Blue carpet VK Fest 2022. How was it?!
VK Fest 2022 is the one of the most ambitious events of the past summer. The festival was held for the six time, and it was already crowded on the banks of the native Park of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, so it was decided to expand to Moscow and Sochi. By the way, the main site of the festival also "moved" to the embankment of the Park of Culture.
But the geographical expansion of the festival was not the only "trick" of this year. A real media bomb was the collaboration with the MUZ-TV channel, as a result of which the VK Fest Blue Carpet was born - the format inherent in awards was decided to be implemented on an open-air project. And this decision justified itself, which shows a real "explosion" of newsworthy events and wide quotation in the media after the festival.
We talked about how it was with the director of the Blue Carpet of VK Fest, and CEO of MAX \ MAX productions - Maxim Martynov.
- What is the main differences of this type of event from another formats?
Of course, the discussion of the Blue Carpet began with well-known Western references - MTV, Brit Awards and so on. We tried to take something from the existing pre-show formats, but realized that it did not suit us at all. Still, our music awards already have an established halo of pathos, in the right sense of the word, and just the appearance of a star in an unusual outfit will be enough. VK Fest, on the other hand, is devoid of this pathos, it is primarily about content, about life style, about summer and music, so I wanted to make the Blue Carpet as separate bright event that would be interesting to watch, even if you are not a fan of this or that artist.
Therefore, answering the question of how the Carpet format differs, I would say that it includes all formats at the same time, especially considering which way we went. There is a concert component here, and complex logistics, and great work with guests. I think many readers have come across the format of a corporate banquet, and now just imagine that your guests are not ordinary employees of the company, but Polina Gagarina, Lolita and other pop-stars.
- You draw your own projects and the Blue Carpet is no exception. Why is such an unusual shape of the track chosen? Logically, we expected a straight line.
As I said, they initially came to us with references of foreign analogues of the Carpets. And of course, we couldn’t, and didn’t want to, take any specific setup as a basis, but we nevertheless learned the basic principle - after all, it’s really interesting to watch them, and it’s not just about world stars.
It is always interesting for the viewer to look at what is called an “event” in directing. And such a micro-event in television is the constant change of picture. Each new character, each presenter, each musical performance begins in a new location. And there are few such locations, but due to the regular change of frame, they do not have time to bore you. And when you watch for 3 hours how people walk on the carpet against the background of one, even the most beautiful banner - well ... it's hard. Therefore, we came up with a triangle shape so that both the stars and the hosts each time appear with their own different background. Yes, we created a little logistical hell for ourselves, since we had as many as seven release points per track, but it was worth it.
In addition, we could not ignore the location of the track - after all, summer, Moscow, the city center. Therefore, we built the Carpet in such a way that, for example, the Crimean bridge against the background of a clear summer sky would become our most important decoration.
- Noticed that at an outdoor event you decided not to use the roof, why? Nevertheless, the event took place over two days, and the weather is unpredictable even in summer.
Yes, we ourselves teach eventers in our TECHNICUM course that a roof is needed at open events, but the customer and I liked the location so much that we decided to take a chance. Well, how to take a chance - all the same, right up to the beginning of the installation, we constantly checked the weather forecast, but he favored us, so we decided to refuse the roof in order to open a stunning view around.
I'll reveal a little secret that we kept from the team so that there would be no temptation to abandon the view around in favor of the "safe" option. Even after the first two days of installation, we still had a plan B - just in case, a variant of the Carpet was drawn, which would fit under the bridge between the Park and the Muzeon. But still, we were lucky with the weather and left in the original place.
- Tell us how you worked on the artists' performances? The format and venue turned out to be non-standard.
Of course, the main task was to diversify the program as much as possible, to make them different from each other. In addition, most of the artists made the decision to participate in the track only after the presentation of the numbers - so it was necessary not only to fill in the script, but also to ignite them with the idea and visual. So it's especially nice that all the artists we contacted were confirmed the first time.
It was also interesting to work on the performances because, due to the shape of the track, we could hardly rely on the content on the screens and the light, and these are the two most powerful and classic ways to create atmosphere and dynamics. Therefore, for each performance, we were looking for combinations of show-ballet, work with cameras, with the use of fire, stage lift and other special effects.
One of my favorite performances is Eldar Dzharakhov's appearance. Unfortunately, he was finally confirmed just a day before the track and we did not have time to rehearse with the cameras as we wanted - but his appearance on a pony surrounded by dwarf bodyguards ... Huge respect to him for self-irony!
- What were the main difficulties in preparation?
Schedules of artists, rehearsals, agreements, Olya Buzova flew from Africa. Work on the script went up to LIVE.
The main difficulty, of course, is logistics. The list of guests of the track changed until the start of the broadcast, someone in the end could not come at all, and this constantly changed the text script of the hosts - and all this is also live! The publishers literally juggled the host cards on the fly in order to find the host of the guest who would enter the track in fact, and not according to the script. But thank God everything went smoothly and without failures in terms of pace.
Yes, and with the performing artists was a similar story. Olya Buzova, for example, flew to Moscow from filming at 9 in the morning, at 10 there was supposed to be a rehearsal, and at 12 there was already a motor, and she was the first. And in the current situation with her flight, anything could happen, so I had to keep several backup plans in my head at once.
- Blue Carpet was broadcasted live - did it raise the complexity of the event?
On the one hand, yes - you still have no right to make a mistake. But on the other hand, we are used to doing "live" events, and the Carpet was also approached so that it would go as a single show, without gluing.
- What other features did you notice? Which things surprised yourself?
Pleasantly surprised Olya Buzova. It was incredibly hot outside, more than 30 degrees - it was hard for everyone to rehearse, all the dancers performed as usual in full legs. But Olya, despite the many hours of flight, appeared on the site in high heels, incredibly charged and all 40 minutes of the rehearsal went through every piece 100 percent. Very professional, she really impressed me with this.
Also liked Olya Seryabkina. She had an unusual performance, it started at the bar in the lounge outside the Carpet, and then one camera filmed her passage to the lane without changing the frame. So, she did not leave the site until she was convinced by herself that both the dancers and the operator in the first place did not fix their actions on each musical accent and we did not make two error-free finishing passes. And again - all this in the heat, and besides, she was in a thick hotel robe.
Well, what surprised me from the backstage life of part of the project is the size of the team. Even the biggest and most difficult concert, for example, in Crocus City Hall, we release a team of 4-5 people. And there were twenty people working here at the same time! And I am very grateful to everyone for how everything worked clearly and harmoniously, many thanks to everyone.
And I want to separately thank VK and the Radio Record team - you rarely meet clients so open to experiments and ready for their implementation. Thank you for your courage and cool collaboration!
