Music Maker

The multifaceted James Tonkin details his career in capturing live music, working with legendary acts and up-and-coming artists alike

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Something of a star in the live music realm, James Tonkin – director, DOP, editor and colourist – has worked with the likes of the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Coldplay and the Cure, as well as newer acts 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) and Tom Grennan. Through his production and post-production company Hangman, Tonkin records concerts, creates tour documentaries and livestreams performances to remote audiences. With 24 industry years under his belt, he reviews his career in full, noting the unique obstacles and equipment endemic to his line of work.

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When prepping a music shoot, “it all starts with the budget,” says Tonkin. “How much does the client have to spend? Can we hire a truck, get all my favourite operators in, call Panavision and lens it up that way? Or, is it the sort of project where they have no cash and then we question what to do?”

No matter the scope, Tonkin’s always finding ways to be resourceful and experimental, adopting new equipment while pushing creative boundaries. He generally goes for a multicam approach to production, sometimes incorporating up to 30 cameras at a time. “It’s just leveraging the right tools for the right job,” he states. Occasionally, an extensive set-up isn’t possible, such as during a sold-out show. “That’s the thing people tend to forget – if it’s an arena and they’ve sold all their tickets. I filmed something for 5SOS at the end of last year and we were going to do a bigger multicam shoot for them, but they’d sold out already, so they had no seat kills for cameras.” He continues: “Where are we going to put the 14, 16 cameras? How can we get the big tracking shots if we can’t put a dolly track in?”

In live music, location matters. 5SOS headlined Royal Albert Hall, and Grennan performed at a musical festival held in Hounslow’s Gunnersbury Park. With each situation, there are “certain limitations and benefits,” explains Tonkin, as well as technical and creative considerations. The most important decision is arguably where to focus and how to best tell the story at hand. A more limited shoot might include, for instance, “hero artist shots, hero wides and some sort of sense of location,” Tonkin details, plus “a nice front-of-house shot as well.”

Grennan’s shoot was especially short on budget, with the initial idea of using 20 or so cameras replaced with the goal of using a single drone. “We were about to step away at that point, but I’m a sucker for a challenge,” Tonkin admits. He called in a favour at Fujifilm, whom he’d worked with earlier that year. “I needed a decent long lens shot but didn’t have the budget to hire the lenses I wanted,” so Fujifilm offered the Duvo 14-100mm, 24-300mm and 25-1000mm. With the latter – an expensive and still relatively novel telephoto lens – Tonkin required more support with rigging, tripods and so on. “Their lens technician would come down and help, which was invaluable. It’s not a lens that you just throw on a camera.” Between the three optics and the drone, Tonkin and his crew could capture Grennan from multiple angles, as well as get establishing shots of the audience to show off the festival’s true scale.

Most other times, Tonkin hits CVP with a kit request. “I’ve worked with CVP for years. They’re my ‘dealers’, as it were.”

Always on the hunt for the latest, CVP supplies him with cameras from Red, Blackmagic, Arri and the like, ensuring each act has access to high-quality kit.

We’re live in five

Although his work tends to include editing and grading, Tonkin will produce the odd live stream, which is “all about what happens in the moment,” he says. These often take the form of a live album launch or listening party – as was the case with The Cure and 5SOS. “I only had a tiny part in operating on The Cure,” admits Tonkin, touting the experience as a career highlight. “They played Songs of a Lost World front to back and then two hours of greatest hits. That was a real reminder for me of why I love music.”

For 5SOS, Tonkin worked with Moment Factory, who handled production design, to visualise the album The Feeling of Falling Upwards. “It was a collaborative project,” he shares. “There’s such a stress if you’re producing something totally live. It adds a real air of tension; normally, it’s fine if you miss a cue. It doesn’t matter. You have the edit to get the best out of it.” He concludes: “I was fortunate to have all the right people, the right team; it was an incredible show.”