We’re getting better at virtual events
The world is getting a crash course in virtual events in 2020 for reasons that we’re tired of mentioning, and we’re getting better and better at hosting and producing these events at a distance from the audience.
Examples so far in 2020 include AV-specific shows like InfoComm, Enterprise Connect, Crestron NEXT, and several others along with political and entertainment shows like both Republican and Democratic national conventions and most recently, the 2020 Emmys.
This year’s Emmys were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel from the stage of a mostly empty Staples Center in Los Angeles. It aired live on ABC last night, but most nominees or winners weren’t in the arena. Instead, the 138 stars honored were in 114 locations across the globe, although some did stop by the event.
The nominees and winners made their appearances via videoconferencing technology in what Kimmel described as a massive “never center” of TV screens hooked up to Zoom calls.
At the end of Kimmel’s opening monologue, he went backstage to show off that massive “nerve center” of televisions which looked like a giant curved LED display with dozens of feeds of nominees from around the world.
“I feel like I’m at a Best Buy,” Kimmel said.
According to Rolling Stone, the show opened with a bit of “television magic.” As the show opened, Kimmel walked on stage to a full audience, but that of course was not real.
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Of course, with social distancing a necessity, the 2020 Emmys audience was all a trick of television magic, pieced together from celebrity reaction shots at past Emmy ceremonies. Still, Kimmel kept up his monologue as he would every year, albeit with the usual timely zingers. (“Watchmen leads the nominations this year. The most unrealistic part of that show is how many people in Oklahoma are wearing a mask.”)
Eventually, though, Kimmel was confronted with a reaction shot of his own face in the audience, laughing back at him. “Wait, but if I’m down here, then how am I… up here?” he mused, as the camera cut again to reveal an entirely empty Staples Center. Only a few cardboard cutouts of the nominees (and a real-life Jason Bateman) sat in the stadium seats.
Regardless of when we’re able to come together again for industry events and entertainment, the audiovisual industry should be there to provide the virtual component that we seem to be quickly adopting.
