The drapes and rigging specialists, led by project director Kevin Monks, collaborated with Brits TV and Beyonce's production team to install an 8m wide by 12m fine gauze high speed roller screen which became the centre piece of the star's simple yet glamorous performance.
In collaboration with set company, Steel Monkey, the team installed three steel boxes upstage of the screen, clad with multiple layers of white voile to create a series of projection surfaces for XL video to display creative content. At the opening of the performance, Beyonce stood between the fine gauze and a giant close up of her face was projected live onto the screen, appearing to the audience as if suspended in mid-air.
As the star belted out the lyrics 'turn the lights out', the projection disappeared and the main central set frame was revealed by a kabuki fabric drop system and the gauze screen was raised at over 1m per second by the roller screen mechanism. Both systems were controlled by the Blackout team to reveal the singer in her sparkling green dress.
On stage, the three 2.5m2 boxes were positioned behind her and used to project stars, fireworks and abstracts of the New York City skyline. The awards marked Beyonce's first ever live TV performance of 'XO'.
Blackout's Kevin Monks commented, "Beyonce's performance gave us the opportunity to use two of our reveal products, especially our fast roller screen system which is an ideal mechanism to create dramatic effects or to deploy projection surfaces within the content of even the most technically challenging shows. They're perfect for projection in this environment and are proving very popular with music acts; we created another special projection effect with this product for Miley Cyrus at the MTV EMAs in November last year.
"All the screen surfaces for Beyonce's performance were custom-made by our sewing department and worked really well for the simple, clean lines required by the production team. The minimalism of a white backdrop allows the lights and projection to stand out both for the live audience and the TV viewers at home."
Elsewhere in the venue Blackout installed all masking drapes within the main arena, drapes throughout the party area plus velour and voile drapes in the artists' bar, creating sumptuous surroundings for the winners to relax and celebrate their success.
(Jim Evans)
