Blackout makes a debut at the BAFTA Awards

Blackout, specialists in rigging and drapes, worked alongside Production Designer, Bill Laslett and set company, Atlantic Enterprise Ltd, to create a spectacular and glamorous Awards Night for The Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).
The recent ceremony held at the Odeon, Leicester Square was attended by some of cinema's biggest stars including Pierce Brosnan, Jude Law, Charlize Theron and Renee Zellwegger, the BAFTAS are a key event in the film awards calendar, particularly with just two weeks to go before the US Academy Awards. The event was televised to an international audience of one billion viewers.
Bill Laslett, production designer said: "Within the confines of the relatively small art deco Odeon cinema, I felt it important to produce a concept that would be in sympathy with and complement the existing architecture. The inclusion of a three dimensional steel framed voile spiral extending from within the confines of the stage out into the auditorium united both areas and at the same time gave the event greater scale and presence. With the addition of an internally lit curved staircase and a 4 metre bronze Bafta mask backed also with a combination of voile and mirrored panels the overall effect produced a very exiting and glamorous result."
Kevin Monks, Project Manager at Blackout added: "We are delighted to work on projects with Bill Laslett. He brings enthusiasm and a challenge to each job and the end results are simply stunning. Our team of seamstresses at Blackout spend a great deal of time and effort creating these dazzling effects and seeing the finished product makes it all worthwhile.
"Blackout have always provided an outstanding service and have contributed in a major way to many of my sets over the years, in particular last year on a Danish production celebrating the life of Hans Christian Anderson which involved Blackout creating four giant 18 metre high voile stalactites, a stunning achievement that was produced with amazing efficiency and skill," commented Laslett.
He added: "On this project, we were working to a tight budget and we are very grateful to Kevin Monks and his team at Blackout as they did a fantastic job that was within our budget. I can't speak highly enough of the work they have done. We have even received a call from the United States congratulating us on the stage design. Blackout did us proud!"
(SP)