Yellow Studio’s set design for the 77th British Academy Film Arts Awards paid homage to the legacy of animation and motion pictures.

Key features 

Celebrities flocked to London’s Royal Festival Hall for the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, seated around a cinematic stage conceived by Yellow Studio. The centre point of the scenography was an 8-m-tall installation shaped like a pre-film animation device. Comprising the structure were 12 golden masks shaped like BAFTA’s distinctive mask icon, originally designed in 1955 by the American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe. Positioned in a semi-circle atop a glossy back stage, these mask-like silhouettes gave the installation a sense of motion. Yellow Studio took inspiration from early devices like the henakistoscope, zoetrope and praxinoscope for the arrangement – all tools that gave rise to motion pictures as we know them today. 

Linear LED lighting integrated into the backdrop furthered the feeling of changing illusions, situated in front of sheer drapes that seemingly transitioned colours as the illumination shifted.

FRAME’s take

Yellow Studio has been entrusted with the stage design for some of the world’s most preeminent cultural events in the past year, from Eurovision and the Grammy Awards to The Earthshot Prize. These spaces – now including the BAFTA set – bring the high-entertainment factor while infusing brand-relevant and symbolism. Telling a story of film’s history, and BAFTA as an organization, this project provided an engaging backdrop for the night’s processions on and off screen. The installation was a creative means of tying multiple inspirations, from the mask to the early animation devices, together into one cohesive spatial activation.