Live from Malta we have the ESC Insight Newsletter as a one-stop shop for all of our articles over the last week as well as the best bits and pieces from around Malta and the press centre.
In Robertson’s Reflection this week we analyse the idea that Junior Eurovision is this year a smaller production than recent years, and has not taken over so much of Malta than two years ago.
The venue itself is also a great example of a country not pushing the boat out this year. The Mediterranean Conference Centre has been the location of many a Maltese National Final and has a capacity less than half of the impressive shipyard conversion for 2014. At the EBU Press Conference yesterday Jon Ola Sand expanded on why he believed such a venue is the right size for a show of this magnitude. He described how larger stages as firstly and obviously ‘more expensive’, especially when trying to use lighting to make the ‘warm and cozy house’ feel to the arena.
Furthermore the smaller stage not just allows the production team to ‘play much more with intimacy’, key with such tiny artists, but also that the big arenas of traditional Eurovision can be ‘terrifying’. This size of venue, not dissimilar to my visit to Albania’s National Final last year, is probably a familiar shape and style to concerts the acts would have already performed at.
Make sure to tune in to the show on Sunday November 20th at 16:00 CET.