MTV Movie & TV Awards

Silent Partners Studio use virtual production techniques to create an especially opulent stage for the MTV Awards: Greatest of All Time Awards 2020.

Director Paul Caslin envisaged an opulent virtual set made of gold for the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) Awards, a special edition of the MTV Movie and TV Awards. He asked Silent Partners Studio to help him realise a fantastical virtual space that would be impossible to create in real life.

Silent Partners created an opening animation that revealed the iconic MTV Movie & TV Awards trophy in the shape of a popcorn bucket overflowing with golden popped corn. The introduction led the audience through golden goat doors into a tunnel, which reveals the stage – a palatial multi-level room constructed in Notch. Reactive details like animated lighting and a giant goat statue that opened and closed its mouth for host entrances adorned the virtual stage.

The design featured two distinct performance spaces, and each act received a bespoke virtual lighting design for their performance. Certain musical elements got special treatment with laser-like pans, quick strobes, and full scene lighting hits. The team’s playful design approach and virtual production workflow made the creation of this impressive space possible in a short time frame.

“Revealing presenters from virtual doors is always a unique challenge, we made this ceremony especially interesting by having presenters walk out from the mouth of a giant goat statue. We animated the mouth to open and close, masking out parts of the front plate as the mouth opened to reveal the talent. We also could control and keyframe virtual lights for the performance section of this project, this feature helped us create dynamic, energetic performances.”

Brett Bolton, Notch designer

Additional coverage:
www.silentpartners.com

Credits
Clients: MTV
Show Credits:
Show Creative Director @paulcaslin
Producers: @denofthievestv
Camera Director: @mr_ryanpolito
XR Video Designer @silentpartnersstudio
XR Producer @xr.studios
XR Technical Director: @tallscott
Lighting Designer: @tsuth88
Broadcast package animation @silentpartnersstudio
Realtime Rendering (XR & Main Stage): @notchvfx
Media Server and Software: @disguise_one
Camera Tracking: @stypetv

Video Content Creation Credits:
Content Screen Producer: J.T. Rooney
Creative Direction: Janicke Morissette
Artistic Direction/Virtual Set: Claudine Boulanger
Artistic Direction/Show opening David Fafard
3D Designers: Aaron Kauffman and Patrick Goski
Notch Designer: Brett Bolton
Motion Designer: Maxim Boisseau, François Guinaudeau, Melanie Martin
Project Manager: Leah Younesi, Anastasia Kitsos, Michael Hernandez