to these behind the scenes artists!
amazing video! This year I was able to be there and it was incredible
Amazing video once again, bringing back so many memories of Liverpool!
Been waiting for this. Nice work man!
Fascinating stuff great vid thanks
I love love this channel and this video! Amazing work 🎉
Really well put together with great storytelling about the greatest show on earth. I’m so pleased someone made a programme about it. Good job! 😊
What a fantastic Insight in ESC 2023! Thank you!
What an amazing coverage!! The production level is so professional, kudos!
Really really awesome video! Thanks for the research, the interviews and the awesome edit.
This is really amazing stuff. Love your work!
Wow, just wow. Amazing work👏
I thought this year's competition was almost perfect ... the only failing being the venue. TOO SMALL. EBU wanted a venue to hold 10,000 but this one was only able to hold 7,000. (Over 9 shows that 27,000 fewer places) Like many other UK based fans I saw this as a possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to attend Eurovision, with 9 shows overall (3 live shows and 6 rehearsals) I expected to get tickets with a reasonable amount of ease .. but the with the venue being too small I struggled big time. I was online and present well in advance for the ticket sales but got nowhere, I am not in the position to pay £400 for a ticket so couldn't buy any returns, eventually (after a few months) there was a second wave of ticket sales and I managed to get two restricted view tickets. This aggravation caused me mental anguish. I know all about it being a TV show, the appeal of Eurovison meant it had the capacity to fill the largest venue for all 9 shows. Putting that aside (but not glossing over) Liverpool was a great host city and the event itself was superb. Being inside the arena (even though not seeing everything) lived up to the anticipated thrill, I was there and the memories live on. If ever the UK hosts again I might be tempted to attend, but not overseas.
Specials highlights include watching the camera crew darting around the performers ... a view never seen on TV. I also saw the stage being illuminated for the stagehands to place the furniture for each act, as well as also them darting about away from the cameras to move items after being used.
25:31 oh no thats Moldova, not Romania. Amazing video btw
Well spotted! Amended in my corrections section in the description!
A correction. At 23:47, Germany has 96 cues. If you did it based on the cue numbers of a cuepilot you've seen, it may be because some cues were deleted at some point and then new ones were added, while they forgot to reset the numbers. And technically the most cues are for the Liverpool songbook interval with 124.
This is so well done!
Wow this is an amazingly well made video :0 well done 👏 I’m shocked on how good this video was
incredible video Fernand.
absolutely incredible video... WOW!!!
bloody great video as always Fernand! You are easily on par with the Event Elevator videos that I am sure you also watch as religiously as I do!
fr comment, i really get why this years felt so different and special now. i didn't get why i was still thinking abt eurovision months and months later and actually kept up with 2 artists for the first time (kaarija and joker out) but this behind the scenes look really helps it make sense! i don't think next years will be as good hahahaha
I alaways wanted to see a video like this. Well done.
Absolutely amazing!
Literally mind blowing you don’t have more subs- loved this! 💪💪💪
amazing video :) i was thinking what would strictly look like with cuepilot lmao
i dont think ive ever subscribed to someone after just 1 video... you have changed that, incredible!
What's your favourite Australian live production, if any? I'd love to know about something like Hey Hey It's Saturday, or Carols in the Domain
Great job!👏Love from Ukraine ❤❤
Awesome and super informative video! I’ve always wondered how far in advance the graphics people know the scores before it’s broadcasted and I guess the answer is not very long hahah
Thanks for stopping by!
And yes, not long at all, they find out moments before they announce it to viewers. On BBC's Eurovisioncast Måns Zelmerlow says how he knows (the points show up on his screen), but the director in the control room directs them when/what to actually say. Great insight here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0f9gqvv
You wouldn't of believed the look on my face when I found out that my home city was hosting my favourite show ever 🥳🥳🥳🥳❤
This video is pretty cool 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Yay!!!!!! I have been waiting
What amazing job have done BBC, Suspilne and Liverpool!!! A Professional way so top I hope continuing Malmö, even get higher!!! It has been a great Eurovision for living it in host city, I have got amazing and a lot of wonderful memories forever!!!👏🏻
Awesome attention to detail on this video! Would love to see more BTS content on other broadcasts! :)
This is a fantastic deep dive, thank you! Truly doing the Lord's work.
Gosh I remember that hour around teatime on the Monday so well. I was having a bite to eat in the bar of my hotel when Twitter just threw the biggest menty over the semi reveal.
Unpopular opinion, but I think the BBC and EBU caved too easily on that. The show has to constantly evolve. The one thing I would have fought for as a compromise is a split screen for the final five/six atter the 9th country had been saved.
my goodness!!!! this is amazing. :')
also your art is dope, need to convince my BF to let me put a bunch of middle aged punk croatians on my wall now
@@neconeconecoby all means! Show the BF the art, I'm sure that'll be all the persuasion needed 😄
Спасибо! Классный ролик с интересной информацией, которую редко где найдешь)
Hi Fernand! Thank you so much for doing an amazing job for the last few years! I’ve been waiting for it! ❤️🤩 I had an opportunity to attend this year’s Eurovision and myself I love to observe the production, how it’s been made etc. LOVE IT!!!
Some small things:
Laser projections for props were used in 2009 for sure, remember watching some BTS on Russian TV. And LED marking has been done back in 2014 already, but obviously with years following, better and more user friendly softwares kept being developed.
Grand Finale dress rehearsal ‘winners’ were:
1st Dress Rehearsal (Friday afternoon): Ukraine 🇺🇦
2nd Dress Rehearsal (Friday evening - Jury Show): UK 🇬🇧 (not Saturday afternoon)
3rd Dress Rehearsal (Saturday afternoon): Armenia 🇦🇲
Interesting fact about winners during rehearsals, usually the winner country is chosen not randomly, but with regards to complexity of the staging, with an intention of running through bringing the bulkiest/ complicated props out as quickly as possible and finish the setup before the end of the script read out by hosts. Ukraine had projections on the cubes that had to be adjusted/calibrated with visuals every time, similar with Armenia having a platform with projections, both of them were performed on B stage that usually is used for winner’s trophy handover and final script, but in this case they had to switch to main stage and do all of that there instead. This was done to go through all the scenarios. While UK was chosen as a winner because of huge LED platforms that had to be aligned with back LED towers, but also it was fun to hear a host country ‘winning’ the contest. The arena was going crazy, including myself as I was there during Jury Show 😅
Thank you again for amazing work on this video! ❤️👍
👏 Thanks so much for stopping by and your great extra insight! I knew I got a few things mixed up 😅
Yes - correct on the complexity of the staging and the 'winner' chosen for the rehearsals. Armenia's 'win' of the dress rehearsal show made for a great reprise performance featuring one of the crew/stand-ins! And very glad you were at the Jury Show to soak up the atmosphere!
And absolutely re the laser/LED floor as guidance. My point in the video was to demonstrate the progression of this technology, but likely gave off the impression these were super recent developments (which isn't quite right, but the innovation of new features and user experience is). Still, memories of good old duct tape days of the 90s, eh!
Thanks Jurij! 🙌
@@FernandsLiveShowShow Armenia was ‘the winner’ of Saturday afternoon’s rehearsal (3rd), not the jury Show. Jury Show ‘winner’ was the UK 👍
@@Jurij_vlasov *dress rehearsal - you know what I mean, haha 😅 (corrected above)
25:30 the voiceover says Romania, the video shows Moldova. Which one is it? :D
Haha yep, a blooper that was noted by another viewer earlier! It's actually both countries that had screen content made - but the clip should have shown Moldova 😊
I wonder why they didn’t announce the points in French too
Shout out to Pro Spots ltd for providing the follow spotting
That was awesome, but I do question one tiny point - you said that the UK "won" the pretend vote in the Saturday afternoon run-through show, but I was there and it was definitely Brunette from Armenia that won the fake vote count in the Arena on Saturday afternoon.
We were thinking how glad the stage crew must have been that they only had to wheel out 2 bits of staging for her. We were also saying that the staff member pretending to be Brunette (so the camera crews could test they were on the right queues, and the other staff could practice the run from the greenroom to the stage, trophy presentation, and handing back the trophy) must have been glad that all she had to do during the final song was like there on the stagepiece while the audience sang for her.
Her and the guy from Italy in the green room were the true heroes of the Saturday rehearsals! :)
My grandmas friends grandson actually created all the lighting and controlled it on the nights :)
I'm sorry for Nikki because she seems like such a nice and genuine person, but the direction this year was not that good. Not bad, mind you, and still better than 2022's by a fair margin, but it wasn't Eurovision-level good, and I'm guessing that's because, as she pointed out, they had never used CuePilot before, and mixed it with the bars system. Israel was one of the performances that stood out to me. That slow steadicam movement didn't match Noa's movements or the music, but then there were some great shots after that bit ends. Malta and Germany felt weird as well. Sweden was the most noticeable I think, because you had the direct comparison to Mello's version. I will say though, the Grand Final opening was amazing in every way and I find myself rewatching it time and time again.
Hopefully they can use this as an experience for the next time the UK Hosts
Thex for the video. It's amazing what you done. But, two thing is not right here.
1. You said this is the most watched finale ever? Do you ever count since 2004. cause since 1983 till 1999. evey single contest were most watchen than this year. Zagreb 1990., for exemple have 800 000 000 specatators, Rome 1991., Lausanne 1989., Malmö 1992. count 600 000 000 spectators; Brussels 1987., Bergen 1986. 550 000 000....
2. Why don't you say any single thing about Interpol's investigations about scandinavian eurovision mafia (nordic pulic TV companies + Martin Ostandahl, Svante Stockelius, Jon-Ola Sand, Sarah Yuen) for setting up the victories or hight places for nordic countries?
I believe “the most watched finale ever” was about watching figures in UK only. It is true
So why didn't the British Broadcasting Corporation use a British set designer??
Excuse me, how the hell is this channel only 1.7k subs?
Oh, one more tiny memory to add - a not-insignificant amount of boos and groans when the "royal family" clips were shown on the screens during the Saturday afternoon run-through show. I was glad I wasn't the only one thinking it when i heard the groans and boos coming from around me, and glad that people weren't going to be false with their feeling about it after the previous month them shoving themselves down our necks with our funding. 😂
i think 2021 was still better
More about that a little bit later:
4:34
8:36
13:56
...and more about _that_ - a little bit later!
25:30 yea, that's not Romania..
hehehehehehe is that nace at 17:10
ok i love all the joker out mentions bc they were robbed this yr, i think all us fans focused on trying to get kaarija to win 😭
Martin Österdahl in 2023: 😁👌
Martin Österdahl in 2024: 😡☠️
It was a great show. Who paid for it?
Song competition, not singing competition.
Haha, quite true. Noted in my pinned comment above!
Honestly, I didn't like this year's Eurovision edition, I found it a bit flat (not so much the songs) but from the presentation to the rest all quite cold
The lightning was too much, it was a trigger for epileptic.
united by music
divided by rigged voting
Слава Украине - которая все потеряла 🤣👍
24:06 WTF, you couldn't pronounce Czechia? It's not Chechnya!
you forgot the most important aspect for german viewers. Eurovision is just an impossible to win contest without our moderator. He is famos for insulting the candidates a bit live on the final, but this show was his last one. We will miss him
Stage One also constructed the 2006 stage in Athens