The atmosphere was more like that of a gig than an awards ceremony, due in large part, to its tight production and planning. The show itself changed format considerably this year, with the guests having dinner before the show in a separate draped area before moving into the main auditorium for the awards.
The event’s production manager, Mick Kluczynski, of MJK Productions, expanded: "We changed the layout in order to keep the show fresh. I brought together my regular team of suppliers, who make a consistent and professional team for the big awards shows I run each year."Peter Bingemann was set designer for the show, his brief to create an 'erotic and boudoir feel' which he did through the use of huge red velvet drapes and a giant gold flower. "We worked from a very intricate model, and built the set from there, so that we could envisage camera angles, and sight lines for the live audience."
Lighting designer Steve Nolan created a series of moods on the set, ranging from a ‘high energy look’ for LL Cool J and Craig David’s sets, through to the ‘sleazy feel’ of the Ashanti Club, and the ‘glitz and glamour feel’ of Chaka Kahn’s set. Vari-Lite supplied Nolan with a Virtuoso console, along with four VL1000s, 60 VL5 washes, 72 VL6C spots, and a selection of ETC Source Fours, Minuette Fresnels, Altman MR16 Battens and six Strong Super Trouper 2kW Xenon Searchlights, for the show.
Terry Hamilton managed the Power Logistics team which supplied two 1,000kVA generators to supplement the Docklands Arena’s supply, along with all of the power distribution. The demand for electrics required for the largeon-stage technical production, which included the sound, lighting, screens and back-up supply for the Channel 4’s recording of the show, was increased further by the temporary kitchens and bars installed to keep the 1,600 guests fed and watered.
ARB provided the large screens flanking the impressive stage set, particularly important for the presentations carried out by LL Cool J and Alesha from Mis-Teeq, which were filmed at different points throughout the venue. ARB put in two Christie 10k projectors and two 21ft x 16ft screens for the show.
Nick Brooks-Ward, production manager for ARB at the event commented: "Originally we were going to put LED screens in the venue, but the loading weight was too much for the structure so we used projectors instead, but upped the quality to cater to the needs of television."
ARB also handled the CCTV elements, providing coverage of the show both to the hospitality boxes and backstage in the form of 2 plasma screens and 14 televisions, and all the media centre audio feeds.
Brit Row provided the sound for the event, with the authoritative figure of Derrick Zieba guiding proceedings from the mixing position on the top tier of the audience structure, almost as high as the L-Acoustics V-Dosc flown Line-array system. The tiered nature of the audience grandstand and style of music, led Zieba to elect to fly the bass to ensure complete audience coverage, with the system hung out of sight of the audience and TV cameras.
As well as the presenters’ mics, all the vocals were live, with two large band set-ups for Craig David and Miss Dynamite, so three FOH boards - a combination of Midas XL3 and Heritage desks - and three monitor boards were used, as well as a complex comms system connecting the live and broadcast engineers at all times.
Zieba was delighted with his first foray into flying the V-Dosc bass. The line array proved its worth at this show, not least because one of the presentation podiums had been positioned in front of the stage left PA stack, which would have given us lots of pr
