(06/05/2015) Lighting Designer Tom Kenny produced another spectacular large-scale work to illuminate the 2015 mtvU Woodie Awards staged at the vast Austin American Statesman site on the south bank of the Colorado River during the SXSW Music Festival. The popular event, organized by MTV's 24-hour college network, capitalized on the buzz, excitement and sizzling array of cool, new, emerging and cutting-edge music that grips the city of Austin, Texas, for the week.
Tom works on many high-profile Awards show designs and continues to create new and original lighting schemes. For this year's Woodies, he incorporated over 200 Robe moving lights Pointes, LEDWash 1200s and LEDWash 600s - into the rig, for which his starting point was a stunning stage-set sculpture crafted from tens of thousands of wood planks, imagineered by Julio Himede.
The beautiful jagged wood structure clad the two stages which were set up side-by-side to facilitate a festival flip-flop' style presentation that ensured eight hours of continuous music from 5 p.m.
Hosted by Jack Antonoff (frontman of The Bleachers) the super-hot line-up featured ground-breaking artists like Big Sean, James Bay, Tove Lo, Years & Years, Marina & The Diamonds, Fall Out Boy, Ellar Contraine, Hoodie Allen, and many more. It was also recorded for a one-hour special, broadcast across the MTV network (of which mtvU also includes 750 college and university campuses throughout the U.S.).
Tom has worked with Julio many times before and having such an eye-catching and vast stage set made the job of lighting it simultaneously straightforward yet complex and more challenging, explained the Miami-based lighting and visuals specialist.
In keeping with the whole vibe and energy of the Woodies and the wider one of SXSW, his goal was to make it young, vibrant, colorful and positive but definitely with a bit of an edge. He adds that The Woodies has a very specific audience, with which the event's creative team needed to be in tune.
The wooden sets on both stages were similar but not identical, and were great fun to light revealed Tom, a task for which he used 96 x Robe LEDWash 600s and 69 x Robe LEDWash 1200s.
These were rigged along the base of the sets and used to shoot light up through the criss-crossing web of wood, with some fixtures located on custom platforms built within the set structure itself.
Tom needed a small, lightweight and powerful wash light with a nice even beam spread to fit neatly within the set framework and blast light across the vast expanses of wood.
More LEDWash 1200s located on a series of trussing towers were used as workhorse washes to highlight the site and the stages. It rained heavily during parts of the show, which really enhanced the LEDWash beams. Along with the insatiable spirit of the crowd, these fixtures could not be dampened!
The 36 x Pointes were rigged on the front trusses above along with the decks of the two stages and used for key lighting.
All the lighting which included other moving lights, strobes and a selection of generics was programmed onto the grandMA2 console operated for the show by Matt Piercy under Tom's direction, with another grandMA2 run by Matt Webb triggering the media server and all the playback video cues.
The 2015 mtvU Woodies was another massive success, attracting 2.2 million viewers on MTV, generating 22 million Facebook impressions as the social team engineered an official takeover of the Music on Facebook' page which helped the event trend worldwide on Twitter during the show. There were 6 million Woodies story views on Snapchat and 24,000 RSVPs from fans attending the show.
A major highlight apart from the amazing production was Fall Out Boy becoming the first ever inductee into the illustrious Hall of Wood'!
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
05/05/2024
A special evening performance by multiplatinum singer Becky G will provide a memorable conclusion to TeievisaUnivision's Casa Cultura upfront event on May 1...
05/05/2024
Giant media buyer Publicis is telling network sales executives that it does not think Nielsen's new panel-plus-big-data currency is ready for this upfront....
05/05/2024
WASHINGTON Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst at NBC News, blasted the media for referring to the New York trial of former President Donald Trump as a hush-money ...
05/05/2024
Catchy Comedy's weekend marathon sees The Beverly Hillbillies on the weekend of May 4-5. The event kicks off Saturday, May 4 at 11 a.m. ET, and runs through...
05/05/2024
NBC Sports has the 150th Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 4. The coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock and the feature race at Churchill Downs in Louis...
04/05/2024
NEW YORK As the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off in May, Nielsen has released an extensive new report diving into their media habits with data sh...
04/05/2024
PHILADELPHIA As National Military Appreciation Month gets underway, Comcast has announced several new initiatives to help veterans, service members, and their f...
04/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled...
04/05/2024
The Broadband Forum has announced major enhancements to key 5G convergence standards that the group said will help advance next-generation applications, improve...
04/05/2024
Spotify Wrapped Campaign Spot Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist M...
04/05/2024
Three Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions.
...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
03/05/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Actors K stutis Cic nas and Greta Grinevi i t , Director Marija Kavtaradze and Producer Marija Razgute attend the 2023 Sunda...
03/05/2024
If you aren't familiar with Danny Ocean's music, it's only a matter ...
03/05/2024
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all genres, to helping them launch and thrive in their careers, and to connecting the...
03/05/2024
Como uno de los sonidos de mayor expansi n en el mundo, la M sica Mexicana va m ...
03/05/2024
As one of the fastest-growing sounds worldwide, M sica Mexicana is more than jus...
03/05/2024
NEW YORK FuboTV reported that it lost 110,000 subs in Q1 2024 but it exceeded its guidance for the quarter with double digit year-over-year increases across key...
03/05/2024
Only 3 Weeks Left To Enter The Creative Industries Most Award
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Creativepool is giving a last call to the creative i...
03/05/2024
WePlay Studios Transforms the Future of Live Event Storytelling with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
By 2032, the esports market is expec...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Shannon Bream, Fox News Sunday anchor and chief legal correspondent, sat for a keynote chat at The Business of TV News, with Tom Umstead, senior co...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Asked how important is local news, Martha Raddatz, who has covered foreign conflicts for decades and moderated presidential debates for ABC News, s...
03/05/2024
Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion cash offer fo...
03/05/2024
CBS announced its 2024-2025 primetime schedule, which features the new dramas NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson, and new comedies Poppa's House and Georgie ...
03/05/2024
Sports-focused streaming service Fubo said it reduced its red ink in the first quarter, despite losing 110,000 subscribers since the end of the year....
03/05/2024
Walmart is reportedly about to release a new 4K streaming box/smart speaker hybrid device for Google TV that could retail for as low as $50, according to a repo...
03/05/2024
Enhancements to its Delivery Workspace solution provide increased content delivery robustness and security
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 3, 2024
Enha...
03/05/2024
According to reports, if the bid is successful, Sony would be the significant majority shareholder of the new private company
By Jenny Priestley
Published: M...
03/05/2024
Located in Manchesters Spinningfields district, the course aims to equip students with the skills, knowledge and industry insight for a career in the creative s...
03/05/2024
Lightbridge has created a new Cine Reflect Lighting System kit, dedicated to enabling artistic lighting with consideration of today's productivity practical...
03/05/2024
Broadcast media systems integrator BeckTV and Lawo worked together on a large-scale AES67 build of radio control rooms at KPBS, San Diego's NPR and PBS memb...
03/05/2024
Raleigh, NC, April 12, 2024 SmallHD announces PageOS 6, a powerful software update free for owners of SmallHD monitors, featuring increased functionality, exp...
03/05/2024
SmallHD announces the Quantum 32 a new 31.5 OLED monitor designed to provide reference HDR/SDR images for post-production final color grading, as well as cri...
03/05/2024
By 2032, the esports market is expected to grow to $9.29 billion, bolstered by a global player count and fan following that both continue to climb. The 2023 Lea...
03/05/2024
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced that the 11th edition of the Amagi Global FAST Rep...
03/05/2024
Riedel Communications today announced that Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) is relying on a media and intercom network based on Riedel technology for the renewal of...
03/05/2024
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
03/05/2024
Media technology innovator Limecraft will exhibit the latest updates to its online platform on stand G79 at the 15-16 May 2024 Media Production & Technology Sho...
03/05/2024
Audio interface specialist Prism Sound is partnering with console manufacturer Solid State Logic, professional monitor manufacturer PMC and acoustic panel and d...
03/05/2024
Intinor, Sweden's leading developer of products and solutions for high-quality video over the internet, is set to join forces with its UK partner Zest Techn...
03/05/2024
NAKIVO Inc., a fast-growing software company dedicated to protecting physical, virtual, cloud, and SaaS environments, announced its Q1 2024 financial results to...
03/05/2024
Hiltron Communications announces an addition to its range of satellite communication products and systems: a field-upgradable motorisation kit specifically desi...
03/05/2024
Visit LiveU at Stand D30
With this year an exceptional one for major sporting events alongside multiple, key elections, the power and flexibility of LiveU'...
03/05/2024
Agile Content, the leader in the development of technology and solutions for the provision of television services over the Internet, announces Koldo Unanue as i...
03/05/2024
Eight co-signers representing streaming services, pay TV operators and public interest groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging their Committee...
03/05/2024
BOSTON Brightcove has announced that it has implemented Amazon Q Business, a new generative AI assistant on Amazon Web Services (AWS)....
03/05/2024
NEW YORK CBS has declared that it will finish the 2023-24 season as Americas Most-Watched Network in primetime for the 16th consecutive season....
(06/05/2015) Lighting Designer Tom Kenny produced another spectacular large-scale work to illuminate the 2015 mtvU Woodie Awards staged at the vast Austin American Statesman site on the south bank of the Colorado River during the SXSW Music Festival. The popular event, organized by MTV's 24-hour college network, capitalized on the buzz, excitement and sizzling array of cool, new, emerging and cutting-edge music that grips the city of Austin, Texas, for the week.
