Blackout France provided a variety of equipment including rigging, drapes, and motors for the glittering Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony and after-show party.
Hosted by Cuba Gooding Jr., the global sporting star studded event was held in April at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. In creating a fun and exciting atmosphere, Blackout worked with line producers, Amandine Reynolds and Pierre-Marie Quere at Monte-Carlo based production company CATS.
“We had to create a fabulous International event for 650 high-profile guests. Working with many suppliers from different countries, we were very impressed that the Blackout staff was multilingual. This helped us a great deal in coordinating the show and ensured that we could work to tight deadlines. I couldn’t dream of working with a better team than Steve Tuck and Dominic Peissel,” comments Reynolds.
Wool-serge draping was provided along the red carpet entrance area that greeted guests arriving at the ceremony. Being a high-profile media event, a dedicated media center was also constructed using wool-serge drape. Inside the Palau Sant Jordi the main presentation and guest area was enclosed by an 80m by 80m black box.
During the awards ceremony, a temporary wall of black wood serge drape measuring 54m wide x 18m high was installed and flown in and out using fast motors. This revealed the seating areas that sparkled with thousands of small candles.
“Blackout were extremely good at creating a smooth transition of the venue from the various stages of the awards ceremony to the after-show party,” adds Reynolds. Blackout also created a separate area to hold the after-show party. This was in the form of another black box measuring 30m x 20m for which Blackout supplied all of the truss motors and draping at 12m high. On one side, a 24m long motorized tab track opened to reveal the after-party discoteque within. Blackout also installed a presentation screen on a tab track.
Dominic Peissel, gerant at Blackout France comments, “We invested a lot of planning and creativity to produce the work on time. We worked with local rigging team lead by Tony Garcia from Espais and Acrobacia’s local rigging staff as well as our own staff from London and Paris.”