Eurovision Song Contest 2008

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Main article: Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Serbia. The semi-finals were held on 20 May and 22 May, and the final was held on 24 May 2008 in the capital, Belgrade. Russia was declared winner, with Dima Bilan's song Believe. The Belgrade Arena, venue for the Contest, is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 seats. Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. The host broadcaster was RTS.

At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Contest for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009.^[8] On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.^[9] The 2008 contest's official website opened on 15 January 2008. For the first time ever, Eurovision.tv will stream national finals on ESCTV with broadcasters' permission.^[10] On 30 January 2008, Eurovision.tv revealed the theme of the Contest: "The Confluence of Sound".^[11]

On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from now on, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition.^[12]

Due to problems and riots in Belgrade following the declaration of independence by Kosovo on 22 February 2008, the EBU held a phone conference to decide if the contest should be moved to a different country. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted last year's competition in Helsinki, Finland.^[13] ERT also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again.^[14] It was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants of the contest.^[15] The delegations of Croatia, Israel and Albania had special security.^[16] The show was hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.^[17] Jelena Tomašević represented Serbia with a song composed by Joksimović; this led to debate over his role in the contest.^[18]

[edit] Visual design

RTS ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 Contest's branding, logo and the stage.^[19] The theme of this year's Eurovision Song Contest is based around the "confluence of sound". This is symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, forms the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.^[20]

The post cards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next. The creation of the flag would occur by the interaction of at least two people. Each post card had a short story related to it regarding Belgrade and its people. During each postcard a short letter written by the musician of the upcoming performing country was displayed. All were in the national language of the artist’s country. The postcards were fittingly brought to an end by a stamp with this year's Eurovision logo.

According to RTS the stage represents native identities, history and modern themes, symbols and universally recognised messages. The confluence stage also contains a large number of television and LCD display screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage.^[21] It was designed by Chicago-based David Cushing.

The first semi-final was created around a city theme. The contest opened with a panorama of the city of Belgrade forming in the stage's background with two waves sliding down the stage to meet in the centre - at the confluence, the overall theme of the contest.

The second semi-final was based around the theme of water, which was enhanced by the look of the stage during the interval act where the water formed the main colours of the stage.

The final was based on the theme of the confluence. Construction of the stage lasted several days and was carried out by various teams from across Europe. Pyrotechnics were heavily used during the first semi-final particularly for entries from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Finland, Turkey, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The stage received extremely positive feedback from the media and fans describing it as "one of the best looking stages in the history of the competition".^[22]

[edit] Format

Based on research conducted by the EBU's tele-voting partner Digame, the semi-finalists were sorted into the two heats through the drawing of lots, which was seeded to keep countries that have a significant history of voting for each other apart.^{[citation needed]} Each broadcaster had to broadcast the semi-final they are taking part in, with the broadcasting of the other semi-final being optional. The draw for the semi-final allocation occurred in the Belgrade City Hall on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by dancers from the National Dance Ensemble KOLO. First, two envelopes with 'Semi-Final 1' and 'Semi-Final 2' were drawn. Then, three countries from each pot were chosen randomly to take part in the first semi-final and the other three in the second one. The country left in Pot 5 took part in the first envelope that is drawn. While, the country left in Pot 6 in the second one.^[23]

The automatic finalist countries chose whether they would broadcast both semi-finals or just one, but viewers from these countries could only vote in one. From the draw conducted, it was decided which of the five finalist countries would broadcast and have voting rights in either of the events. The semi-finals were webcast live through Eurovision.tv.^[24] The top nine songs from the televoting qualified for the final, and a tenth was determined by the back-up juries. Twenty-five songs competed in the final.^[3]

[edit] Semi-final allocation

On 24 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the following pots based on voting history and geographical location:

[edit] Running order

The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each Semi-Final and the Final, was conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.^[25]

[edit] Individual entries

Template:Entries of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

[edit] Participating countries

On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade.^[26] San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, had its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision."^[5] Italy, who have not competed since 1997 and who would have been an automatic finalist, were again absent.

The following countries competed in two semi-finals which were broadcast live on Tuesday 20 May and Thursday 22 May 2008. In addition to this, automatic finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights and broadcast the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights and broadcast the second semi-final.

[edit] Semi-finals

[edit] Semi-final 1

• The first semi-final was held on 20 May 2008
• Peach indicates countries which qualified for the final
• Flax denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final

[edit] Semi-final 2

• The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008
• Peach indicates countries which qualified for the final
• Flax denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final

[edit] Final

The finalists were:

• the big four France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom
• the host country Serbia
• the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries (marked in yellow)
• the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries (marked in yellow)

The final was held on 24 May 2008 and was won by Russia.

Note: Official placements can be found here

[edit] Scoreboards

[edit] Semi-final 1

[edit] Semi-final 2

[edit] Final