A close-up lets people at the back of a venue see a singer’s expression. A wide shot shows the dancers and the scale of the stage. For concerts, choosing these pictures is part of directing the show. The camera team needs to understand the music and the artist’s intentions, as well as operate the equipment.
Concert stage and audience — from the Ready Team photo archive.
What is IMAG?
IMAG means image magnification: live camera pictures displayed on venue screens so the audience can see the performer in detail. Its first job is visibility. Its creative potential goes further, connecting expressions, movement and musical moments with the stage design. A concert livestream and an in-room screen mix may need different framing and pacing because their audiences see different things.
Direct the emotion, frame by frame
Choose shots to suit the song. Hold a close-up when a vocal moment needs attention; use a wider frame when the choreography matters. Camera movement and frequent cuts can add energy, but using them throughout leaves little contrast. Agree which moments should feel intimate and which should show the whole stage.
Review the visual references with the camera director, operators, lighting designer and screen-content team. Check the artist’s positions, camera angles and light on faces. If the lighting looks good in the room but leaves the singer’s face too dark on screen, the teams need to solve that together.
Concert screens and stage — from the Ready Team photo archive.
Where Resolume fits into the workflow
Resolume can bring live camera inputs into a composition, apply effects and combine them with other visual layers. Compatible capture hardware can bring SDI or HDMI signals into the system. This creates room for treatments such as colour changes, layered imagery and graphic framing, chosen to support the song.
Agree which camera pictures go to each screen and when effects should appear. Test the delay through the full camera-to-screen system: the audience can see the performer and the screen at the same time. Keep an agreed way to return to a clear, unprocessed picture and rehearse that change.
Katy Perry: screens inside the performance
Katy Perry’s Prismatic tour is an external example of screen content designed around the stage action. AJA’s production case describes a video-wall workflow using Catalyst media servers and graphics by Lightborne. The useful lesson for a concert brief is to develop cameras, screen content and performance cues together, so the screens belong to the show’s visual world.
Dua Lipa: live images with a visual identity
For Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia tour, Luke Halls Studio developed screen content within a stage concept by Es Devlin. Notch’s case study describes stylised live effects, including an echoed blur inspired by long-exposure nightclub imagery. It shows how a live image can carry the atmosphere of a song as well as the performer’s face.
The Katy Perry and Dua Lipa tours are external creative references, not Ready Team projects.
Build the show before arriving at the venue
Preparation gives the camera team room to be creative. Before load-in, agree the setlist, visual references, screen dimensions, camera positions, cue ownership and rehearsal time. Write the requirements for lighting, sound, power, access and crew facilities. Resolve the handovers between departments while there is still time to make decisions.
Watch the screens from the audience area during rehearsal. Can you follow the performer? Does a close-up cut away just before an important gesture? Do the effects obscure the face? Put the agreed camera shots and screen cues in a shared brief so everyone works from the same decisions.
Planning a concert or artist show in France?
Send Ready Team your venue, show format, setlist or running order, screen plan and visual references. We can discuss the camera production and coordination required with your artistic and technical teams. Briefing and production coordination are available in English.