Newport Beach Film Festival Honors 2025
Project Overview
Production Alliance Group was proud to support this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival Honors, one of Southern California’s premiere celebrations of film, culture, and creative excellence. This year’s ceremony was hosted fully outdoors—offering a unique ambiance, but also introducing new production challenges.
Our job: create a polished, awards-style experience in an outdoor environment while ensuring every guest could clearly see and hear the presenters throughout the afternoon.
The Challenge
Moving the Honors event outdoors meant rethinking the typical awards-show layout. We needed to:
Deliver clear visuals despite strong daylight and changing outdoor light conditions
Ensure strong audio coverage across an open-air venue
Integrate staging, screens, and lighting into a non-traditional footprint
Keep the aesthetic refined and elegant, consistent with the festival’s brand
Ensure gear could withstand outdoor elements without sacrificing performance
Visibility was a top priority—press, honorees, and guests all needed a crisp, unobstructed view of the presenters and program.
Our Approach
To meet these outdoor conditions, we designed a specialized open-air production package.
Key elements included:
High-brightness, outdoor-rated LED panels for maximum visibility
Outdoor TVs strategically placed for guests seated further from the stage
A clean stage layout with optimized sightlines under natural lighting
Cinematic-style lighting that competed comfortably with the outdoor environment
A reinforced audio system built to project clearly and consistently in open space
Everything was selected to handle wind, ambient noise, changing light, and the general unpredictability of an outdoor venue—without compromising the premium feel of the Honors.
Execution
Setup required close coordination with festival staff and the venue to ensure we could build a full awards-style production outdoors under a tight schedule.
Once the event began, the combination of outdoor LED displays and TVs ensured that every guest—from VIP seating to general attendees—had a clear view of the presenters and honorees. Smooth lighting transitions and clean audio kept the program feeling cohesive and elevated throughout the evening.
Strike was handled just as efficiently, leaving the outdoor space exactly as we found it.
Results
The final outcome delivered:
A refined and memorable outdoor awards experience
Crisp visibility across the entire venue thanks to our outdoor LED panels and TVs
Even, balanced audio coverage in an open-air environment
A production environment that felt high-end despite the challenges of working outdoors
It was a dynamic, visually polished afternoon that both festival organizers and attendees enjoyed.
Why This Project Matters
Bringing a traditionally indoor program into an outdoor space requires creativity, technical expertise, and the right equipment. This project showcased PAG’s ability to adapt award-show production to any environment—while maintaining the quality and experience expected from a film festival of this caliber.
Supporting the Newport Beach Film Festival Honors is always meaningful for our team, and delivering this year’s show outdoors made the achievement even more special.
