Ninja Warrior is a sports entertainment competition that features hundreds of competitors attempting to complete a series of obstacle courses of increasing difficulty,
trying to make it to the national finals in hopes of becoming a "Ninja Warrior". The format originated in Japan and has since been sweeping audiences off their feet in hundreds of countries.
After gaining immense popularity worldwide the exciting television format has finally landed in Israel, with the Israeli version hosted by Asi Azar and Rotem Sela.
The exhausting obstacle course was built at the Haifa Port in two weeks with a team of over 80 professionals using 4.5 tons of trusses.
The rigging and obstacle course were built by the production riggers who arrived from the US and accompany the production worldwide.
Gil Teichman - Lighting Design Systems Company was in charge of lighting and sound. Mt. Midoriyama and the host's rig were created by Itzuv Bama.
Lighting Designers Ofer Jacobi and Avi-Yona Bueno (Bambi), well known worldwide, were the creative spirit for the unique and impressive lighting design.
Jacobi said "designing lights for obstacle courses at the Haifa Port was challenging because of the enormous location, the real challenge was finding a way to combine the lighting
for the environment with the lighting for the obstacle course and the television lighting. The solution was using many moving lights and fixtures and making them work together."
After many months of work, including 3D simulation programing using wysiwyg and the complicated installation of the large lighting set, Ninja Israel finally premiered on Israeli Television Channel 12 (Keshet).
The challenging set was programmed and controlled by Compulite's famous Vector Blue and Vector Ultra Violet consoles and controlled via Ethernet Network.
The list of equipment included:
2 x Compulite e-Port 41 converters
2x Luminex 8 Port
23x Robe Robin BMFL Blade
17x Robe Robin BMFL WashBeam
50x Robe Robin MegaPointe
28x Robe Robin Spiider
12x Robe Robin 1200 Led Wash
8x Robe Robin MMX
16x Robe Robin Pointe
116x Eco Stage Beam 200 5R
60x Eco Stage V-715 Moving Beam Led 100 RGBW
12x Led Zoom 300
24x Eco Stage Stormi 3000 CCLED
24x Eco Stage RGBW BarLed
24x Eco Stage Top Bar 18 RGBW
21x Eco Stage Sunstrip Active (10x75w Halogen)
400x ParLed and RGBW for all The Trusses.
Conventional types included:
60x Led Profile Spot 120
36x Soft Led Panel
250x Par 64 MFL
This came to a total of around 820 Fixtures controlled by Vector Blue and 350 Conventional Fixtures controlled by Vector Ultra Violet using 21 DMX Universes.
Ronen Ben-Harosh was chosen for this production, freelance lighting programmer / operator and 3D wysiwyg programmer, who works also for Danor Theatre & Studio Systems, Compulite's official distributor in Israel. Ben-Harosh is known as one of the best Vector Programmers in the world. He utilizes his knowledge and expertise in many Theater & Opera shows, Dance Shows, Television programs and other productions. Moreover, Ronen supports Danor Compulite customers 24/7 and teaches courses about all Compulite line consoles including the Vector family.
Ben-Harosh stated: "When Ofer Jacobi told me that we will be doing this project together, we knew that a 3D simulation will help us choose the lighting set and show Keshet TV's Managers how it would eventually look in real life." As for the lighting consoles, Ben Harosh said: "Obviously I chose Compulite's Vector consoles to run the whole rig. I have full confidence in these consoles as I have worked with them for years and I was certain they would get the work done easily, and so they did. I worked on large scale systems before, with a lot of fixtures and DMX universes, but this set was much more complicated due to its size (150m x 60m) and the mix of fixture types. Thankfully everything ran smoothly with the Vector Consoles. I used Vector Blue for the moving lights and Vector Ultra Violet for the TV fixtures, the separation was made to avoid interference between the two consoles. Operator Rony Shamay was in charge of the TV lights."
The premiere was a big success, with a large studio audience and great ratings. Viewers nationwide are already awaiting the next episode.