The event was the 11th year in a row that XL Video and (XL Project manager Paul Wood) has been a supplier to the event, working for technical production co-ordinator Papilo Productions and producers Brits TV.
Peter Bingemann's stage set design was inspired by the work of British pop artist Peter Blake, and consisted of a series of different sized white box frames, which were filled with artefacts and props, and two LED screens, also ensconced in box frames. The stage left screen measured 8.1m high and 4.5 wide, while the stage right one was a 4.5m square surface, both made from Pixled F-11.
In front of these, on the downstage edge of the stage were three more F-11 screens, two 4 x 4m squares on the outside, sandwiching a rectangular 4 x 7.5m long frame in the middle. These were flown in to form a backdrop to the B-stage in the middle of the arena when it was in action, utilised to allow changeovers to take place on the main stage.
XL's projection system consisted of two 26 x 15ft side (of stage) screens used for IMAG, each fed by a doubled up pair of Barco FLM HD20 projectors.
In the house were another four IMAG projection screens all measuring 16ft by 9ft, fed by pairs of Barco SLM R12s.
The Camera package consisted of a GV Kayak HD PPU complete with two Grass Valley LDK 1000 camera channels - both positioned at FOH and with long x86 lenses. These plus 12 feeds from host broadcasters CTV were mixed by live video director Ruary MacPhie.
For playback, two Catalyst media servers, two GV Turbo hard drives and two Virtual VTRs, all fed and output to screen via XL's Barco Encore screen management system, were operated by Jonathan Bond.
Screen content for all live performances and Awards graphics was produced by Hello Charlie and co-ordinated by Ogle Hog.
A sparkling line up of live performance action included Adele, Rihanna, Blur, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Olly Murs. For Florence and the Machine's rendition of No Light No Light, XL also supplied 44 x 2m VersaTubes in custom columns on stage.
Another 40 x 2m Versatubes fed by a Hippo Media Server were used for the entrance of the Phase 2 pre-show VIP area inside the O2.
Paul Wood comments, "The Brits is always a special show to work on. There is pressure due to its profile, but the same Brits production team has now been together for many years, with great teamwork making it a very smooth operation."
(Jim Evans)
