Immersed within the heavily arrowed stage theme at Wembley Arena, the focal point was the 44sqm of landscaped D7 wall, which could travel vertically from its flown position upstage centre. This was reinforced by a smaller tunnel screen, marking the stars' entrance at the top of the stairs, and a single 12 x 2 vertical column, situated upstage left.
The CT screens integrated well with Vince Foster's inspired lighting design, with all the graphic feeds relayed to the flanking screens from a Catalyst server, triggered from a G5 computer. The main central display featured live camera action (and nominee captions) - fed from a CTV scanner truck - while CT themselves took five close-up feeds from the truck to provide a Beta playback show for the house audience.
Creative Technology has a long track record with this event - extending back to its days at Docklands Arena. This year it was again working for Tony Wheeler's production company Nine Yards, while Done & Dusted handled the TV production and Metropolis Music were the overall promoters.
The stage I-mag enabled the enthusiastic audience to witness fine performances from Kylie Minogue, Busted, McFly, Blue, Natasha and Daniel Bedingfield, Girls Aloud, Rachel Stevens and many others at close quarters.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
