The dynamic duo AV and Beyond and Tailormade Group pulled out all stops when commissioned by Levergy to work on Nedbank’s YouthX, a platform designed to enable the youth to realize their potential and to learn from experts and in return sculpt their futures. This Nedbank campaign kicked off in March 2021 on AVB’s virtual platform with a fully virtual launch event, followed by 6 virtual and interactive Masterclasses led by their changemakers; Theo Baloyi, Amanda Dlamini, Rich Mnisi, Rivo Mhlari, Candice Chirwa & Sho Madjozi. Culminating in November with the hybrid event of the year, the YouthX Summit was a phenomenal 90-minute high energy production that was held at Vodacom, an event that drew great traction for Nedbank.
Before Covid-19, AVB and TMG led by the husband and wife team, Warren Freidin and Hayley Bennett-Freidin were hardworking within the live events space. As Warren focused on AV and Beyond, a technical supply company, Hayley, a highly acclaimed former professional dancer, was the creative behind Tailormade Group which supplies entertainment and the “wow” factor to events, from conceptualisation, production and direction, right up to providing all talent.
“As the reality of the pandemic set in so did our concern for the devastating effect that this would have on our businesses, as well as our industries, our staff and their families,” Hayley remembers. But instead of backing down, Warren and his team led by some of the best technical minds, researched the latest technology and trends. The company partnered with a virtual solution provider and the creative juices started flowing, adapted quickly, creating and working from three in-house studios, hand-in hand with their AVB in-house content creation team. This was a move that allowed staff and performers to not only survive, but to shine, to strive for equality and fairness, and to lift each other up whilst adhering to all covid protocol and government restrictions at all times.
The YouthX Summit gave AV and Beyond the opportunity to dream big once more from design to execution. The bespoke set design with its distinctive YouthX shape featured a breathtaking infinity 2.9 and 3.9 LED screen made up of 846 panels, fully automated in various areas including the ability to Picture in Picture a multitude of layered content on any section within the jaw dropping production. AVB’s 4k Watchout servers with 3 NovaStar MCTRL 4k processors and 2 NovaStar R5 processors allowed the 1.2 TB of content all loaded in record time not delaying the production timelines and ensuring a very happy client.
Technical supply to compliment the AV driven show comprised of a grandMA2 light for control while 12 x Robe BMFL Spots and 8 x Robe Esprites served as useful key lights for the production which was also broadcasted. 12 x Robe Pointes and 10 x MegaPointes were able to punch through the LED, 24 x Robe LedBeam 150 delivered wash and beam work while 6 x Philip SL Nitros positioned on deck created the big flashy moments with intense bursts of light. The show included 24 x LED Parcans, LED strips, 2 x Le Maitre MVS Hazers, and laser work and a fire pyro show creating special effects for the performance. On the audio side, the rig I was no less spectacular and included an L-Acoustics system comprising of 6 x Kara per side and 4 x SB18 per side, control on a DiGiCo S21 and Shure Microphones.
“For all our crew, it was an emotional and happy time to be working on this large-scale live event after a very long time,” said Hayley. “As YouthX concludes and we look back on another successful fully virtual to hybrid event rollout with pride as we wear our #greensleeves. We have fought together as a family of creative thinkers and highly skilled technicians, together we know we can do anything safely, and at world class standard for our clients.”
