Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
MIAMI – Univision’s exclusive telecast of the 21st annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards, aired Thursday, Nov. 19 and — like most 2020 awards shows — this year’s awards operated a bit differently than previous ceremonies.
More details from PRG (www.prg.com):
The telecast included a mix of remote performances filmed from multiple cities all over the world, along with the main event broadcast from Miami’s American Airlines Arena. Featuring a line-up of Latin music superstars such as Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Anuel AA, Camilo, Bad Bunny, Karol G, Anitta, Fito Páez, Pitbull, and J Balvin, among others, this year’s show reached 5.7 million total viewers 2+ and delivered all-new high-water marks on social with 11.8 million total interactions on social.
J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Karol G led the nominations this year, giving the urban genre some well-deserved recognition. Singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade ended up being the big winner, sweeping all three categories she was nominated in, including Best Alternative Song (for “En Cantos” with iLe) and Best Regional Song (for “Mi Religión”). She tied with fellow artists Rosalía and Carlos Vives for the most wins of the night.
These pandemic era productions pose unique obstacles for designers and producers. One of the biggest challenges, outside of staying healthy, testing every member of the crew multiple times, and abiding by the plethora of governmental guidelines, is replicating the energy lost by a live audience. In this instance, a very limited offscreen audience of 200 lent a bit of atmosphere to the performers in the massive arena setting.
Photo provided by PRG
As the necessity for entertaining a live audience is eased, a bit of relief comes in the form of pre-taping certain performances and the ability to achieve music video levels of production. In the live portions of the show, camera angles — that would typically disrupt an in-house audience — are now able to bring a cinematic feel to the final product.
In one of the five international broadcasts of the evening, Bad Bunny performed two tracks from his 2020 Latin GRAMMY-nominated LP, YHLQMDLG, “Bichiyal” and “Si Veo A Tu Mama.” The singer, draped in a silver sequined track suit, crooned out the window of a white sports car as four wheelers encircled him on the streets in his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Photo provided by PRG
Design for the Latin GRAMMY Awards stage started back in August by Set Designer Jorge Dominguez in collaboration with the show’s Executive Producer Jose Tillan, and Assistant Producer Charlie Singer. The team also partnered on Univision’s Premios Juventud which was the first live awards show in the States since the pandemic hit. While it went off remarkably smoothly, it served as a conceptual testing ground for Dominguez and team.
After Premios wrapped, Tillan decided the official theme for the Latin GRAMMY would be “Music Makes Us Human.”
“With everything we were encountering with quarantine, music was the thread that connected humanity,” explains Dominguez, who drew inspiration from viral videos of people around the world playing music from their apartment windows during lockdown.
By broadcasting from five different countries, having artists perform from their homelands, and recognizing reggaeton and trap artists – Latin urban genres that had been previously snubbed in award ceremonies – the global appeal of Latin culture and music was beautifully and thoughtfully highlighted by the Latin Recording Academy.
Photo provided by PRG
“The remote stages spread the wealth of jobs throughout the production community and showed the influence of Latin Music around the world,” said lighting designer Tom Kenny, who was responsible for the colorful, glamorous looks on the main stage in Miami.
Kenny’s vivid color looks came from Robe Pointes, Claypaky Sharpys and Scenius profiles. The lighting and video orders were provided by PRG. With a rig of roughly 1,200 fixtures, Kenny had no problem achieving big looks, but also left space for smaller, stripped down moments as well. “I always use a cornucopia of lights, but the GroundControl Followspot system from PRG is fabulous for those intimate performances,” said Kenny.
The LED screens took a starring role in the show, with content by Raj Kapoor and Jason Rudolph as screens producer. Exotic, deep, lush colors filled the ROE CB5 screens and the BM4 Floor throughout the evening. The effect was captivating and elegant, but never busy.
Getty Images
“We had a house band and real musicians, a very classic feel – we can’t let people forget how great live music is,” said Kenny. “It was important that we provided an escape to everyone at home while celebrating the influence of Latin music in the world.”
“Our team onsite knocked it out of the park, especially our video crew with Luke Lewis leading the charge as project manager of this show. Saying, “no” is not in his vocabulary,” said PRG Account Executive Anthony Ciampa.
“I have to give a lot of credit to the guys at PRG – they have been integral to this entire process,” agreed Dominguez, who had, for an added hurdle, just come off a surgery during the production. “When you’re trying to jump start the industry with these kind of events, we all have a vested interest and they stepped up to the plate like they were part of our core production team.”
Pitbull performs with First Responders (Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for The Latin Recording Academy )
Article written by Erin Bates
Credits & Crew:
Executive Producer: Jose Tillan
Set Design: Jorge Dominguez
Lighting Design: Tom Kenny
Production Manager: Antonio Parodi
Content: Raj Kapoor
Screens Producer: Jason Rudolph
Gaffer: Alex Flores
Gaffer: John Ellar
Lead Carpenter: Jesus Fragoso
Lighting Director: Mark Butts
Lighting Director: Ronnie Skopac
Lighting Director: Fuji Convertino
Screens Programmer: Tim Nauss
E2 TD: Duane Wright
Screens Control Engineer: Josh Fleitell
Content Manager: Kelly Austin
Project Manager/LED Programmer: Luke B Lewis
LED Lead/Crew Chief: Josh Marrano
LED Techs: Pablo Moreira, Colton Carroll, Mike Sienkiewicz, Omar Montes Rangel
Lighting Techs: Tim Donovan, Mikey Smallman, Adam Haigin, Russ Keitel
Lighting and Video: PRG
Audio: Firehouse Productions
Comms: Professional Wireless
Cameras: Univision
PRE-SHOW crew:
Lighting Designer/Director: Rene Garcia
Gaffer: Jason Uchita
Programmer: Chris DeLorenzo
Techs: Ramon Furelos , Cris Estrada, Sylvio “Riff” Romanello, Andres Vietto, Edward Miyares
GEAR LIST
LIGHTING
78 Robe Robin 1200 LEDwash,
10 Vl3500 Wash Fx
25 Robe Robin 600 LEDwash
2 GLP JDC1
76 Claypaky Scenius Unico
120 Robe Robin Pointe
28 Claypaky Sharpy Beam 189w Blk
26 Claypaky Sharpy Beam 189w Chr
27 GLP Impression X4 Bar20
60 Strobe Solaris Flare
63 Strobe Solaris Flare Lr Q+
10 Vlx LED Wash,
10 Strobe Martin Atomic 3000 Led
PRG Ground Control
14 Spot System Groundcontrol Controller Prg
6 Fog Df-50 Diffusion 120v
6 Fan Vari Reel Efx Re 2 110-125v
2 Fog Jem Zr33 Fogger Dmx 120v
6 Node PRG Virtuoso Super Node
20 Node rand MA 8-Port
3 grand MA2 Full Console 8192ch
1 grand MA2 Light Console 4096ch
16 grand MA Npu Network Processing Unit
4 Dim 24x 2.4k Sensor ETC
7 Relay 1x 20a Dmx Fleenor
LED
662 LED Tile 5.77mm ROE Carbon CB5
533 ROE BM4 Floor – 187 from Matrix – 248 from VER
463 LED Tile 4.76mm ROE BM4 Floor Tile B#2
56 LED Floor Riser ROE BM-Series 2×3 V2 Non-Rolling
8 LED Processor Revolution M8 4K
16 LED Proc Revolution Dist Box M8
1 Samsung U32E850R 32″ 4K Monitor (No Audio)
1 AJA Hi5-4K 4K SDI to HDMI Converter
4 Decimator MCDMON-9S 9×1 3G(Level A/B) HD/SD SDI Multiviewer (SDI out) Card
3 LED Processor Brompton Tessera SX40 4K 2RU
9 LED Proc Brompton Tessera XD 10G Data Dist
3 LED Processor Brompton Tessera M2HD
14 Folsom ImagePRO-II Processor
2 Barco ImagePro-4K
2 Barco E2/S3/EX/IP4K Input Card Tri-Combo HDMI 2.0/DP1.2/12G/6G
Media Servers
2 Hippotizer Boreal + v4 (4x DVI Output)
4 Hippotizer Taiga+ (6x DVI Output)
1 Adderlink Infinity AIM Manager 24 Station
1 Adderlink Infinity AIM Manager Power Supply
4 AdderLink Infinity Dual Transmitter
3 AdderLink INFINITY ALIF1002 TRANSMITTER
3 AdderLink Infinity Dual Receiver
1 AdderLink INFINITY ALIF1002 RECEIVER
2 Brainstorm SR-112 Distripalyzer w/ TCG
2 PSU 12V 5.0A 100-240V DIN4M Brainstorm PS-8
2 Brainstorm SR-112 Distripalyzer
4 Genelec 8040BPM 6.5″ Active Two-Way Studio Monitor
4 TC Electronics Level Pilot Monitor Control
6 Barco Encore E2 Processor Gen1
1 BlackMagic Smart VideoHub 40×40 4K-12G Router
1 ROUTER 16×16 HDMI MATRIX LWARE MX2-16X16- HDMI20-R
1 Panasonic AW-UE150 4K Integrated PTZ Camera
2 Cisco SG112-24 24 Port Gigabit Switch
2 AJA FIDO-T-ST Single Channel HD/SDI/3G to ST Fiber w/Looping SDI Output
2 AJA FIDO-R-ST Single Channel ST Fiber to HD/SDI/3G w/Dual SDI Outputs
1 AJA NP12-US0520 Power Supply (DWP)
Pre Show Lighting
3 Best Boy Spot Hp W/Camera Groundcontrol
3 Spot System Groundcontrol Controller PRG
33 Robe Robin Pointe,
11 Robe Spiider
20 GLP Jdc1 Led Rgb
28 GLP Impression X4
2 Fog MDG Atm Generator
30 Chauvet Colordash Accent Quad
44 Robe Robin 120
30 Martin Rush Par
12 Source 4 Led Lustr
8 Source 4 Led Daylight Series
12 GLP Impression X4 Bar20
6 Arri Skypanel S60-C Manual
10 Trucolor HS Soft Cineo
VIDEO
3 ROE CB5 LED Screens – 4W x 2H – Flown – 24 Prime
24 LED Tile 5.77mm ROE Carbon CB5 Wht (NT) B#1 1×2
24 LED Tour Frame ROE CB Blk 1W2H
3 LED Tile Bumper ROE CB 4W TF
6 12″ Grapple Rigging Point (Black)
3 ROE CB5 LED “Ceiling” Feature – 1W x 3.5H – 21-1×1 Prime
21 LED Tile 5.77mm ROE Carbon CB5 Wht (NT) B#1 1×1
21 LED Tour Frame ROE CB Blk 1W1H
2 LED Processor Brompton Tessera M2HD
