USA - The Latin Grammy Awards celebrated its 25th anniversary in a big way on 14 November, putting on a glittering show that was impressive even by the exalted standards of awards festivals. Every genre in the galaxy of Latin music shined at Miami’s Kaseya Centre, which resonated with performances by Marc Anthony, Pitbull, Eladio Carrión, Becky G, Sivia, DJ Khalid, Luis Fonsi, Jon Bon Jovi, and multiple other artists.
For Tom Kenny and the rest of the lighting team (LDs David Convertino, Felix Peralta and Joseph Vineyard), creating distinctive looks that reflected the individual musical personas of all these performers in the three-hour live broadcast show represented a challenge.
"We had to come up with a lot of looks over the course of the show, so the flexibility of our rig was key," said Peralta. "We usually end up doing 18 to 25 music performances in the show, involving artists from the many Latin genres. That’s a lot of material to light. All visual departments involved in this production make a great effort to create different, unique looks for all the performances that feel cohesive and unison in concept. Thus, it's absolutely essential to present a wide range of colours, in a tasteful manner.
"To do this we use a very broad palette, but not more than two colours, plus white at any given time," continued Peralta. "White is always free! That’s a philosophy that we and many of our contemporaries have adopted throughout the years. A truly “multi-coloured” song needs to be carefully planned and purposeful. Too much colour at once would result in the TV viewer becoming numb to the visual experience and not really being able to appreciate anything."
A versatile collection of 381 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment was essential to achieving this colourful balance according to Peralta. Most notable in this group were the rig's 164 Maverick MK3 Washes, and 54 Color Strike M motorised strobes-washes.
"We used the MK3 washes in three layers," detailed Peralta. "The stage portal washes were in full pixel mode for maximum performance effects. The floor 'shin buster' fixtures were used as dancer and performer side lights. Then, the remaining MK3s served as audience lighting. The design called for a large number of MK3 fixtures. The Latin Grammys has continually grown to become a big show, as prominent as the American Grammys, so we wanted this firepower."
Accenting key moments during the programming with strobe effects as well as delivering intense, colourful back and side lighting were the rig's Color Strike M fixtures, which were arranged across the upstage deck and on the thrust. "I love the Strike Ms," said Peralta. "They are capable of delivering violence and delicacy, all in one fixture. This versatility served us well during this three-hour programme."
Adding extra versatility to the programme were the dramatically changing geometric patterns that defined the stage in multiple different ways. Activating and deactivating lights like the 40 Colordash Par H7IP IP65 pars, 20 Rogue Outcast 2X Washes, and 30 Strike Array2 blinders that lined vertical structures, the design team was able to give the stage starkly different looks.
Also defining the stage in varied ways throughout the programme was a collection of Colorado PXL batten fixtures that lined the contours of the deck and risers at different levels. Like the other geometric fixtures in the rig, these units helped the design team create a framework for unfolding their production over the course of the show.
"With a three-hour live programme, we needed to carve out moments and shapes that the viewer would hopefully appreciate and remember," said Peralta. "This was a great collaboration – in particular regarding the production design by Jorge Dominguez and lighting design by Tom Kenny, which resulted in a clean, simple portal design."
