British lighting designer Tom Sutherland, CEO and head of creative at DX7 Design, has designed for stage and screen, from the West End (London) to such iconic shows such as Dancing With The Stars, American Idol, The MTV Video Music Awards, The MTV European Music Awards, The People's Choice Awards, Britain’s Got Talent, and The X Factor, as well as creating shows for stars ranging from Lionel Richie, Miley Cyrus, Keith Urban, and Pitbull to Britney Spears, Westlife, Charlie Puth, and Adam Lambert, to name a few. His first major concert design was for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers when he was just 22, earning him a Knight Of Illumination (KOI) Award nomination, as the youngest lighting designer to have been nominated for this honor. In 2018, Sutherland won the KOI-USA Avolite Award for Stage Lighting for Pitbull’s Time Of Our Lives-Las Vegas Residency, and 2021 saw his first Emmy nomination for Dancing With The Stars.
This year, Sutherland designed the lighting for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA), which aired on September 12, 2021 from Barclay Center in Brooklyn, NY. Live Design talked with him about the lighting for this project, which featured a roster of stars including winners Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, and Travis Scott, among others. Stay tuned for the light plots and gear list.
Live Design: What was the scope of the show this year and what were the big changes due to the pandemic?
Tom Sutherland: The 2021 VMA’s brief was to: 1) Come back with a massive bang following the reopening of arenas; and 2) Celebrate 40 years of MTV. The executive producers wanted the most performances ever in a VMA’s show and that lead to the development of the two-stage design from production designer Julio Himede. We had to reduce the audience slightly but it did not affect the party atmosphere in the room.
LD: What was the goal of the lighting… how many stages were there?
TS: We have two symmetrical stages at either end of the arena with an oval shaped mosh pit in the middle. In the center of the stages lived a ginormous 55’ inflatable projection mapped moon-person. The moon-person also served as our awards stage and host entrance tunnel. The goal of the lighting design was to connect the two stages, we did this by creating a huge dome of trusses ranging from 38ft to 65ft that spanned the length of the arena bowl. The dome shaped rig worked well both on and off camera as it made the audience feel like they were encompassed in the experience of the show.
LD: What was going on in terms of the lighting?
TS: Each of the dome trusses were lined with Solaris Flare LR’s, I wanted a fixture to define the shape on camera, this had to be something with firepower so I knew they were the correct tools for the job. Each truss was also lined with a decent amount of Robe BMFL Wash-Beams, these were used to layer in effects within performances.
Also, on these dome trusses lived Claypaky Scenius fixtures, these played the role of keylights, backlights, band specials audience lights etc… They were terrifically bright and fantastic at their function.
On the dome trusses lived 12 Robe Robo Spot Followspots. Due to the nature of the production design it meant getting followspots into places that people couldn’t climb to, Robo Spots we’re the only option and the gamble really paid off.
Surrounding the screens at either end of the arena we had two truss goalposts. They housed Robe Mega Pointes and more Flare LR’s both fixtures performed fantastically in both producing effects within performances but really defining & accenting the shape.
LD: What were your workhorse fixtures?
TS: The Scenius were the workhorse fixtures when it came to key light. The Mega-pointes created a real wow moment providing a frame of beams that appeared to shoot into infinity and the Flares really helped us add all the energy within performances.
LD: What is your process for designing for a live performance to be seen on TV?
TS: The show was shot 360 °, so this meant we had to have a full lighting coverage. We had 16 Robe Robo spots and seven manually controlled followspots encompassing the entire arena and a lighting design that wrapped 360°. Adding to the dome trusses was a complement of Solaris Flare strobes and Claypaky Mythos that lived on top of each vom.
I had to ensure that 14 performances all looked totally different and full of energy while still respecting the basic principles of television, celebrities looking lovely, balanced pictures etc… There was a lot of work put in by Hunter Selby, my associate LD, to ensure that all key-light angles were correct. Things were strategically placed to shoot around scenic objects etc.
I also worked closely with the vision engineers to ensure the pictures are looking clean and exciting. I like to push the black levels to eliminate any grey lift and make things as clean for the viewer at home. It’s a fine balance when using large amounts of haze to create theatrical effects but the team really came together and the results were fantastic.
LD: What were the specific challenges this year?
TS: Having two stages meant double the weight. We had to work closely with Brian Lolly from Kish Rigging, and Alen Sisul my gaffer, to ensure that between lighting, audio, rigging, scenic, and video we came in with something acceptable for the building engineers. We had to also ensure that we left enough allowance for artist creatives which is always tricky as they don’t come in until about four weeks before the show.
2021 VMA’S Credits
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: BRUCE GILLMER, JESSE IGNJATOVIC, BARB BIALKOWSKI
EXECUTIVE-IN-CHARGE: ALICIA PORTUGAL
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: PAUL CASLIN
DIRECTOR : JOE DEMAIO
SET DESIGNER: JULIO HIMEDE / YELLOW STUDIO
LIGHTING DESIGNER : TOM SUTHERLAND / DX7 DESIGN
SCREENS PRODUCER / CREATIVE: TREVOR BURKE / VISUAL NOISE CREATIVE
HOUSE SCREENS CONTENT: SILENT PARTNERS
ART DIRECTORS: MATT STEINBRENNER & GLORIA LAMB
HEAD RIGGER : BRIAN LOLLY / KISH RIGGING
AUTOMATION: TAIT
COORDINATING PRODUCER: GARY LANVY
LIGHTING DIRECTORS: HUNTER SELBY, JAMES COLDICOTT, JASMINE LESANE
LIGHTING PROGRAMMERS: JOE HOLDMAN & BRIAN JENKINS
MEDIA PROGRAMMER: KIRK MILLER
LIGHTING GAFFER: ALEN SISUL
LIGHTING TECHS: DENNIS SISUL & JOHN COX
LIGHTING VENDOR: SOLOTEC / HARRY FORSTER / DAVE EVANS
LASERS: LAWRENCE WRIGHT / ER PRODUCTIONS
Check out the highlights reel: