So this is my second blog in a short (ish) space of time – after quite an absence. The main reason you have not heard much from me is that it has been a busy period recently and finding the time to write has not been easy PLUS when I started into blogging I decided that I’d only “blog” when I had something to say. Anyway, what I’d like to talk about in this blog is to take you behind the scenes of how to cover a music event on TV. I do love music and I love producing and directing events that are geared around it – they always feel great to be involved in.
So far this year (and last) I’ve had the joy of covering a good number of music events – both from a directing and producing viewpoint and have loved each and every one of them.
They have also all been quite different. The Big Church Day Out for example was an open air “festival” style event that didn’t broadcast LIVE and instead will broadcast on GOD TV in the weeks ahead (its currently in the final stages of the edit) for me it encapsulated everything I think good music coverage should be – it had great bands, energetic performances (vital for music to work on TV – there really is nothing worse than when a bad performance lets down what in every other way is great coverage) and a LIVE crowd that lapped it up – plus the weather was pretty good too – always helpful for outdoor gigs. Fuel on the other had did go out LIVE and while the crowds on site were much smaller that BCDO I felt for TV the event was just as strong as the music was great and it also looked really good too.
The other major music event recently (well semi recently as it was around a year ago) was the Angel Mission Benefit Concert – however the aim of this was somewhat different as it wasn’t a “concert” but rather a fund raiser and for me from a TV perspective this was a balance we struggled to hit and I think we became more focused on the fund raising and less on the concert to the detriment of the broadcast. Don’t get me wrong we had some good content and it looked great – including a LIVE drill for water beamed from Kenya plus good interviews and lots of BUZZ on the ground – but I don’t think we had enough of the “concert” element. As a viewer if I was going to watch this, it’s the music that would draw me – hit me occasionally with the message BUT let me experience the music – that’s what made LIVE Aid etc. so successful – you experienced a global music concert – and then gave, I think we were too focused on the giving and not enough on the concert. But all that is very easy to judge in hindsight.
NOW that doesn’t mean to say that what we did concert wise didn’t work – far from it, it looked great. Particularly after the sun went down and the lighting came into its own – and this event for me had the best lighting by far – why? Because it was done specifically for TV – second in this regard was Fuel where the bands didn’t meddle too much in the lighting and then BCDO – unfortunately the lighting for me let that down a bit (it was still fine) but it could have been better – unfortunately the bands got too involved and ended up NOT concentrating on the TV side and worried too much about the on site look.
The other major music event of the last 12 months I have been involved in was the Delirious final concert (broadcast over Christmas on GOD TV) – I won’t comment too much on that as the way it was produced was a bit of a nightmare for us as we had little involvement in the filming of it (something which I think was to the detriment of the programme) and we ended up having to make it work in the edit suite – which is never where you really want to have to make something work – if you can start with something that is WELL directed LIVE then you have a better chance than we had with this. ALL that said – I do think we ended up with a good strong show – but there’s that nagging doubt that says it could have been even better.
One thing that is a constant battle and a frustration of mine is that bands and some organisers etc. seem unnecessarily fixated with the look of the LIVE show and do not pay sufficient attention to the TV end of things – HELLO there will be multiple more people watching the TV broadcast than are actually at the gig – could we perhaps prioritise that or at the very least treat it equally? You do the music and let those who need it to look good on TV do the lighting – I can but hope.
Anyway it has been a good period over the last 12 months or so musically and I’ve enjoyed it all – and of course learnt more again – I do believe you should always be learning and the day you stop learning is the day to give up.
For me though there are a number of elements that you MUST have for music to work on TV – these include:
- A great energetic performance by the artist – there is NOTHING worse than watching a performance that is limp where the performers clearly don’t want to be there or are half baked.
- Great quality sound – sound is 90% of good pictures and should always be a major priority – I have been very fortunate over all these events to work with GREAT sound people who really know how to deliver for TV.
- Good lighting that works for TV – this is a real hard one to get right but when you do it pays off BIG TIME.
- A crew of camera people that LOVE filming music (more on that later) – and are hungry to go further than just the normal coverage that you can get – it pays when people love what they do.
- THEN once you have all that – the crew, director etc, can enjoy themselves and the quality is really captured on screen and the overall energy translates brilliantly and (hopefully) captures the audience at home and makes them feel part of the event.
So, all that said, I’m now going to share with you my personal top 10 hints for directing music for TV – some people may disagree with some of these, that’s their prerogative – but for me these are what I go by.
1. Always ensure you have people that enjoy filming music working on camera – the quality of what they do makes or breaks the show. Also, ensure you put the right people on the right cameras – if you know one of them is fantastic on Hand Held then DON’T put them anywhere other than Hand Held. AND ensure you tell the camera team what you want them to deliver PRIOR to and during the shoot – for instance, if you want one camera to ONLY follow the lead singer so you always have a shot of them – tell them that. But also allow people to be creative in what they do – try and find a balance.
2. This is a controversial one but I think it’s important – cut for the action NOT on the beat. Sometimes they coincide – but make capturing the action the priority NOT cutting on the beat – what I mean by that is for example on shots where you are using a jib or a track and dolly allow the camera to complete its move rather than cutting off it on the next beat – it makes for a better flow to the show.
3. Don’t always think you need to have cameras swinging around wildly in fast tracks – sometimes directing the cameras to focus on one shot with a small amount of movement and then cutting the action fast puts more energy into the coverage that LOTS of camera movement.
4. Know as much about the songs as possible before hand – do your homework, find out the set lists, listen to the tracks, know who starts each one, which instrument has a solo etc. that way you can ensure you have the cameras prepared to cover the action BEFORE it happens rather than playing catch up.
5. Use cuts in fast songs and dissolves in slow ones BUT don’t get locked into that – sometimes the use of cuts in slow songs adds to the impact and effect – though I would say rarely do dissolves in fast songs work – but go with the flow and experiment.
6. If you are unsure of what a cameraman is “giving” you ask them to show you – there is nothing worse than cutting to something and it goes somewhere you regret – particularly if you are using focus pulls, or camera moves etc. you should always try and preview these – so you know when to cut to and from it.
7. Run as MANY isos as possible – having the ability to go into an edit suite and “sweeten” a live mix is a joy – you will always miss something when directing LIVE – BUT do as much live as you can.
8. Remember that even when you are filming a music performance it’s about telling a story – you are trying to draw the viewer into the experience – keep that at the forefront of your thinking.
9. Don’t be afraid to continually tell the cameramen what you want – if they are giving you a shot you know you won’t use, tell them – equally if they give you something really good encourage them – BUT don’t just think of individual shots – as good as one shot is if it doesn’t work in a sequence then it doesn’t work period – it’s about building sequences of shots – focus on shots, sequences and transitions – then you won’t go too far wrong.
10. Enjoy yourself – if you don’t enjoy filming and directing music then let someone else do it who does – it really shows.
If you’ve watched any of the broadcasts I’ve been involved in recently I hope you enjoyed them – I’d love to hear what you do and do not enjoy when it comes to LIVE music being covered on TV and I’ll see you from another gig somewhere soon – I hope.
So far this year (and last) I’ve had the joy of covering a good number of music events – both from a directing and producing viewpoint and have loved each and every one of them.
They have also all been quite different. The Big Church Day Out for example was an open air “festival” style event that didn’t broadcast LIVE and instead will broadcast on GOD TV in the weeks ahead (its currently in the final stages of the edit) for me it encapsulated everything I think good music coverage should be – it had great bands, energetic performances (vital for music to work on TV – there really is nothing worse than when a bad performance lets down what in every other way is great coverage) and a LIVE crowd that lapped it up – plus the weather was pretty good too – always helpful for outdoor gigs. Fuel on the other had did go out LIVE and while the crowds on site were much smaller that BCDO I felt for TV the event was just as strong as the music was great and it also looked really good too.
The other major music event recently (well semi recently as it was around a year ago) was the Angel Mission Benefit Concert – however the aim of this was somewhat different as it wasn’t a “concert” but rather a fund raiser and for me from a TV perspective this was a balance we struggled to hit and I think we became more focused on the fund raising and less on the concert to the detriment of the broadcast. Don’t get me wrong we had some good content and it looked great – including a LIVE drill for water beamed from Kenya plus good interviews and lots of BUZZ on the ground – but I don’t think we had enough of the “concert” element. As a viewer if I was going to watch this, it’s the music that would draw me – hit me occasionally with the message BUT let me experience the music – that’s what made LIVE Aid etc. so successful – you experienced a global music concert – and then gave, I think we were too focused on the giving and not enough on the concert. But all that is very easy to judge in hindsight.
NOW that doesn’t mean to say that what we did concert wise didn’t work – far from it, it looked great. Particularly after the sun went down and the lighting came into its own – and this event for me had the best lighting by far – why? Because it was done specifically for TV – second in this regard was Fuel where the bands didn’t meddle too much in the lighting and then BCDO – unfortunately the lighting for me let that down a bit (it was still fine) but it could have been better – unfortunately the bands got too involved and ended up NOT concentrating on the TV side and worried too much about the on site look.
The other major music event of the last 12 months I have been involved in was the Delirious final concert (broadcast over Christmas on GOD TV) – I won’t comment too much on that as the way it was produced was a bit of a nightmare for us as we had little involvement in the filming of it (something which I think was to the detriment of the programme) and we ended up having to make it work in the edit suite – which is never where you really want to have to make something work – if you can start with something that is WELL directed LIVE then you have a better chance than we had with this. ALL that said – I do think we ended up with a good strong show – but there’s that nagging doubt that says it could have been even better.
One thing that is a constant battle and a frustration of mine is that bands and some organisers etc. seem unnecessarily fixated with the look of the LIVE show and do not pay sufficient attention to the TV end of things – HELLO there will be multiple more people watching the TV broadcast than are actually at the gig – could we perhaps prioritise that or at the very least treat it equally? You do the music and let those who need it to look good on TV do the lighting – I can but hope.
Anyway it has been a good period over the last 12 months or so musically and I’ve enjoyed it all – and of course learnt more again – I do believe you should always be learning and the day you stop learning is the day to give up.
For me though there are a number of elements that you MUST have for music to work on TV – these include:
- A great energetic performance by the artist – there is NOTHING worse than watching a performance that is limp where the performers clearly don’t want to be there or are half baked.
- Great quality sound – sound is 90% of good pictures and should always be a major priority – I have been very fortunate over all these events to work with GREAT sound people who really know how to deliver for TV.
- Good lighting that works for TV – this is a real hard one to get right but when you do it pays off BIG TIME.
- A crew of camera people that LOVE filming music (more on that later) – and are hungry to go further than just the normal coverage that you can get – it pays when people love what they do.
- THEN once you have all that – the crew, director etc, can enjoy themselves and the quality is really captured on screen and the overall energy translates brilliantly and (hopefully) captures the audience at home and makes them feel part of the event.
So, all that said, I’m now going to share with you my personal top 10 hints for directing music for TV – some people may disagree with some of these, that’s their prerogative – but for me these are what I go by.
1. Always ensure you have people that enjoy filming music working on camera – the quality of what they do makes or breaks the show. Also, ensure you put the right people on the right cameras – if you know one of them is fantastic on Hand Held then DON’T put them anywhere other than Hand Held. AND ensure you tell the camera team what you want them to deliver PRIOR to and during the shoot – for instance, if you want one camera to ONLY follow the lead singer so you always have a shot of them – tell them that. But also allow people to be creative in what they do – try and find a balance.
2. This is a controversial one but I think it’s important – cut for the action NOT on the beat. Sometimes they coincide – but make capturing the action the priority NOT cutting on the beat – what I mean by that is for example on shots where you are using a jib or a track and dolly allow the camera to complete its move rather than cutting off it on the next beat – it makes for a better flow to the show.
3. Don’t always think you need to have cameras swinging around wildly in fast tracks – sometimes directing the cameras to focus on one shot with a small amount of movement and then cutting the action fast puts more energy into the coverage that LOTS of camera movement.
4. Know as much about the songs as possible before hand – do your homework, find out the set lists, listen to the tracks, know who starts each one, which instrument has a solo etc. that way you can ensure you have the cameras prepared to cover the action BEFORE it happens rather than playing catch up.
5. Use cuts in fast songs and dissolves in slow ones BUT don’t get locked into that – sometimes the use of cuts in slow songs adds to the impact and effect – though I would say rarely do dissolves in fast songs work – but go with the flow and experiment.
6. If you are unsure of what a cameraman is “giving” you ask them to show you – there is nothing worse than cutting to something and it goes somewhere you regret – particularly if you are using focus pulls, or camera moves etc. you should always try and preview these – so you know when to cut to and from it.
7. Run as MANY isos as possible – having the ability to go into an edit suite and “sweeten” a live mix is a joy – you will always miss something when directing LIVE – BUT do as much live as you can.
8. Remember that even when you are filming a music performance it’s about telling a story – you are trying to draw the viewer into the experience – keep that at the forefront of your thinking.
9. Don’t be afraid to continually tell the cameramen what you want – if they are giving you a shot you know you won’t use, tell them – equally if they give you something really good encourage them – BUT don’t just think of individual shots – as good as one shot is if it doesn’t work in a sequence then it doesn’t work period – it’s about building sequences of shots – focus on shots, sequences and transitions – then you won’t go too far wrong.
10. Enjoy yourself – if you don’t enjoy filming and directing music then let someone else do it who does – it really shows.
If you’ve watched any of the broadcasts I’ve been involved in recently I hope you enjoyed them – I’d love to hear what you do and do not enjoy when it comes to LIVE music being covered on TV and I’ll see you from another gig somewhere soon – I hope.
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