NASHVILLE – Since 1970, the GMA Dove Awards has honored excellence in the Christian Music industry. At the 47th Annual GMA Dove Awards, event producer and production designer Scott DeVos of DeLux Productions was brought on board to help accentuate that diversity. Wanting LED video to play an integral role in the design, DeVos needed a provider with a myriad of technologies to fill the design, so he reached out to Nashville-based Elite Multimedia. Elite Multimedia supplied him with PixelFLEX LED video walls for the production design.
More details from Elite Multimedia (www.elitemultimedia.com):
“We’ve had the pleasure of working with the GMA Dove Awards for the past four years now and each year we are always trying to make the design the best it can be,” began DeVos. “The biggest difference this year was that we added a second performance stage so the video design would need to be much more distinct and more integrated. I really needed the right technology in each location and Elite Multimedia had that wide range of proven LED video technologies to make the overall design a success.”
Working with Elite Multimedia, DeVos began breaking down each LED video location needed for the production design. With the expanded stage set-up for this year’s event, he created a design that would utilize FLEXLite Plus 3.9mm and FLEXCurtain HD 12.5mm LED video technology controlled by SU-401 control units in the four locations on stage.
He continued, “First we decided to use LED video walls on each of the side performance stages for dynamic content and custom visuals behind each artist performing. We then used the FLEXCurtain HD LED video as a master header above the presenter stage for additional visual content and branding, and in addition to that, we needed LED video behind the presenter for the broadcast video packages. Since this presenter video wall would be seen in all the television close-ups, it had to be a very high quality with a small pixel pitch so we chose to once again utilize the FLEXLite Plus 3.9mm LED technology for this application.”
As the team turned their attention to the load-in phase of the production, the challenge of producing a televised awards ceremony in a basketball arena now became a factor. With a lot of work to be completed in a short amount of time, DeVos needed all the production elements to perform as designed, especially the LED video which was fully integrated into the production design.
“Since the GMA Dove Awards is held inside the university basketball arena there is no actual house production gear or grid in place,” explained DeVos. “We basically come into an empty arena and then build-out everything needed including a mother grid for rigging. With so much going on, it’s best when all the production elements perform as they are designed so it was great to be able to mock up the curved header truss and the FLEXCurtain HD LED in the Elite Multimedia shop. Their staff was very helpful in coming up with creative solutions and I loved working with Tom Wilson, Peter Streiff, and all the guys at Elite Multimedia.”
With all the elements now in place, the 47th Annual GMA Dove Awards aired on Sunday, October 16th on TBN and included performances by artists such as Matthew West, Big Daddy Weave, Greater Vision, TobyMac, Steven Curtis Chapman, Anthony Brown, Bethel Music, Hillsong United and many more.
“As we all sat and watched the show, it became clear that the production design for this event was a significant step forward,” concluded DeVos. “It was sort of electric because the entire room became filled with so much energy and passion. As producers of the show we were extremely pleased with the PixelFLEX LED video supplied by Elite Multimedia and this design will certainly be the framework for all of our future designs of the event.”
(Photo Credit: Elite Multimedia and Kirsten Balani Photography)
