Case Studies - Live Event Production

IMechE MX Awards:

AVT Engineers Video Innovation

The Challenge

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was planning to hold its annual awards ceremony and dinner at The Dorchester in London. The Manufacturing Excellence Awards is recognised as the most important event in the manufacturing calendar.

IMechE contacted AVT to deliver various media for this very prestigious event. One of the challenging requests was to produce a video that would introduce the evening awards ceremony.

The AVT Solution

The theme was “The Importance of Innovation”. One of the programmes AVT produced was an “Innovation Video”, which would ultimately set the tempo for the evening.

From the onset the creative team at AVT saw this project in three tiers – the past, present and future of innovation. We started discussing the various triumphs of engineering past and how these set the mark for the present. For example, which past engineer innovated with lasting effect? What machinery set the blueprints for further invention? And today, what will do the same for future engineers?

At the start of the awards ceremony, the lights were dimmed in the ballroom of The Dorchester. Powerful classical music began as the video faded up from black. Various images - George Stephenson, the innovative machinery of the past including the Boulton & Watt Steam Engine, the Blast Furnace and the Peugeot racing car all appeared along a line that stretched to the horizon. This line represented time and, as we travelled “through time”, the delegates experienced framed images of past engineering achievers and triumphs.

On reaching the present day, the classical music ended and mixed in with an upbeat, more contemporary piece. The pace of the video sped up and the delegates travelled through the achievements of modern day engineering. These were represented by images of nano-technology, the London Eye, a rocket and other engineering feats.

Finally, the video entered into its future phase, represented through children. We were very grateful to spend a day at The Heart of England School in Warwickshire, whose students participated in a day of discussing and deliberating the future of innovation. These bright kids shared with us some of their thinking and imagination, taking into account very grown-up points. “Ethical and moral issues have to come into it,” one student announced.

The Results

"AVT were, as ever, excellent. It's not easy to combine enthusiasm, calmness and professionalism, but Robin, Sharma and Jon made them a joy to work with. I particularly valued their innovative approach to problem-solving - especially when the problems were not of their own making!".

Maureen Carter (IMechE Events Manager)

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