VMAs trusts Disguise Technology once more for 2024's epic show

The MTV Music Video Awards (the VMAs) is one of the most high-profile events to celebrate the year's biggest songs and artists. The star-studded evening is known for its viral performances, innovative production design, and epic visuals. The 2024 ceremony was no different.

Visual Noise Creative was tasked with overseeing all screens for the broadcast. This included producing groundbreaking visuals for the event, as well as precisely controlling the technical operations. This meant that the team needed to use trustworthy technology that could support their ambitious vision, which would be broadcast live across the globe. 

Disguise’s GX3 and VX4+ media servers brought the team’s vision to life – powering 21 active feeds across New York’s UBS Arena. The night was the most-talked about TV special on social media of 2024, with record-breaking wins for Taylor Swift, a ‘video vanguard award’ for Katy Perry, and standout visual performances from Eminem, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter.

The Challenge

The VMAs is one of the most technically-demanding live award shows, pushing the bar year-on-year in terms of production value. 

Visual Noise was in charge of all aspects of the screens, from creative vision to engineering and playback. This included the house looks, broadcast graphics, show opener video, in-room graphics, and content for the performances. 

Screens Producer Trevor Burk explains: “The VMAs wants to reinvent itself every year, with massive surfaces and creativity on a grand scale. It's a large broadcast audience, so it’s paramount that the show comes together quickly, smoothly, and creatively.” 

Year after year the team has crafted a reliable system for the VMAs, using responsive hardware that can handle their ambitions in real-time. “It’s all about speed”, explains Trevor. “We needed a robust system in place that we could move and react quickly.”

Eleven team members were tasked with handling the technical production, workflow management, and content of the screens. Trevor mentions, “every member of the team brings their own individual skillset and works together to deliver under immense pressure. There’s a huge amount of trust required to be creative, fast and accurate in a high stakes environment like this one. That kind of trust only comes from years of working together on a project like this.”

The Solution

Visual Noise decided to use Disguise yet again to handle their creative vision accurately, reliably, and at speed. Trevor explains: “It’s a high-stakes environment, and we have to be able to deliver.”  Visual Noise has used Disguise for over six years to power its increasingly-complex productions, including the VMA’s first-ever digital awards show in 2020, in collaboration with XR Studios.

During pre-production, the team made use of Disguise’s OmniCal Calibration feature to map elements of the stage. The stage centered around a giant 18-metre tall Moonperson emerging from the central hero screen and reaching out for a floating moon. The team used Disguise’s OmniCal features to map the Moonperson’s visor and the moon. Trevor explains:“We used the feature to start with broad strokes – mapping the scenic elements [of the stage], before going in and finetuning the line up.”

The team used six GX3 media servers during the live broadcast. The GX3 is the world’s most powerful media server and the go-to hardware for live events and touring artists. The servers were able to handle the team’s complex video files and advanced graphics without flinching.

Meanwhile, the team also used six of Disguise’s VX4+ machines. The VX4+ media server specialises in high-quality video playback; this means it could process the heavy content across multiple channels without dropping a single frame.

The Results

Thanks to the reliability of Disguise’s GX3 and VX4+ servers, Visual Noise was able to showcase one of their most creative and technically-demanding projects to date. 

The VMAs is one of the biggest shows in the year in terms of scale, complexity, screen size, and server numbers. Visual Noise has been consistently able to scale up its system every year. They could therefore trust Disguise’s technology to power its ambitions – from a futuristic 10-minute medley from Katy Perry to a fiery medieval castle performance by Chappell Roan.

Trevor explains: “To take the systems that we've come to rely on and be able to scale them up and have that as the support structure to a kind of bleeding edge desire to be as creative as possible, is really the part that is the most fun.”

As a result of the team’s hard work and leading technology, the broadcast was visually spectacular. The 2024 VMAs made huge waves across social media, becoming the most talked about TV special of the year (outside of the US elections).

Trevor adds: “What makes us the most proud of this project is that the show represents unchecked ambition that we as a team are able to meet. [...] Contributing to the legacy of the VMAs is something we can all be proud of.”