NASHVILLE – For the McDonald’s 365 Black Awards, broadcast on BET, Andrew Logan from the Walton Issacson agency worked with Korey Washington on the looks used for the set and the show. The design includes FLEXCurve 8mm LED from Nashville-based PixelFLEX, supplied by Atlanta Audio Visual.
More details from PixelFLEX (www.pixelflexled.com):
Held inside the New Orleans Theater at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the McDonald’s 365 Black Awards, helmed by Andrew Logan, Creative Director from powerhouse agency Walton Issacson, recognizes extraordinary people and franchise owner/operators whose vision, compassion, and courage have a significant local, national or global impact. Held in conjunction with the ESSENCE Festival, supervising art director and segment producer Korey Washington was brought on to give each portion of the show its own unique look for the BET broadcast. To do so, he wanted to broaden the scope of the production design using LED video, and so working with Atlanta Audio Visual he chose the award-winning FLEXCurve 8mm LED from Nashville-based PixelFLEX.
“This is my second year working with the 365 Black Awards and I was brought on by the production designer Brent Trammel to create specialty looks for the different artists and internal segments of the show,” began Washington. “I wanted to create an environment that would open up the event design through visual and visceral movement in the peripheral of the camera. One of the reasons I wanted to use the FLEXCurve 8mm LED technology was that it would allow me to really broaden the scope of what the camera sees and it was the perfect fit for what we wanted to do.”
The Parnelli Award-winning FLEXCurve breaks all barriers in the rigid tile category through an innovative dual wing curving LED tile. With an 8mm – 12mm pitch that is designed for both indoor and outdoor applications, the FLEXCurve is available to meet the needs of those looking for high definition LED displays while still maintaining the unique flexible characteristics of PixelFLEX LED video screens. Designed with rigging flexibility in mind, FLEXCurve LED video screens feature easy top-mounting, “Rig and Click” vertical interconnect, hassle-free alignment, plus quick horizontal interconnect and curve setup.
The performance area of the stage set we created inside the New Orleans Convention Center is approximately 20 feet wide so we needed to create a video design that could be expansive depending upon what was happening on stage,” continued Washington. “The production was shot with 6 cameras so we decided to use the FLEXCurve as not only a center stage LED video element, but we also had LED video towers stage left and right as well. The center potion measured 24’ wide x 12’ high, and the side towers were approximately 5’ wide x 12’ high, with about 4’ of negative space between them. Beyond these three, we then spaced out yet another LED tower approximately 3’ wide by 12’ high, and together all of this gave me purposeful negative space. On some shots it literally made the wall seem to be about 35’ wide, but since we had the negative space it completely broadened the perceived scope and created the illusion of a much larger space in the other camera shots.”
With the FLEXCurve LED video walls on site, Washington and his crew were quickly able to complete the load-in process and then moved onto refining the details of the design for the show. Knowing he would have to adjust for some camera angles, the FLEXCurve articulation capabilities provided him with yet another design advantage.
“I have had the opportunity to work with many of the LED video technologies and when creating a design you really have to choose the right product that will serve your design best,” admitted Washington. “One of the things I loved about the FLEXCurve was it allowed me to do something very helpful to overcome light refraction by adjusting the last curve by only 5% so the side camera didn’t get a reflection off the face of the wall. With this versatility, I could go into the truck and have them pull up all the camera shots and see the exact LED video wall design that we wanted to see.”
With the show almost ready to begin, Washington was excited to see the design in action, and he was confident that they had chosen the exact LED video product needed based on the recommendation from PixelFLEX production rental partner Atlanta Audio Visual.
“I’ve worked with Atlanta Audio Visual on several different occasions and they are really keen at approaching projects from a technical side and being innovative with the products they put on a project,” added Washington. “Their inventory is relevant for a number of different applications and no matter what type of design I am working on, they have the precise technology I need.”
Now that the McDonald’s 365 Black Awards have drawn to a close, the production will air on September 1, 2016, on BET. Thinking back in what he was able to accomplish, Washington is quick to note that the FLEXCurve LED video gave the production a higher-level of artistry through not only its eye-catching performance, but also its innovative product design.
“Simply put, the FLEXCurve as a product allowed me to elevate my creativity in many dynamic ways,” concluded Washington. “In this design the LED walls were the animated elements in the room and they gave me the ability to quickly transform the stage environment. I also love that the FLEXCurve has a dense substrate so that when things go to black, they are truly black. With other walls, I sometimes have to spend more time dealing with what’s behind it, instead of what’s on it, but that’s not the case with the FLEXCurve because it always looked good.”
