XL Video provided video production – including LED screens, projection system, PPU and cameras – for the 2012 BRIT Awards, staged for the second year running at London’s O2 Arena.
The event was the 11th year in a row that XL Video has been a supplier to the event, working for technical production co-ordinator Papilo Productions and producers Brits TV.
The 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 mounted in box frames. The stage left screen measured 8.1 metres high and 4.5 wide, while the stage right one was a 4.5 metre 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 4 metre squares on the outside, sandwiching a rectangular 4 x 7.5 metre 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 15 ft 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 16 ft by 9 ft, 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.
For playback, two Catalyst media servers, two GV Turbo hard drives and two Virtual VTRs, were all fed and output to screen via XL’s Barco Encore screen management system.
XL also supplied 44 x 2 metre Versa Tubes in custom columns on stage. Another 40 x 2 metre Versa Tubes fed by a Hippo Media Server were used for the entrance of the Phase 2 pre-show VIP area inside the O2.
