MTV Video Music Awards Stage Set

Moss Inc.

Each year MTV honors the best in music video production during the Video Music Awards (VMA). Typically the show is notorious for its crazy live moments, but the 2010 VMAs will also be remembered for its soaring stage set. Held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, the stage design transformed the huge theater into a more intimate space by creating a huge center stage that brought the show much closer to the audience. Far from a mere backdrop, the 70-foot wide and 50-foot high fabric petals enveloped the walls, ceiling and floors - essentially the entire theater.

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards’ stage was a massive, towering design inspired by sleek mid-century modern architecture that stretched 70 feet out into the theater seats, giving the audience the feeling of being onstage with the performers. The dramatic set, by German designer Florian Wieder, required over 2600 seats to be removed from the Nokia Theatre. Although inspired by classic mid-century architecture, the stage set was thoroughly modern, employing state-of-the-art lighting technologies. The soaring canopies, created using a stark white fabric, became the canvas for LED lights blasting during the show, changing for each performance and presenter. At other times, the sweeping fabric “petals” stood out in stark contrast to the video pulsating on giant screens, enveloping the theater.

The client presented us with the massive stage set design and a relatively short lead time. Besides being able to replicate the complex design flawlessly, there were also specific lighting and projection requirements that needed to be met. We provided several fabric options for testing. Once the design was finalized, we did detailed production drawings that broke the design down into four petals: two 51 feet wide by 53 feet long by 45 feet high, one 38 feet wide by 66 feet long by 42 feet high and one 79 feet wide by 64 feet long by 53 feet high. While the frame shop built the frame, the fabric was cut on our 80-foot long automated cutting table then sewn together. The fabric wrapped the entire frame, top and bottom, and was held closed with zippers. When both the frame and fabric cover were finished, our Set Up department assembled the frame and installed the fabric cover on our production floor. Because of our detailed design and patterning only minor adjustments needed to be made after the first fit. Once the fit was perfect, our Set Up department labeled the frame for ease of reassembly on-site and disassembled the structure for packing. Installation took place at the Nokia Theatre over a four-day period. Four representatives from our company oversaw the installation. At any given time, beside the four representatives from our company, 10 to 20 stagehands were working on assembling the frame and installing the fabric.

Pre-show press was buzzing about the stage set days before the cameras rolled. There were predictions that the stage set would “steal the show.” The 2010 stage set raised the bar for future VMA stage designs. The 2011 stage set will be even more impressive and again will be fabricated by our company.

Project details

Location: Los Angeles
Size: 15,000 sq. feet
Fabrics: Moss Knit by Fisher Textiles from Fisher Textiles
Design and Art Direction: Isabell Rauert and Tamlyn Wright
Architect and Production Designer: Florian Wieder