Event show · Rai 1 · October 2005
Rock Politik.
For Adriano Celentano's show we built a Manhattan inside the Rai studio — sculpted skyscrapers, magenta LED windows, rocky cliffs in the foreground.
Behind the scenes
A cinematic city
sized for a Rai studio.
The problem with a Manhattan inside the studio is apparent scale: the skyscrapers must look kilometres tall from a distance, yet fit inside a thirty-metre sound stage. It's an exercise in forced perspective — the real proportions are told a lie through the volumes and the lighting.
The skyscrapers in multiple planes
The skyline is built in three planes of depth: in front the ruins and the cliffs in faux stone, in the middle the skyscrapers three to four metres tall, sculpted in polystyrene + fibreglass, in the background the smaller stylised Empire State that closes the wing. The proportion between planes is calibrated for the fixed camera positions of Morbioli's direction — more than one camera, more than one rendering.
The magenta LED windows
Thousands of pierced windows are back-lit by magenta-violet LED panels behind the façades. Each skyscraper has its own internal "light cabin" that the director can switch on and off via DMX: the Manhattan breathes under the Molleggiato's lights. The magenta is no random colour choice — it's the colour of 1980s music video that visually signs the show.
The ruin and the cliff
In the foreground, an urban ruin portal in grey bricks with stone arches: hand-sculpted, painted with the patina of damp from a lived-in city. The rocky cliffs are lime-based faux stone with reliefs sculpted one by one — they look as if they came out of a Scorsese set, but they are there as a walkable wing for Celentano, Ranieri, Cornacchione and the comedians on stage.
4
150-minute episodes · 20 Oct — 10 Nov 2005
11.25 M
average viewers · 46.51% share
60.67%
Benigni's share · 27 October episode
Second life
Four Friday nights,
then Manhattan dismantled.
On 10 November 2005 the last episode of RockPolitik airs. The Manhattan inside the studio stands for three exact weeks of broadcast, then is dismantled. The nature of the event programme — four Friday nights, no scheduled second seasons, no construction re-runs — limits the lifespan of the scenography.
The magenta LED skyscrapers don't come back on stage as single elements. The technique, however, stays in our repertoire: back-lit LED panels behind hand-sculpted perforations is a scenographic device we reuse in several subsequent TV projects — later we apply it to the biomorphic LED desk of Cristina Parodi Live and in the scenography of other shows.
RockPolitik remains in Italian television memory as one of the most controversial programmes of the 2005 season. Not for its scenography — few remember the details — but for Benigni's monologue to Berlusconi on 27 October, in front of 15.6 million viewers and 60.67% share. Our Manhattan was the backdrop of that monologue.
Tech sheet
All production data
- Type
- Scenography for event TV show · Rai 1 prime time
- Programme
- RockPolitik · 4 episodes of 150 minutes · from 20 October to 10 November 2005
- Creator, author, artistic director
- Adriano Celentano
- Director
- Gaetano Morbioli · RUN Multimedia (director of iconic music videos for Vasco Rossi, Ligabue, Zucchero)
- Writers
- Vincenzo Cerami · Maurizio Caverzan · Diego Cugia · Carlo Freccero
- Regular cast
- Luisa Ranieri · Antonio Cornacchione (parodies of "poor Silvio") · Maurizio Crozza
- Notable guests
- Roberto Benigni (letter to Berlusconi, 27 October) · Carlos Santana · Patti Smith · Eurythmics · Franco Battiato · Riccardo Cocciante · Luciano Ligabue · Gianna Nannini · Negramaro · Subsonica · Eros Ramazzotti · Sabina Guzzanti · Alda Merini · Gérard Depardieu · Valentino Rossi
- Ratings
- Average: 11.25 million viewers · 46.51% share · peak of 15.6 million and 60.67% share for Benigni in the second episode
- Production
- Rai
- Pieces built
- Manhattan skyline at scenery scale — skyscrapers sculpted in polystyrene + fibreglass, pierced windows with back-lit magenta-violet LED panels, Art Déco building with central spire · urban ruin portal in grey bricks with stone arches, jagged windows · rocky cliffs in faux stone in the foreground, transition wings for the stage
- Techniques
- Hand-sculpted expanded polystyrene · reinforcing fibreglass · patinated faux stone · magenta LED back-lighting inside the skyscrapers' windows · walkable architecture, safe for a TV studio
- Build timeline
- 1 September 2005 — EXIF dates of our construction photos inside the studio · 20 October 2005 — first episode on air on Rai 1
- Our role
- Building the urban scenography — volume sculpting, façade fabrication, LED panel integration, faux stone finishing · Manhattan at scenery scale with three planes of depth
- Second life
- Set dismantled after the last episode · the back-lit LED technique behind hand-sculpted perforations stays in our repertoire for other TV programmes (e.g. Cristina Parodi Live)