Before You Commit to a Concert or Festival Broadcast: A Checklist

Start with what the audience should see

Before anyone talks about cameras, decide what the broadcast is for. A concert filmed for a live stream, a festival stage cut for a television slot and a record of a one-off performance all ask for different coverage, even when the stage and the artists are the same. Write down who will watch, where they will watch and whether the programme is live, delayed or recorded for later.

That single decision shapes almost everything that follows: how many camera positions you need, whether you want close-ups of performers or wide shots of the crowd, and how much of the set the director must follow shot by shot. Settling it early also keeps conversations with the production team short, because every later question has an answer to be measured against.

If you cannot yet say what the programme is for, that is useful to know. Put it first on the list and resolve it before you ask for a quotation.

• Who is the audience and where will they watch
• Live, delayed or recorded for later
• One stage or several running in parallel
• Length of the programme and any breaks

Walk the venue and agree a camera plan

A camera plan is only as good as the site it is drawn for. Ask for a visit, or at least for accurate drawings of the stage, the audience area and any rigging. The technical director will want to see where cameras can stand without blocking sightlines, where cable runs can pass safely and where the gallery itself can sit with a clear view of its monitors.

Think about positions beyond the front of house. A camera on the side of the stage, a locked-off wide shot from the rear and a handheld operator in the pit each give the vision mixer something different to cut to. Fewer well-placed cameras usually beat a long list of positions that nobody can cover properly.

Agree the plan in writing, mark any positions that depend on the venue's permission, and note who is responsible for confirming them. Changes after the plan is signed off cost time, so it helps to ask the awkward questions while they are still cheap to answer.

• Stage and audience drawings, or a site visit
• Fixed, handheld and elevated camera positions
• Where the gallery sits and what it can see
• Permissions needed for rigging or restricted areas

Check power, cabling and the signal path

Broadcast equipment is unforgiving about power. Ask what supply the venue can offer to the gallery, the camera positions and any encoding equipment, and whether it is separate from the lighting and sound circuits. A shared supply that dips when the stage lights come up is the sort of fault that only appears during the first song.

Then follow the signal from each lens to the final output. Where do camera feeds enter the gallery, how are they monitored, and what happens if one cable or one link fails? A sensible plan has a spare route for the feeds that matter most, and it names who checks each connection before doors open.

For a stream, add the outbound connection to the list. Ask the venue for the upload capacity it can truly guarantee, not the figure on a brochure, and plan a backup path in case the main line is shared with ticketing or other users on the night.

• Dedicated supply for gallery and cameras
• Spare routes for the most important feeds
• Tested upload capacity with a backup path
• Who checks every connection before doors open

Decide who talks to whom during the show

On a live show the gallery depends on talkback. Camera operators, the vision mixer, the stage manager and sound all need a reliable way to hear one another, and the question of who may speak to whom should be answered before rehearsal rather than during it.

Agree a single point of contact on the client side who can make decisions quickly. When the running order slips or an artist moves to a different part of the stage, the technical director needs a clear answer in seconds, not a committee. Hannah Whitlock usually handles this on the production side, scheduling crews and confirming who has authority for sign-off.

Write the running order, cue sheet and contact list on one page and give copies to everyone in the gallery. It sounds basic, but a short, shared document is what keeps a calm show calm when something unexpected happens.

• Talkback channels and who has access
• One decision-maker on the client side
• Running order and cue sheet on one page
• What to do if a set runs long or short

Plan the rehearsal and the check before doors

Ask how much time the schedule allows for a camera rehearsal. Cutting a band you have never heard is possible, but the shots will follow the music more closely if the vision mixer has heard at least part of the set and the operators know what the songs do on stage.

Build a technical check into the timetable too. Every camera, every monitor, every graphic and every audio path should be seen working before the audience arrives, and any fault found should have time to be fixed without pressure. Squeezing this check into the last ten minutes is a common cause of avoidable errors.

If the event is streamed, include a short test broadcast to the platform. It confirms that the encoder, the connection and the settings behave as expected, and it gives the client a chance to see exactly what viewers will receive.

• Camera rehearsal time in the schedule
• Full technical check before doors open
• Test broadcast to the streaming platform
• A named person who signs off the check

Agree delivery, rights and what happens afterwards

Finally, be clear about what you receive when the show ends. Is it a live programme only, a clean recording of the final output, or separate recordings of each camera for editing later? Each option takes different equipment and storage, and it is much easier to arrange before the day than to request afterwards.

Check the permissions as well. Performers, venues and music rights holders may each have a say in whether an event can be filmed, streamed or kept for later use, and that agreement belongs with the organiser, not the gallery. Ask the production team what they need to see on paper before the first camera is set up.

Lastly, confirm how and when files will reach you, who keeps copies, and for how long. A short written summary of these points, agreed alongside the quotation, saves a good many difficult emails once the stage is empty.

• Programme only, clean recording or isolated cameras
• Written permissions from venue and performers
• File delivery method and timing
• Who keeps copies and for how long

A concert or festival broadcast goes well when the decisions are made in the right order: purpose, camera plan, power and signal, communication, rehearsal and delivery. Work through the list with your venue and production team, and put the answers in writing. If gaps remain, you will know exactly what to raise when you send an enquiry through the contact page, and the quotation that follows will be easier to compare and easier to trust.