Treating the camera plan as an afterthought
The commonest mistake is deciding where cameras go once the stage is built. By then the best positions are taken by scaffolding, lighting towers or the sound desk, and the crew is left with whatever view remains. Concert coverage works when the camera plan is drawn alongside the stage plan, not after it.
Ask for the site drawings early, even rough ones, and mark sightlines to the performers, the crowd and any screens. A camera behind the front-of-house tower sees the back of a speaker stack and little else. A position a few metres to one side may give a clean shot of the whole stage.
We walk the venue before any show we cover, and we would rather move a platform on paper than argue about it at six in the morning on the day. If you cannot arrange a visit, send photographs of the space and the proposed layout.
- Share stage and site drawings as soon as they exist
- Mark camera positions on the plan, not just on the day
- Check sightlines from each position, including when the crowd stands
Forgetting that lighting is part of the picture
Lighting designed for the people in the field is not always kind to cameras. Strong backlight, rapid colour changes and sudden blackouts can leave a performer as a silhouette or push the image into flicker. Organisers rarely think about this until they watch the recording back.
The fix is a conversation between the lighting designer and the person running the gallery, ideally before the rig is focused. A few agreed rules go a long way: a steady front wash on the main performers, restraint with strobes aimed at camera positions, and a warning before any long blackout.
At the desk, Helen can only cut between what the cameras see. If every feed is blown out or murky at the same moment, there is nothing good to switch to. A short line-check during sound check, with the lights running through their cues, shows the problems while they can still be changed.
Leaving sound and picture to be sorted out separately
Audio is often handled by one team and video by another, with nobody responsible for the join. The result is a recording where the picture is excellent and the sound is whatever the front-of-house desk happened to send, or a relay to screens where the voice arrives a moment after the lips move.
Decide in advance who supplies the programme audio, in what form, and how it reaches the control desk. A clean feed from the main mixer is usually better than a microphone pointed at the speakers. Then check timing: video passing through processing can lag behind audio, and the delay has to be matched.
For relays to large screens, test the delay with a speaker talking on stage. Ten minutes at the start prevents an afternoon of complaints from the audience in the back rows.
- Agree who delivers the programme audio and in what format
- Test lip sync before the doors open
- Keep a spare audio path ready for the headline set
Underestimating weather and outdoor power
Festival sites in the south of England see wind, rain and damp in the autumn weeks, and cameras, cabling and monitors do not enjoy any of them. Organisers sometimes budget for rain covers on the stage but not for the camera platforms, the cable runs or the desk position.
Plan covered, dry space for the control desk and protect every connection that crosses open ground. Cable should be taped or ramped where people walk, and kept away from standing water. Wind loading on tall platforms matters too, so ask who signs off the structure.
Power deserves the same attention. A generator shared with catering or lighting can dip when a load switches on, and a dip at the wrong moment drops a feed. Give the video position its own supply where possible, with a small backup so a brief fault does not end the broadcast.
Skipping the rehearsal and the run sheet
Live music does not repeat, so there is no second take. The mistake is to treat the first song of the show as the rehearsal. A run sheet that lists set times, changeovers, guest appearances and any planned moments gives the director and technical director something to work from instead of guessing.
Where the artists allow it, cover a sound check as a dress rehearsal. Cameras can try their framing, the intercom can be tested, and the crew learns who is likely to step forward or wander off the mark. Surprises will still come, but they land on a crew that already knows its job.
Keep the run sheet short and honest. If the schedule changes, tell the gallery straight away. A crew working from an out-of-date list is more dangerous than one working without any list at all.
- Write a run sheet with set times and changeovers
- Rehearse with a real sound check where possible
- Share changes with the gallery the moment they happen
Not agreeing in advance what happens to the footage
Coverage often ends in confusion: nobody has decided who receives the recordings, in what format, or when. Organisers assume a finished edit arrives the next morning, while the crew assumes they are handing over raw files. Neither is unreasonable, and both lead to disappointment.
State the deliverable at the start. Is it a live relay to screens, a recording of the full programme, or a stream with graphics? Say who owns the material, how it will be delivered and how long the crew will keep a backup.
Agree permissions too. Artists, venues and rights holders each have a say in whether a performance can be recorded and shown, and those answers are the organiser's to gather before the day. A short written confirmation from everyone involved saves awkward conversations once the cameras are packed away.
None of these mistakes is dramatic, and each can be avoided with a conversation held a few weeks before the event. Plan the cameras with the stage, talk to lighting and sound, protect the equipment from the weather, write down the running order and decide what you want at the end. A live show leaves little room for improvisation, but a calm, prepared gallery makes room for the unexpected.