Pete's Big TVs Embellishes MTV Woodie Awards

The MTV Woodie Awards moved their annual indie rock, hip-hop show this year from New York City to Austin, Texas in the midst of the South By Southwest Music Festival. Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video was there to help carry off the visual production in style.

The March 16 event, hosted by Donald Glover, was broadcast live from the Austin Music Hall on several MTV channels. Taking the stage were the Foo Fighters, Wiz Khalifa, Sleigh Bells, Two Door Cinema Club, and others performing to the capacity crowd.

The event's production designer was Anton Goss, a Los Angeles-based veteran of MTV Video Awards shows. Goss views awards shows in a similar vein to the TV game shows he designs as well, the most recent being NBC's Minute to Win It.

Corrugated steel scenic elements, flanking the sides of the stage and serving as a roof above the lighting, added texture and spread light. A lighted runway into the crowd, a DJ booth and ladder-like pieces resembling necks of guitars decorated each side of the stage, transforming the bare canvas of the venue into a professional-looking studio.

Guy Benjamin led the PBTV/PV crew of Matt Ellar and Jody Lane. They outfitted the two-level venue with a variety of screens for visual content. Above the stage hung a 20mm Serpentile for the proscenium header. Surrounding the balcony railings facing the stage were Elation 37.5mm mesh panels -- 86 of them connected together to create a 132' long scenic element for Green Hippo Hippotizer media server content. Two Toshiba 6mm LED walls for IMAG were positioned in the background onstage.

Tom Kenny was the event's lighting designer, Benjamin and Kenny will work together again on the upcoming TV Land Awards in April in New York.