Game.ae’s Isaac Kumer looks back on the first-ever virtual TPMEA Awards event

GAME.AE’S ISAAC KUMER

Notwithstanding a global pandemic, the Mondiale Media team enlist Game.ae to devise the first ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony – broadcast to over 600 event professionals and viewers – live from lockdown. TPi’s Jacob Waite speaks to Creative Director, Isaac Kumer to find out more…

Since its inception in 2018, the TPMEA Awards, typically held in Dubai, has celebrated the amazing projects and the individuals responsible for the flourishing Middle East events market. Following two successful renditions of the awards, this year’s plans came to an abrupt halt due to the unforeseen arrival of COVID-19. The solution was equal parts daunting and exciting: the birth of the first-ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony, produced by GAME Commercial Photography Production LLC (Game.ae) – the Dubai based multimedia, full-service production house that successfully supported the events industry and some of the most prestigious projects and creative content throughout the region over the past 10 years.

On the evening of the TPMEA Awards, over 600 event professionals and viewers tuned in to watch the virtual ceremony on 21 April 2020, which was broadcast live on the TPMEA Awards website and Facebook page. A familiar face to TPMEA Awards faithful, Stuee Kennedy reassumed the role of compère extraordinaire, hosting the one-of-a-kind celebrations with a special preshow segment from Event Industry Night Out’s (EINO) Stefan Wieland. Harnessing their technical capabilities to make a livestreamed awards ceremony a possibility was Game’s Isaac Kumer. TPi sat down with the Creative Director to reflect on the feat. “The Middle East’s live events sector has developed exponentially over the years.” He began. “Dubai is often characterised as the go-to events capital of the world. With highly talented and skilled professionals within the region as well as the imagination, creativity and strong budgets to support these initiatives, it’s no wonder why. Consequently, the UAE has attracted some of the world’s biggest names in the live events industry over the past decade.”

Following the adverse effects of COVID-19, resulting in the widespread lockdown of live events spaces across the Middle East, Kumer was happy to allocate his company’s resources to create the first-ever virtual TPMEA Awards. “It’s a tragedy to see how the live event industry has suffered during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis,” he reported. “We have all endured an unbelievably difficult time, so I was happy to get the call to produce the first ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony.”

Kennedy contacted Kumer several weeks before the date to arrange a meeting of minds with the visionary behind the operation, Mondiale Media CEO, Justin Gawne. Kumer then called upon the expertise of James Glanville to design a set based on two parts. “The core design for the virtual event came from Glanville, who then passed the project on to our

animation team at Game, where we polished the backdrops, turned on the at the World Government Summit in Dubai. “That project turned out really lights and laid the carpet.” well,” he reminisced. “Consequently, when we start to think about events in

Having shared glimpses with the TPMEA team, Kumer was given a virtual space and combined with other technologies, it opens the doors creative control. He reflected: “We invited Kennedy to our studios; with to innovative and unique results.” ‘hair’, makeup and wardrobe complete – we loaded the script into the He s aid the team at Game were now actively looking to implement teleprompter and got to work. Time was not on our side, so we had to move live “virtual” events into its growing portfolio of expertise and services swiftly while managing many moving parts to deliver as promised and on available to prospective clients. “In a short period of time, we have stepped time.” The bottom line: “The deadline is the ultimate inspiration.” up our ‘Game’ to begin producing these,” he stated. “The good news is that

According to Kumer, the entire process was “fairly straight forward” despite the global pandemic, we still require event specialists to produce and followed the basic narrative of putting together an event despite these shows. Simply put, Directors, Set Designers, Lighting Designers, factoring extra considerations once the virtual set was designed. “The most Audio Engineers, Videographers, Presenters, to name but a few, are all important aspect is pairing the lighting used in the virtual set to match the essential to create successful and compelling virtual events.” lighting on the subject in Game’s green-screen studios,” he said, adding Looking toward the future of innovation, Kumer believed that virtual that “there are a few tricks when it comes to merging virtual with reality”. spaces have become a great solution for event curators to continue

Next up was manually working out camera positions in the virtual set to bringing people together safely. He said: “It was a proud moment for Game match the angles from the shoot. “There are some existing and emerging to see so many people logging in to watch the award ceremony and have technologies that allow you to map your camera the ability to comment during the proceedings. movements and positions when filming so that After all, these kinds of events are about data can be fed into the media server and then networking and seeing your industry colleagues render those same angles and movements in the and celebrating the collective achievements of virtual set.” The rest, he said was compositing, the region.” audio sweetening and colour grading. Ku mer and the Game team are embracing In comparison to recent projects, Kumer dubbed the undertaking as “interesting”, with imagination and time as the key factors at play. “It’s a tragedy to see how the live events industry has new ways to develop the company’s growing portfolio of services, particularly when it comes to interactive content. “At Game, we are streamlining “We regularly provide live-feed, hi-lite film, photography coverage and content creation for various events – so in that respect we were still suffered during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We have all the virtual event production process, making it more visually appealing and discovering new ways to engage the audience.” He concluded, behind the camera. However, with this medium, we had a completely new palette to work from where the only limitation is your imagination and, endured an unbelievably difficult time, so I was happy “The industry is moving very fast and we are incorporating existing and new technologies that will ultimately allow delegates to attend of course, time.” Kumer and his team recently worked alongside SNAP.ae and AHRT MEDIA to produce a 45-minute to get the call to produce the first ever virtual TPMEA events and exhibitions as avatars in a 360 VR environment. TPi holographic presentation of Dubai’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Awards ceremony.” Photos: Game.ae www.game.ae Maktoum, where he virtually presented his notes Isaac Kumer, Creative Director www.tpmeaawards.com