A checklist for deciding on multi-camera switching for your live show

Start with what the audience should see

Before anything is priced or booked, write down what the finished programme is for. A concert relayed to a screen in the next room needs different coverage from a festival stage sold as a stream to people at home. Say who is watching, how long the show runs and whether the picture is the main product or a record of the day. That answer shapes everything that follows: how many cameras are justified, how much the director needs to rehearse, and whether one operator can cover the cutting or the show needs a technical director beside them. When we talk to organisers in these weeks of autumn, this is the first question I ask, because vague aims produce vague camera plans.

It also helps to decide what must not go wrong. Some clients can forgive a late cut but not a missed headline moment; others care most about clean, steady wide shots that never wander. Naming that priority early gives the vision mixer a clear rule when a moment is unfolding faster than any plan allows, and it gives you a fair way to judge the result afterwards.

• Who will watch, and where
• What the programme is used for afterwards
• The one moment that cannot be missed

Count cameras by job, not by number

A common starting point is a number: four cameras, six cameras. A better one is a list of jobs. One camera holds the wide shot that keeps the programme safe. Another follows the lead performer. A third covers the other players or speakers, and a fourth may take audience reactions or a fixed close view. Each camera should have a reason to exist and an operator who knows it. When the jobs are listed, the question of how many feeds the switcher needs largely answers itself, and so does the cabling and the size of the gallery. Adding a camera without a job tends to give the director more choice and less clarity, which shows on screen as hesitant cutting.

Check also which feeds are not cameras at all. Playback, a presentation laptop, a graphics machine or a remote contributor may all arrive at the switcher as sources. Count them with the cameras, because every source needs an input, a label and someone who knows when it is due. Missing one at the planning stage is one of the more avoidable surprises on the day.

• Wide safety shot
• Main performer or speaker
• Supporting shots and reactions
• Non-camera sources such as playback or laptops

Ask how the show will be cued

Cutting well depends on knowing what happens next. For a concert that may be a set list with song lengths and notes on solos. For a conference it is a running order with speaker names and the cues for slides. Ask whoever runs the show whether a script or rundown exists, and whether the technical director can see it before the day. Without it, the vision mixer reacts; with it, they anticipate. The difference is usually visible in the first minutes of a programme, because a cut that lands just before a change feels natural and one that lands just after feels like a correction.

Decide too how the gallery hears about changes. A late running order, a skipped song or an unexpected guest has to reach the technical director quickly and calmly. Agree one person on your side who can speak to the gallery, and one channel for doing it. Hannah on our side schedules this contact before the event, so that nobody has to guess who to ring when the show departs from the plan.

• Running order or set list shared in advance
• One named contact on your side
• One agreed channel for last-minute changes

Check the people and the equipment together

Switching is a team activity. A vision mixer cuts between feeds, while a technical director keeps the whole chain in order and talks to camera operators. Ask who will fill each role, what shows they have worked on of a similar size, and whether the same crew will be there for rehearsal and for the broadcast. Then look at the equipment they will use. The switcher should have enough inputs and outputs for your list of sources, with spare capacity rather than none. Confirm monitoring: the gallery needs to see every feed and the programme output clearly, and a poor multiview makes good operators slower.

Ask about backup in plain terms. What happens if a camera feed drops, a cable fails or the switcher needs restarting? A sensible answer names spare cables, a second route for key sources and a plan for returning to a safe shot quickly. You do not need technical detail, only evidence that someone has thought it through and rehearsed the moment when something misbehaves.

• Named vision mixer and technical director
• Spare inputs on the switcher
• Clear monitoring of every feed
• A stated plan for a failed source

Agree rehearsal, sign-off and what you receive

A cut that works on paper still needs a run-through. Ask whether the crew can rehearse with at least a line check and a few minutes of the real material, and who from your side will watch it. Agreeing what good looks like beforehand, whether wider shots, slower cutting or more audience, saves arguments once the doors are open. Also settle who signs off on the day. A single person with authority to say yes to the picture is far easier to work with than a committee watching the same monitor and offering different instructions.

Finally, be clear about the deliverables. Is the output a live feed only, or do you also want a recording of the programme, or individual camera recordings for editing later? Each option has storage and handling consequences, and it is easier to plan for them than to request them afterwards. Put the answers in the written quotation so both sides are working from the same page before the work starts.

• Rehearsal time and who attends
• One person who signs off the picture
• Live feed, programme recording or isolated feeds

Questions to leave with a written answer

Last, take the points above and turn them into a short list you can send in an enquiry. Give the venue, the date, the length of the show, the sources you expect and the audience you are aiming at. A supplier who can reply specifically to that list is usually the one who will run the gallery in the same way. Keep the replies in writing. A quotation or confirmation that names the crew, the sources, the rehearsal and the deliverables is something you can check against on the day, and it protects both sides if plans shift.

If an answer is vague, ask again rather than assume. Good gallery teams are used to questions, and the ones asked before booking are far cheaper than the ones asked from the back of a venue while the show is running. A calm, clear conversation at this stage usually predicts a calm, clear gallery later.

Deciding on multi-camera switching is mostly a matter of knowing your own show: the audience, the jobs the cameras do, the cues, the people in the gallery and what you want to keep afterwards. Work through these points before you commit, put the answers in writing, and the choice between options becomes much easier to judge. If it helps, send us your list through the contact page and we will reply with questions of our own.