Tony Awards Virtual Sets

65th, 66th, 67th, 68th & 69th Annual Tonys :
Live-Controlled Scenic Animations & Motion Graphics

For 5 years, my team & I photographed the theater sets for nominees & built custom virtual video sets for the Tony Awards broadcast, allowing the performing shows detailed control over every aspect of the scenery, live during the show.

Tonys 2015 photo gallery >>

For the five Tony Awards ceremonies from 2011-2015, I was tasked with digitally recreating and animating theater sets that were manipulated live during broadcast, for each of the performing nominees.

My team & I started the process by shooting thousands of photos (and several gigs of reference video) inside the various theaters, in order to capture lighting changes and set elements. The photos were then carefully mined for textures and scenic pieces that are needed. Finally, the finished video-based “sets” are painstakingly constructed from this large bank of imagery and then animated in After Effects and Cinema 4D to the specifications of the director, set & lighting designers.

Lots of hard work and long hours were put into separating & layering the video content so that we could do things like dynamically shift hues and cue lighting & set changes during the performances. Sarah Rossi & Dallas Raleigh shot a BUNCH of custom images for the show, and Dan Baker was always a huge help with creating the sets and animations. Genius programming by Peter “Evil Jesus” Acken.

 

 
We made content for 13 performances & many more segments for 2015:

• Opening Number,
• Something Rotten!,
• The King & I,
• On The Town,
• Gigi,
• On the Twentieth Century,
• Fun Home,
• The Visit,
• An American In Paris,
• Finding Neverland,
• It Shoulda Been You,
• In Memoriam,
• Tony Awards Closing Number.

A photo gallery for the 2015 Tonys production can be found here.

 

 
All in all, my team & I completed content for 15 performances & segments for 2014:

• Aladdin,
• Beautiful,
• Bullets Over Broadway,
• Cabaret,
• Finding Neverland,
• A Gentlemen’s Guide To Love & Murder,
• Hedwig & the Angry Inch,
• If/Then,
• Les Miserables,
• Rocky,
• Sting/The Last Ship,
• Violet,
• Wicked,
• Tony Awards Closing Number & Hugh’s songs.

A photo gallery for the Tonys 2014 can be found here.

 

 
In 2013 we completed content for 13 performances & segments:

• Tony Awards Show Open,
• Matilda,
• Bring It On,
• Cinderella,
• Motown,
• Annie,
• The Rascals,
• A Christmas Story,
• Pippin,
• Phantom Of The Opera,
• Kinky Boots,
• Best Play & Once.

 

 
And we created content for 13 performances & segments for 2012:

• Tony Awards Show Open,
• Book Of Mormon,
• Evita,
• Follies,
• Ghost,
• Jesus Christ Superstar,
• Leap Of Faith,
• Newsies,
• Nice Work If You Can Get It,
• Once,
• Porgy & Bess,
• Best Play & The Year In Plays review.

You can see a highlight video of 2012 set designs and performances here.

 

 
And the previous year, we completed content for 10 shows for 2011:

• Anything Goes,
• How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,
• Sister Act,
• The Scottsboro Boys,
• Company,
• Priscilla Queen Of The Desert,
• Book Of Mormon,
• Catch Me If You Can,
• Memphis,
• Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark.

Art Direction by Seth Easter Design, Set Design by Hasbas.