Getting a charity concert's replays and graphics right: Jamie's story

The enquiry from Jamie

Jamie runs a small events committee in County Durham, and in the first weeks of autumn he rang us about a charity concert in a converted market hall. The show was to be streamed and also shown on two screens inside the room. He had a good idea of the music but very little idea of what a live gallery does between the cameras and the audience.

His first question was modest: could someone put the names of the acts on screen. Over a long call with me we widened that into a proper brief. He wanted slow replays of the best moments for the room, names and charity messages on the stream, and nothing that distracted from the performers. I wrote down what he wanted, and what he did not, before we discussed any equipment.

That second list proved as useful as the first. It told us how much graphics the show could carry without turning into a noticeboard.

Deciding what the graphics should say

We began with the lower thirds, because they are the part viewers read most. Jamie sent the running order, the spelling of every act and the wording of two short charity messages. We built a small set of templates in plain colours that matched his posters, with large type that stays legible on a phone.

The rule I give every client is that a graphic must earn its place on screen. A name appears when an act starts and again when a new singer steps forward, and then it leaves. A donation message appears between songs, never over a chorus.

Jamie asked for the sponsor line to stay on screen all night. We talked it through and settled on a short appearance at the start of each set, which he agreed read better and sat more comfortably with the music.

• Names checked letter by letter against the running order
• Messages timed for the gaps between songs
• One typeface and two colours throughout

How replays fit a live concert

Replays are usually thought of as a sports tool, but they work at concerts when handled with care. Jamie wanted the room screens to show a moment again, such as a drummer's fill or a choir lifting at the end of a verse, without ever interrupting the song itself.

In practice the replay operator marks a clip while the show carries on, then plays it back during an instrumental break or a pause between numbers. The vision mixer keeps cutting live cameras for the stream, and the replay goes out only where it adds something. Anything played over a vocal is off the table.

At rehearsal we tried a replay after the first chorus and Jamie said at once that it pulled attention from the singer. We moved every replay to the ends of songs, and the pacing improved straight away.

What changed between rehearsal and doors

The rehearsal exposed two problems. A graphic for the second act was spelt differently from the name on the programme, and a lower third sat too close to the bottom edge of the room screens, where the stage lip cut it off. Both are simple to fix, and both are far easier to fix at five in the afternoon than at nine at night.

We corrected the spelling after checking with the act directly, and we moved the graphics up so they were safe on both screens and on the stream. Priya, cutting the cameras, asked for a tighter wide shot so a name never landed on a face.

By doors we had a short cue sheet for the gallery listing every graphic and every planned replay against the running order. Nothing was left to memory.

• Spelling confirmed with each act
• Graphics moved clear of the screen edges
• A cue sheet agreed and printed for the gallery

The evening in the gallery

On the night the show ran close to the plan, which is what a calm gallery looks like from outside. Names appeared as acts walked on, the charity messages came up in the gaps, and three replays were played at the ends of songs where the room reacted to them. Jamie watched from the back of the hall and told me afterwards that he stopped noticing the screens, which was the aim.

One act overran and another dropped a song, so a few cues moved. Because the sheet was built around the running order rather than clock times, the operator simply followed the music and the graphics stayed in step.

That is the part of the work clients rarely see: the operator listening, reading the stage and holding a cue for a few seconds longer than planned.

What we took from the job

Jamie's concert reminded us that replay and graphics work is mostly preparation. The templates, the spellings, the cue sheet and the agreed rules about where a replay may go were all settled before anyone pressed a button on the night.

We now ask every client for the running order and the exact wording of names and messages well ahead of the event, and we ask what should never appear on screen. The answers to that last question tend to shape the whole design.

It also showed us how much a small event gains from a clear plan. A committee with little broadcast experience ended up with a stream and a room display that looked deliberate and kept the focus on the music.

• Collect names and wording early
• Agree where replays may and may not run
• Rehearse the graphics on the real screens

Jamie's evening ran smoothly because the decisions were made at his kitchen table and at rehearsal, not in the gallery during the show. If you are planning an event where replays and graphics will be part of the picture, send us your running order and the wording you want on screen, and tell us what should stay off it. We will go through it with you and agree the cues before the day.