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Brits 25
Reportedly costing £1.4 million to stage for a live audience of 5,500 and WITH TV viewers topping the seven million mark, the 2005 edition of the Mastercard BRIT Awards at Earls Court 2 was notable for being not only the 25th show, but also the 10th under the auspices of Mick Kluczynski and his MJK Productions team.
Presented by the comeback kid, Chris Evans, the 25th BRITs lived up to all its expectations of glamour and style, and contrary to previous years it was the fresh talent who grabbed all the headlines. Scissor Sisters, the New York club act adopted by Britain, took away three awards and even pipped U2's monolithic Bomb to the post for the Best International Album award. Franz Ferdinand, Keane and Joss Stone, all of whom, like the Scissors, were hardly heard of a year ago, each won two BRITs.
Meanwhile, the old guard was represented by Outstanding Contribution To Music award-winner 'Sir' Bob Geldof who, for once, was being honoured as a musician and not as 'Brother Teresa'.
Extending the show by 30 minutes meant the roster of live acts was increased by last year's nine to 12, featuring The Streets, Scissor Sisters, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, Joss Stone, Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Williams, Green Day, Gwen Stefani, Lemar & Jamelia, Natasha & Daniel Bedingfield and Bob Geldof.
Despite lubricating the audience with 6,000 bottles of champagne and 10,000 bottles of wine, there were none of the 'unscheduled moments' of the Jarvis/Jacko kind that made the BRITs notorious in years gone by. In fact, the biggest surprise performance of the night was Robbie Williams' duet with Joss Stone on 'Angels' - voted Best Song since the BRITs began in 1977, by BBC Radio 2 listeners. It has to be said, however, that the pre-determined shortlist of songs was more than a little controversial.
Upon hearing that former Take That partners Gary Barlow and Howard Donald would be presenting the award, the Robster's face turned pale, only to crack with palpable relief when he realised the pair descending to the podium were, in fact, a not-too-convincing Matt Lucas and David Walliams from 'Little Britain'.
To clear up some possible confusion, this was the 25th BRITs, not the show's 25th anniversary. The event was launched in 1977 as the British Record Industry Centenary Britannia Awards but there was a five-year hiatus between the first and second ceremonies. Being the 25th show, much was being made of this milestone and the production was naturally bigger... or was it?
"It's not actually that much bigger, physically-speaking," insisted Mick Kluczynski, the founder of MJK Productions and the BRITs' production manager for the last 10 years. "We're already at maximum capacity for the room and you only have to see the drawings to realise you couldn't squeeze a fag paper into Earls Court 2, but the structure itself is higher. The main difference for us is that the show is running 30 minutes longer, and that means we have more acts to deal with; we need more dressing rooms, bigger storage areas and more rolling risers.
"Having said that, we have more acts who are straightforward. Last year we had nine acts with seven sets; this year we have 12 acts with five sets. We're not saving on space but we are on bulky weight."
The process of deciding on how the acts are presented has become a well established practice for MJK. The set designer who handles the core show normally has the first option on designing for the artists performing at each year's show, and this year it was Mark Fisher, working with his colleague Ray Winkler.
Any specials that were designed by outside designers all went through Fisher and Winkler to have them built by MJK-specified contractors to ensure consistency and compatibility. "Kate Wright is my partner and financial controller for all of this," said Kluczynski. "We contract all of this work out and then charge the record companies."
He continued: "The essential team is the director, the set designer, the lighting designer and the artist. The process for us goes via the record company; seldom do we deal directly with the artist at the outset. This generally means it's a long process and it starts as soon as we know who the performers are. I often go into meetings with my practical hat and advise on what can or can't be done. It doesn't always make me the most popular man in the room but, hey, that's my lot in life!"
From load-in to load-out, the total amount of time spent in Earls Court by the crew is 13 days. The first day sees the arrival of pre-rig lighting and scaffolding; day two and three - scaff and the first set pieces; day five - AV, PA and lighting; day six - technical checks; day seven, eight and nine - rehearsals; day 10 - show day; day 11, 12 and 13 - load-out.
Explained Kluczynski: "The production, tables and chairs come out first, followed by the scaffolding, leaving all the lighting that's flying in the air. We've built ourselves into a corner this year because we've only got one exit that we can use, so overnight we'll rip out all the dressing rooms and flatten that area for all the steel trucks to come in. On show night we're actually on site a lot longer than normal, because the backstage media village is in full swing with radio broadcasts until midnight, there's an new artist lounge also running until midnight, and the aftershow party is on until 2am. Every year we try to introduce something different and if it works, we'll use it as a starting point for another idea the following year."
Working to a consistent formula is one of the major strengths of MJK Productions and the forging of long-term relationships with regular suppliers has been key to the company's success. "Very little has changed over the years in terms of who we use on the BRITs," said Kluczynski. "I've never used any PA company other than Brit Row. PRG in all their guises have always been there, and we also have Outback Rigging, Blackfriars, XL Video, Blackout, Spaceworks, Show & Event Security, Leith's, Eat Your Hearts Out, Stageco, Showstars and CCCP.
"I compare quotes every three years just to keep my suppliers on their toes, but it rarely changes my decision making. Both sides know who and what we're dealing with."
Kluczynski, of course, recently experienced what it's like to be on the other side of the stage. Nine days before the event, he was an award-winner himself, picking up the Lifetime Contribution gong from former BRITs producer Lisa Anderson at TPi's ever-so-slightly more humble soiree.
SET DESIGN
"I'm not sure why they asked me," said Fisher, with just a hint of self-deprication. "I work with [TV director] Hamish Hamilton a lot, [LD] Al Gurdon and I are old friends and we've done a lot of MTV shows together, and I've known Mick for 30 years, so I guess they might have been contributing factors."
The overall set design was inspired by images suggested in Pedro Juan Gutirrez's compelling novel, 'Dirty Havana Trilogy'. Less than a week after returning from the opening of KĖ, the new Cirque du Soleil show, Fisher explained the background: "We were just talking about what to do and I knew they wanted something of a departure from previous years, where the sets have just grown bigger and bigger. So I thought we should try to create an atmosphere within the room itself, which is when the idea evolved to effectively place a decadent nightclub environment within a tropical, decaying Cuban theatre. It vaguely looks like the room and the performance area are related, and that's a departure in itself."
Kluczynski commented: "Some of the performers will want to have their own designers like Jonathan Perry who has previously been commissioned by acts like Destiny's Child, Beyonce and Ricky Martin to come up with special sets.
"Occasionally we deal with American designers for the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson. With Jackson, we came into the office one morning and there was a whole roll of fax paper on the floor with very detailed drawings for a set that he wanted us to get built, but the designer didn't come over himself. A similar situation has occured this year for Snoop Dogg, where we haven't even met the designer.
"The problem with having someone designing a set who isn't close to the show is that you get clashes against the main design. In the past, the set has always been very specific and modern-looking. What Mark has designed this year is basically a theatre, so you can put anything you like on the stage and it won't look out of place."
Fisher continued: "We're working with Steve Cohen on Snoop and it's no big thing for us because we've done Van Halen together before, and Ray and I know most of the people who are bringing their shows in. We've acted as a clearing house for all these external designs, but only at the level of facilitating what they wanted to achieve. The idea of doing it this way was that there would be a slightly 'rough around the edges' Hammersmith Apollo-type stage proscenium to frame the artists' sets, rather like a regular touring situation.
Stageco built the main structure, Blackfriars looked after the scenic work and Stage One Creative Services handled many of the custom-built set pieces. Blackout's team, headed by Chris Brain and Kevin Monks, designed and supplied soft goods for the main stage. This included the design and supply of five track-and-drape systems in a variety of fabrics for various artists including Franz Ferdinand, Joss Stone and Bob Geldof.
Joss Stone's set featured four giant silver chiffon drapes, each measuring 4 x 12 metres. These were flown as the young diva entered the stage, before the soft chiffon tumbled elegantly on to the set, providing a sophisticated feminine touch. The soft, semi-opaque shimmering material caught the light beautifully.
Franz Ferdinand's 'soft' elements included rich russet velour fabric. Their two 9 x 9 metre drops were designed and manufactured at Blackout's HQ, offering a lavish and glamorous effect. Over 250 square metres of red velour featured in Geldof's set. Tracked in on cue, it provided a stunning backdrop and added the finishing touch.
Blackout also supplied over 1,000 square metres of black voile to add a stylish ambience to the Artist Lounge, and over 5,000 square metres of black wool serge was deployed in the main arena, disguising Earls Court's stark surroundings and softening the acoustics.
I spoke with Fisher in the production office as Gwen Stefani was rehearsing her performance, on the eve of the big night. "Right now, out there on the stage, Gwen is surrounded by a lot of oversized magic mushrooms and revolving playing cards in a set that parodies 'Alice In Wonderland'. Snoop was on earlier with Steve Cohen's giant New York door-on-steroids, and before him, the Scissor Sisters did their run through."
Fisher had little to do with the Scissor Sisters' set. Being huge fans of the Muppets, they paid homage by going directly to Jim Henson's Creature Shop - one of the pre-eminent character-building and visual effects facilities serving the international film, television and advertising industries - to devise a cast of specially-designed puppets, including singing melons, a giant bird, dancing eggs, houses and telegraph poles, all set within a crazy, colourful village.
"They have a whole crew of people under the stage, sticking their hands out of holes to animate these melons and bring life to the telegraph poles - it's quite mental!" laughed Fisher. "It's a lot of production, which naturally makes Hamish very happy, but makes Mick froth at the mouth, but that's kind of how it's meant to be! They both understand their roles and hate each other for it."
VIDEO
With Dave Weatherhead at the helm, automation specialist Kinesys was called in by show production rigging company Outback to co-ordinate the moving of the screens.
Kinesys attached two variable speed winches to staging company Stageco's huge, 46 metre wide ground supported heavy duty truss. The winches were moved by two Kinesys Velocity drive units - one for each side of the screen - which travelled between several different positions, depending on various artist set-ups. It was also used for between-act scene changes. Automation control was via Kinesys' proprietary Vector PC-based software.
Chris Saunders, whose former company Black Pig handled the BRITs until XL took over three years ago, managed the show's camera and VT nomination system, while live direction was by Nick Fry.
XL supplied its own OB truck, plus a full video playback system designed and operated by Richard Turner. XL also supplied one camera for the live I-Mag mix, sent to the two Barco side screens, with Fry also having access to feeds from the six broadcast cameras brought in by CTV to record the show.
Based in a Portakabin next to the OB truck, Turner ran Dataton control for all the playbacks. He worked with Lee Lodge (creative director on the last Robbie tour) who created special visuals and content, although some artists also supplied their own sources, all of which appeared on the centre screen. Storage devices included three hard drives and a Final Cut Pro suite, two Magic DaVE effects devices, and the truck also carried an Aston caption generator.
RECORDING THE SHOW
Alington, who also created an 'international' version of the edited show, with the English commentary and voiceovers removed, said: "Our main aim, year on year, is to keep driving up the quality of the soundtrack, to make the BRITs the best sounding multi-artist music TV show there is. Over the years we've evolved various techniques using the latest technologies to get around the challenges of the incredibly tight time-frame and five-minute changeovers between live acts."
This was also Alington's 10th BRITs, having secured his role when Kluczynski first took the production reins of this constantly evolving show. He added: "The TV audience expects to watch a show that looks and sounds as though it's had a full post-production job done on it, whereas in fact we have about 18 hours to achieve the same effect!"
LIVE AUDIO
Said Kluczynski: "Derrick effectively works as my sound engineer. He's a brilliant diplomat and he filters all the requests, talks to Capita-Symonds, the noise people, and basically is the best person for the job. He doesn't have an equivalent on the lighting side, because there is much less interaction between an artist and lighting than there is between an artist and sound in a visiting situation. We have very little input from the artists' sound engineers and even less from their LDs, even if they're on tour at the time. Everyone tends to accept that we're very self-contained and we know our gig."
This year, Zieba and Brit Row decided to deploy a Lab.Gruppen-powered L-Acoustics rig in place of the EV X-Line system used in 2004. There was a very wide left/right hang of V-DOSC and dV-DOSC, a smaller centre cluster of V-DOSC and dV-DOSC, and ARCS outfills hung to cover the outfield seating. Adjacent to the left/right hangs were SB218s in a cradle, acting as a sub-bass line array, whilst further SB218s were positioned under the stage - supported by EV1152 infill speakers - to reinforce the sound for the fans in the pit. Monitor wedges were Turbosound TFM-450s and TFM-350s.
Commented Zieba: "My normal preference for this kind of event would be X-Line - I particularly like the specially-designed sub-bass it offers. However, Mark Fisher asked us to fly the PA well out of the way of the set and video screens. This meant we'd have to fly platforms for the sub-bass and we had a lot of downfill to cover anyway. On balance, we achieved much more than a good result with V-DOSC and I was very satisfied."
Working at FOH were Brit Row crew chief Steph Thompson, Dave Bracey (mixing the presentations and Robbie Williams) and Andy Robinson (mixing the artists), with Bob Lopez, Richard Trow and Nico Royas on system management. Ian Newton and Kursten Smith handled the monitor engineers, and Pete McGlynn, Dorus Hummels and Steve Donovan worked on stage.
One of the big breakthroughs for the BRITs came a couple of years ago when digital mixing desks were introduced to the production. A Yamaha PM1D was used at FOH and on monitors, with a Yamaha DM2000 at FOH assigned to video playback and presenters' mics, and a Midas XL3 on stage as a 24 in/24 out radio mic matrix board.
"When I looked at the list of live artists and their requirements, I realised we'd need 12 analogue consoles and all the associated outboard processing," said Zieba. "Even packed in tightly, that would have taken up a massive 25 metres of real estate! We could have done it with six analogue boards at a pinch, but the reliability would have severely compromised, and that's no longer an option on this show. It's an absolute delight to be able to deliver such reliability whilst significantly reducing the working areas at FOH and the monitor position."
Kluczynski offered his own view on the digital domain: "When digital desks first came out I resisted them for a couple of years because I didn't want to be the guinea pig. If the desk fails, you lose the show and in this case it would be a disaster of the worst kind. So we tried it out on the Classical BRITs which was a big challenge because of the amount of channels required for an orchestra, and the results were excellent. Even so, I waited until I heard of enough success stories to inspire enough confidence, and now we've taken the plunge we won't be going back."
Hand Held Audio designed and manned a 60 channel wireless radio microphone and in-ear monitoring system to cover the artists on-stage and the team of presenters, led by Chris Evans, who used the Sennheiser 1046 system with Neumann hand-held mics.
A combination of Sennheiser and Shure equipment was carefully planned and co-ordinated to cover the production specifications of the entire show. Franz Ferdinand and Keane were among the bands using the Sennheiser G2 in-ear systems, whilst the Scissor Sisters opted for the Sennheiser 500 series hand-held radio mics. Daniel & Natasha Bedingfield, Jamelia & Lemar, The Streets, Robbie Williams and Joss Stone all chose to use Shure Premier series radio mics with Beta 58 capsules. Green Day, meanwhile, chose to use the no-fuss, classic SM58 for lead vocals and Bob Geldof plumped for a hard-wired Beta 58A. Other equipment in use included five Shure PSM700 in-ear transmitters with 20 body pack receivers and six Shure UHF body pack systems for drum and head-mic applications.
Radio mic guru John 'Freddo' Fredericks was there to monitor RF conditions, liaise with artists and crew, and ensure everything ran smoothly on the night. Andrew Lillywhite, Sennheiser's wireless expert, was also there to aid the task. Hand Held Audio was also asked to supply radio mics and IFB for the OB production. These were used in the backstage studio where presenter Kate Thornton captured the action and attitudes behind the scenes.
LIGHTING & PYRO
The enormous lighting spec furnished out of PRG Europe's Greenford base amounted to 108 Vari*Lite VL6Cs, 114 VL5s, 70 VL3000 Spots, 28 VL3000 Washes, 52 VL2416s, 64 James Thomas PixelLines, 22 3kW Syncrolites, five 88kW and six 40kW Lighting Strikes, 620 single Par cans, 200 Spacelites (for Robbie's 'Angels'), 23 Thomas 1kW Groundrows, 225 Bulkheads, 50 MR16 Birdies, 66 Par 36 DWEs, 32 2-lite DWEs, 56 ETC Source Fours, 48 Encapsulites, 40 Skypans, five Gladiator follow spots, nine truss-mounted Starklites four Pani 1kW beam lights, 54 Martin Atomic strobes, 32 Diversitronics 3600 DMX strobes and 1,300 channels of Avolites dimming. Control was provided by three Whole Hog IIs (plus a back-up desk) and seven Whole Hog II Overdrives.
PRG also supplied 32 Lodestar Motors fitted with IBEX encoders and two IBEX+ Motor Control Systems, and in addition to the main truss supplied by Outback, PRG provided 305 metres of Mini Beam, 216m of stacking truss, 171m of A Type (GP) and 100m of S Type truss.
As Mark Fisher observed: "I'd imagine the only time that PRG's warehouse is empty is when we do the BRITs, and it's probably the same for Stageco! At least we give them the opportunity to paint their floor!"
Along with the stylish lighting, the occasional flash of pyrotechnic excess wowed the audience. Le Maitre was commisioned by BMG Sony to provide a pyro reveal for Jamelia and Lemar's performance of Robert Palmer's 'Addicted To Love', designed to give maximum dramatic effect to the start of the performance. The pyro was used to mix between footage of the singers walking down a staircase on the videowall, and their appearance on the stage as the London Community Gospel Choir moved out of the way and the smoke cleared.
The technology of the firing system enabled the pyro technician to synchronise the cue with the band and the video using the time code generated by the drummer's sequencer. Once the controller was programmed, the cue happened precisely on time to within one frame of the video. The hit started with a chase of 26 _ x 15 Stage Gerbs from the outside of the curved stage to the centre. It was followed by 16 1 x 25 Stage Gerbs, 10 Medium and Loud Report Theatrical Flashes fired from the downstage edge of the stage, and 30ft Mines fired from stage left and stage right. It took a team of three Le Maitre pyro technicians to set up the effects in the five minutes allowed between performances.
Le Maitre was also in charge of the effects for Green Day's performance of 'American Idiot', having been touring with the band since January. Green Day's show, designed by Pyrotek Special Effects featured rows of Dragons (the spectacular propane gas flames), which combined with the videowall to create the impression of the band's logo burning, and a hit of Loud Report Theatrical Flashes and Fireballs at the end of the song.
Summing up the big night, Derrick Zieba said: "I honestly think it was the best BRITs we've done so far, with the best live line-up and best looking set. More importantly, for me, it was the best sound we've ever achieved and it couldn't have happened without such a brilliant crew - especially those guys on stage who worked miracles to get the changeovers done within very small windows of time.
"We've now honed down the technology to fit the purpose and this year was it's most severe test. The responses we got from management and artists' crews were remarkably positive, and I think we can all take a lot of satisfaction from that."
Show photos by John Marshall
© 2005 JM Enternational
Crew photos by Mark Cunningham & Mike Lethby
The BRITs trophy is designed by John Marshall and sculpted by Robert Glover for BRIT Awards Ltd.
TPi editor MARK CUNNINGHAM REPORTS...
Despite his association with some of the biggest artists and events in the world, this was the first-ever BRITs to employ the talents of yet another TPi 2005 Award-winner, set designer Mark Fisher.
Project-managed by Paul Wood, XL Video supplied the massive 16 x 7 metre Unitek V9 central LED screen and two 30 square metre 16:9 ratio Barco S10 LED side screens. Integrated into Mark Fisher's scenic design, the central screen split apart vertically into two sides and both sides tracked off-stage utilising a Kinesys movement system for millimetre-perfect accuracy.
With 12 live acts to negotiate, it was the busiest BRITs to date for Toby Alington and his Richmond Studios team. Running three Sanctuary recording mobiles equipped with Euphonix Series 2000 consoles and staffed by a crew of 10, Alington ensured that all of the performances, awards presentations and speeches were faultlessly committed to DASH digital multitracks, ready for immediate post-production at London Studios and delivery of a fully-edited show to Carlton TV for screening the following evening.
The live/audience sound team is headed by BRITs veteran Derrick Zieba with technical production by Britannia Row. Zieba's job has a dual purpose - as well as designing the sound system, he collates artist information enabling him to act as a central point between MJK, the artist, Toby Alington and Brit Row.
Leading TV live event lighting designer Al Gurdon (he of recent 'X Factor' and 'Pop Idol' fame) was charged with filling the arena with appropriate lighting for both the live audience and the TV broadcast, working alongside crew chief Rich Gorrod.