Thread by @tanurai

You know, if you watch #eurovision from a maker's point of view, there's a hell of a lot of innovation in there. A thread.

Like, in 2016, Poli Génova wore electroluminescent panels that lit up in perfect time with her chorus. She danced a *lot* and that wiring stayed solid.

Sergey Lazarev from Russia (also 2016) walked right up his projector screen. In the second picture you can see it was at an angle, but he still climbed up there on miniscule pegs. Augmented reality and a little clever trickery.

So anyway, let's look at this year, cos I could go on about previous years at length. Back to Sergey Lazarev, cos he came back again, with another excellent song. And an excellent set.

Multiple back projections, reflections, some form of pepper's ghost, and a box full of rain. I was impressed anyway.

A giant version of an ikea kallax for Spain to dance in. I wasn't a fan, and although it wasn't particularly innovative, someone built that.

Robot arms! Using projection mapping to show a pulsing heart on the Azerbaijani singer, Chingiz. Good song though! I wish they'd used the robots more though, he walks away from them.

Iceland! Not counting the riveting work on their costumes, a giant spherical metal cage which holds 1 gimp with an instrumentalist on top thwacking a mace from side to side. Someone made that mace too! (fun fact, the singer is the son of the Icelandic ambassador to the UK)

Greece. A homage to Well Dressing traditions of the UK. I don't think that was the intention.

Denmark had a big chair. The song was awfully twee. What happens to the sets afterwards? They'll never get that in their luggage. I am guessing the structure is hollow, for weight reasons.

And finally, Australia. All three performers were impaled (not really) on giant bendy sticks. Let's think about the physics involved here. Base plates, elastic properties, body harnesses, and some sort of measures to make sure they didn't spring into each other.

The "sway poles" are 5 metres long, fibreglass, and made in Melbourne. They brought those things with them on a plane. There's no controls or anything, it's literally a performer on a stick.
My Eurovision Maker Award 2019 goes to Strange Fruit.
strangefruit.net.au

Just leaving this here...

https://twitter.com/robholley/status/1128390304506220544?s=19

OK WHOA WHOA WHOA !
Remember Hatari, the Icelandic BDSM gimp dragging hammering shouty ones?

Their singer, Klemens, trained as a furniture maker and only BUILT THEIR BLOODY SET!

This guy.