Audio Visual Events ‘Embraces the Extraordinary’ for Australian awards season premier

Known for attracting the crème de la crème of the advertising, marketing, media, and PR world, the B&T Awards stand as one of the most entered, respected and sought after industry accolades in Australia. Hosted at The Hordern Pavilion in the heart of Sydney, 2023’s B&T Awards revolved around the theme ‘Embrace the Extrordinary’, with 40 categories presented during the night. Collaborating with their client, The Misfits Media Co., for whom Audio Visual Events® (AVE) has been the preferred production partner for five years, a sophisticated LED structure powered by Brompton Technology’s Tessera LED processors was orchestrated.

“Before the B&T Awards, we assisted The Misfits team with their internal B&T & Travel Weekly programmes and agency event work,” explains Paul Keating, Director at AVE. “The brief for this year’s event, encompassing the client’s mood board, event styling, and content, featured dark backgrounds and vibrant colours. This was a perfect fit for utilising LED, allowing for deep, dark colours and contrasting vibrant ones to pop. Given the one-day build, show and strike, we needed an LED control system that allowed for flexible multiple LED canvases with a quick and easy setup and programme.”

Working as a cohesive team, including Eric Spencer (Senior Account Manager), Dan Quinn (Technical Project Manager), Dylan Hovey (Technical Director), and Brenton Dine (Vision Specialist), the AVE team closely collaborated with The Misfits Media Co.’s Senior Producer, Lachlan Russel, and Project Manager, Romy Bradbridge, to bring the project to life.

“We built a central LED screen, 12m wide by 4m high, flanked by two vertical pillars, each measuring 1.5m wide by 3m high. This gave us a total of 15m in width to play back the custom content B&T created for the show,” Keating continues.

The main LED wall comprised 192 Unilumin UPADIII 2.6 panels and was powered by a 4K Tessera SX40 LED processor with four Tessera XD data distribution units. Simultaneously, the two vertical pillars, which required an additional 36 tiles, were driven by a Tessera M2 LED processor.

Keating emphasises that the extended capabilities of the Brompton LED processors make them ideal for a show of this scale. “Not only does the hardware feature set make it a leading processor choice, it’s backed up by how easy they are to manage on-site,” he adds. “Coupling the SX40 with the XD units makes system cabling in a live environment the go-to solution for our needs. Add to this the low frame latency across the entire system, and the ability to do away with offboard scaling devices, means it’s a great solution for a live event where visual displays are so close to the presentation area.”

The Misfits Media Co developed custom content for the event in-house, including opening videos, looping backgrounds, awards presentations, and a range of alphas. All of these utilised the entire LED canvas, and the AVE team time-coded the LX.

Pre-event, AVE hosted the Misfits team for content checks, aiding in establishing muscle memory for the show’s flow and ensuring the content was perfect during the show. The LED wall also provided a great backdrop for the after-party, with the AVE team using it to play custom VJ loops, with a a custom-made DJ surround rolled in and featuring brand-new lighting fixtures. Keating adds, “This ensured the event evolved whilst still using the Brompton-driven LED wall backdrop as the main feature.”

With the event hailed as a resounding success, Lachlan Russell, Senior Producer at The Misfits Media Co, who also took the role of Lead Producer on the B&T Awards commends AVE team’s work, noting that working with them is always a pleasure.

“Their exceptional creativity injected a unique and memorable flair into our annual B&T Awards, which makes us stand out. AVE execution on the night was flawless,” he says. “Their professionalism is evident in every interaction, from clear communication to meticulous attention to detail. They have their finger on the ‘production pulse’, giving us access to the latest production gear on the market, making them a perfect production partner in an industry such as ours.”

“Receiving a B&T Award is definitely considered a big deal for businesses here in Australia,” Keating continues. “To be able to deliver this prestigious event and receive such positive feedback from the client is gratifying beyond words. The LED set-up we deployed, along with the Brompton LED processing, gave us the confidence that, no matter what content The Misfits team would want to see on the screens, or how dark or bright it needed to be, we would be able to deliver.”

Luke Hurford, Brompton’s APAC Business Development Manager, concludes, “It’s gratifying to witness Audio Visual Events staying at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and employing top-tier solutions to address the intricacies of any event or scenario. Beyond their extensive professional expertise, the team boasts an impressive arsenal of state-of-the-art technology. We are delighted to see our processing integrated into their solutions, contributing to AVE’s pursuit of the utmost professionalism and quality in every project they undertake.”