UK - The 26th annual MOBO Awards took place at Newcastle’s 11,000-capacity Utilita Arena, celebrating black music and culture.
Enhancing this mood and supporting the dynamic music on stage was a bold and versatile lighting design by SJ Grevett and operated by Liam Griffiths and Kris Goodman that featured 98 Chauvet Professional fixtures.
Drawn from the company’s own inventory, the kit included 24 Maverick Storm 4 Profiles, 30 Maverick Storm 3 BeamWashes, 32 STRIKE 1 units and 12 COLORado PXL16 motorised tilting battens. “We went for the big and bold look with brightest fixtures, so we could really punch through against so much LED screen space on camera,” said SJ.
Utilising the wide zoom range and colour rendering capabilities of his Maverick and COLORado fixtures, as well as the intense output of his STRIKE units, Liam created the looks to reflect the mood of the moment and music.
Throughout the show, Liam changed colour combinations, careful to coordinate them with video content. Kris expanded and contracted the amount of dark space and key light to ensure that is looks were varied and interesting for both the lived audience and television viewers.
The looks that were conjured up were always reflective of the aspirations of the performers on stage. “We didn’t see content until a few days before the show, so everything was a bit of a stab in the dark, then tweaked on site. It was a real team effort to bring the creative ideas of the artists to life,” said SJ.
SJ set these looks within a clearly defined framework on his 12m trim stage. “Essentially, when it comes to award shows, in my opinion are two options - either frame a stage as we did in this case, or just go huge on the back with massive open stage,” he explained. “Budget dictated that we framed it for this show, so we squeezing as much kit in as small as possible space. This ensured that every camera shot was filled with light and screen.”
