Eurovision 1994: Hat-tricks and new tricks | Super-cut with animated scoreboard

An edited down version of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin with a scoreboard using today’s technology. Nothing but a fun lockdown project.

This edit will give a flavour of the evening (30th April) with Terry Wogan’s commentary, and what an evening it was for all Irishmen and women, including Terry!

In the past, I think I’ve been guilty of mixing up the Irish Contests in my head somewhat. Watching 1994 cold and then editing it, I think this programme comes across as the high point for Ireland in Eurovision. Yes, one headline result that can sound dull, but this show was full of interesting changes and great technical achievements. It feels like such a step-up from Millstreet: whereas 93 emphasised rural Ireland, 94 focused on Irish power. The emerging ‘Celtic Tiger’ was showing its teeth economically, but here we had Irish cultural power shown on every inch of the screen: from the impressive stage full of skyscrapers, to the intro and of course, the greatest interval act of all…RIVERDANCE (Terry’s reaction at the end is marvellous). It gave the impression that this might have felt like how Brits felt watching the London 2012 Opening Ceremony… Team GB went onto win Gold, here Ireland kept the trophy for a record breaking third time.

This contest was quite lopsided. The juries leant heavily on a few songs for much of the early part of the voting, leaving most of the right-hand side of the board with 0 on it. Points mounted up steadily for a reflective song that mourned the coming of change - at a time when a lot in the world was changing.

One could suggest that a record 7 (seven) new entrants might have damaged the quality of the competition, but three of the seven would end up in the top 10 (two in the top 5), but the other four went straight back down again, taking some regulars with them – keep an eye out for Spain’s last minute reprieve.

Together with some new camera toys (you might spot rail cameras at the back), we also get to see the faces of some of those voices we’ve been hearing since 1980! It’s surprising that this section went so smoothly. We also say goodbye to the traditional Eurovision ident and to the feeling that UK will consistently challenge the leader. We start the UK’s experimental phase in Eurovision, with this year’s entry being impressively modern sounding…perhaps that was one change too many for the juries.

DESIGN AND THE BOARD
I’d been dreading ‘the one with the stop-motion oil painting logo’ for a while but I’m glad I went with a considerably different look to 1993, even though the basis of the board is similar. I managed to play about (extensively) with paintbrushes and see what I could recreate of the logo. I think this logo sits less harmoniously with the other design direction of the show, but has a definite Celtic vibe to it and that’s fitting enough.

I was considering having skyscrapers in the background, to emulate the stage…but of course the voting is done from a neo-classical stage-ette (with added neon). If I tried to fit in with that, we’d have 1991 columns, and the return of Trajan Pro as a typeface (I used that in 91, but RTÉ use it in their 94 board).

I decided to pare down the ‘choppiness’ of the blue background to make the graphic a bit calmer as I had made the individual elements of the board quite busy. I had been using Book Antiqua (MS version of Palatino, as used in the logo) but the serif made the board even busier and I was crying out for something geometic and smooth. I found the board was transformed by using Techna Sans. (fontsarena.com/techna-sans-by-carl-enlund). I think all together adding the stop motion elements ties the branding of the Contest to the content of the show a little better.

TRANSFER NEWS (source: Wiki)
IN: 7! All the Kvalifikacija za Millstreet losers, plus new EBU members, Poland and Lithuania. The Soviet Union had attempted to enter the contest in 1980s, to show off about Gorbachev’s reforms, but 2 years after it’s dissolution, Russia would join…not as an ‘evil empire’, but as a nascent, and somewhat chaotic, democracy.

RELEGATED IN 93: Some big hitters in Denmark, Israel and Belgium, although Belgium probably saw it coming…ditto for Turkey. New boys Slovenia went straight back down. As Italy decided they weren’t interested in 94, Cyprus got a reprieve! Luxembourg, as discussed, were relegated, but left the Contest too.

INTERVAL ACT
Something about dancing in rivers?

CREDITS
A massive ‘Go raibh maith agat’ to Brendan M for helping with the Irish! Thank you!
Jugovizija for HQ ORF transmission, shame it’s closed!
Nicolas Baus for Wogan
Flags: Hopnguyen Mr on IconFinder (Cyprus altered), Bosnia: Wikipedia.
Satellite: flaticon.com
All Copyright goes to BBC for Wogan, and to RTÉ.

00:00 Intro
05:20 Song super-cut
32:55 Interval act
38:52 Voting intro
40:11 The reorder board 94
1:26:31 Recap & reprise