First three postcards from The Netherlands in the can

13 February 2021 at 14:50 CET

Postcards are being recorded all around the Netherlands NPO/NOS/AVROTROS

Late last year the Host Broadcasters (NPO/NOS/AVROTROS) invited submissions for unique places in The Netherlands that could be used for Eurovision Song Contest postcards. Over 750 locations were submitted of which 41 unique places were selected. 3 postcards have already been recorded.

What connects telescopes, Wi-Fi, orange-coloured carrots, and Eurovision Song Contest “postcards”?

They were all invented in the Netherlands!

At the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam, the Dutch broadcasters (NOS) devised a creative way of disguising set changes between contestants while keeping the viewers at home glued to their screens.

Short films were commissioned by NOS to introduce each competing act from their home nation to be shown before their performance, and so an integral part of the Eurovision experience was born!

Five decades later and the Dutch team are having to innovate once more, to create postcards without the artists having to travel to the Netherlands before May due to the on-going pandemic.

Frisian Nannewiid on a crisp February morning. NPO/NOS/AVROTROS

Latest digital filming techniques

To overcome this challenge, the short films will be created using a range of the latest digital filming techniques. Each postcard will feature a ‘tiny house’ which will provide a home for the story and personality of each country’s act. Meaning all artists will still be introduced from special places all around The Netherlands, allowing the host country to shine.

“Our country has so much beauty to offer. We want to present the diversity of The Netherlands with beautiful nature, architectural masterpieces and historical places. All locations have their own story and will be visually outstanding,” said Gerben Bakker, Head of Show for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The first three postcards were recorded at the Lighthouse Westhoofd in Ouddorp, the flying-saucer shaped Evoluon in Eindhoven, and on the ice in Nannewiid, Friesland.

Fans across Europe and beyond will be delighted to learn that despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, postcards will be an integral part of the 2021 experience, 50 years after their debut at the RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam.