Event Evidence Video
Introduction
Our promotion company consisting of six people ‘Optics Promotions’ held the event TONII at Hyde Park Book Club on the 19th of February. The night was electric in both sound and vision. Supporting the electronic pop artist TONII was ShotbunGullet an experimental hardcore duo and Deff60 who explore jazz fusion and funk. The uplifting energy was sustained throughout the night which was complemented well by the live coded visuals Brandon Hinds. Our event started at 7pm and finished at 10:30pm and was held in the given assignment time period. In this evaluation I will be discussing my role within the project as well as our group management regarding the assignment objectives and legal obligations. This evaluation will include photographic and video evidence of our team demonstrating the management of our event.
Event Atmosphere
The event atmosphere was curated around TONII’s pre-existing brand that embraces the 2000s aesthetic frutiger aero (1B). We organised live coded visuals to be projected behind each performer which contained images of classic 2000s games, electric blue patterns and water scenes. They turned an already exciting high energy night into a unique and engaging experience for our crowd. TONII and ShotbunGullet were joined by dancers on stage which helped to encourage the audience to move with them. Lighting and sound by Tom Odell was excellent and fit the genre of music and completed our visual goal for our event (1A). From the videos you can hear how engaged the crowd was for each performer. Feedback from our audience after the event was very positive with many saying the live visuals and on stage dancers were a great added feature to the night.
Box Office
We set up a box office next to the stairs to the basement to avoid anybody walking in for free (2B). We also then placed another table at the door to the basement to increase our security at our event. This table was run by Kurtis Scotland who was handing out TONII’s stickers for her new single ‘d0pamine’ (2A). Tommy Handley worked on the box office all night, welcoming our audience in and marking their hands with a cross to show the rest of our team they had tickets (3C). He also had a the responsibility of counting how many people came to the event using a counting app on his phone. This meant we had a good understanding of the number of attendees. By placing the main box office upstairs it decreased queuing size, avoiding overcrowding on the stairs which is a health and safety risk we contained. For customers paying on the door we set up a card machine on my mobile phone which was very effective on the night as many students do not carry cash. We knew we could not exceed 150 as this was the venues maximum capacity. We sold 74 tickets online and 11 on the door so in total we had 85 people expected to come. Tommy counted 85 people attended (2C).
Security
The venue did not provide any security staff in the venue pack we purchased so our team had to take on the responsibility to ensure the safety of our attendees. Because we were a group of six we were able to split our team up to cover all areas of the venue at all times. We made sure we had at least two members downstairs controlling the crowd in every performance. As I mentioned previously, Tommy Handley stayed on the box office throughout the night to keep on top of the security on the door, marking peoples hands as they came in. We asked artists to utilise the green room provided to store their belongings to reduce trip hazards and avoid damaging the equipment (3B). We also frequently kept entering the green room to make sure nothing had been taken or misplaced. There is a padlock code you need to enter the green room that we made use of as the performances were occurring and took a picture to post it on our group chat with the artists to avoid anyone being locked out (3A). As our event was fairly small it was easy to maintain control over the crowd ensuring a safe and respectful performance for both artists and audience. There was a door code for the green room to make sure that no artists belongings were taken or misplaced. This was shared in the collective WhatsApp group chat. We placed a sign on the door to the basement that made everyone aware that we were filming on the night and if they entered the venue they consented to being filmed. This was a requirement of the assignment.
Health and Safety
Prior to the event Oliver Illingworth completed the risk assessment which detailed all the possible hazards and risks that could take place and what precautions we must take to avoid them from happening. Kurtis Scotland handed out ear plugs on door to protect our audiences hearing and we all made it aware to the attendees that the volume of this gig would be consistently loud for each act (4B). Cables were as neatly arranged as possible on stage to reduce the chance of a performer tripping over them, or an electrical fault occurring mid performance (4C). This was challenging as both TONII and ShotbunGullet reqiure many cables so we took extra time curating their stage setups. All fire exists were kept clear so people can move safely in the space provided and avoid tripping accidents at exit points. Unisex toilets were easily accessible both upstairs and downstairs, in the basement we made sure that each loo was stocked with sufficient toilet paper (4A).
Production
Tom Orrell was the sound engineer and lighting engineer for the night (5C). The feedback after the gig from our audience was that the quality of sound was very good. I got in contact with Bundy (Brandon Hinds) to create live visuals for each act (5B). They were projected through the projector over the artists (5A). This uplifted every performance and increased the engagement from our audience as they had something to stimulate them visually as well as sonically. Bundy created these visuals using the code based program touch designer. TONII also used touch designer to manipulate effects on her voice with her hands, again creating a unique watching experience.
Artists Liaison
The green room was stocked with tea, water, cups and a kettle that our artists and event team could use if they were dehydrated (6C). We kept the water bottles in the fridge as we knew the basement was going to increase in temperature (6B). Matthew Rowell handed out cough sweets to all artists as they came to the venue, incase their throat hurt (6A). Lucas Heasman transported all the equipment safely and on time to the venue and back to Leeds Conservatoire the next day. We made sure that the artists were looked after the entire evening, as well as making sure each performer went on stage at their planned designated time. We communicated with artists needs and wants before the event to make sure that on the day of the event the sound tech and our promotion company knew how to accommodate their needs. For example TONII and ShotbunGullet required a table to set up their electronics and merch so we arranged this for them prior to their arrival.
Stage Management
We organised the performers in the order of ShotbunGullet, Deff60 and TONII as we had pre-planned to take the table off and rearrange the equipment during Deff60’s set to be ready for TONII’s after. As Lucas was playing in both ShotbunGullet and TONII this made it easier as there was less equipment to switch over. We ended up starting 5 minutes late due to there not being many people in the room at 7:30. So decided to collect people from outside and make them aware the gig was starting. We kept the drum kit on stage during each set as the performance start times would’ve been delayed otherwise (7B). We were worried about space with the drum kit but it was pushed to the left side of the stage which meant their was more space than we had originally thought (7C). We asked artists to send their tech specs prior to the event to make the sound technician aware of any requests for each performer. We also had an Optics Promotions group chat which included a representative from each band so that all our communication was clear and accurate. A timings sheet was placed on the door of the green room so every performer was made aware of what time they were on (7A).
Online Marketing
We started promoting the gig online on January 8th just over a month before the gig as a collaborative post between all three bands to increase engagement across fanbases. The ticket link went live on January 19th, most of our tickets sold 2 days before the event. We asked all artists to put the ticket link in their bio and on their websites so they were easily located for potential attendees. TONII’s new single ‘d0pamine’ was released on the 17th which was one of the reasons for her headliner. Her added online promotion helped increase ticket sales. Our social media marketing was done primarily on Instagram as this is where our artists had the most engagement. As some of the artists were part of our events team we decided to just post on the artists accounts instead of creating an Optics Promotions instagram account. We made sure we had a steady flow of content (reels/posts/stories) releasing over 2 weeks over instagram prior to increase excitement and engagement around the event (8C, D, E). TONII (myself) was promoting her new single ‘d0pamine’ at the same time as the headline show was a celebration of the release. She created most of the online content for the gig, such as the video, which has been shown as a screenshot (8A). She also created a post after the event including the photos captured from each band (8B). This showcased the highlights of the event.
Promotion
I designed the main posters that we placed around our university. I specifically made them eye catching and vibrant so that people would spot them easily. Lucas also made posters for ShotbunGullet and Deff60 to attract various audiences to the gig (9B, C). We think this worked effectively to intrigue different people. Each poster had a QR code sticker we stuck on so people could easily find the ticket link. We had the idea of placing a funny version of the poster (as shown below) up for one person to find and win a free piece of merch on the night (9A). This created more excitement around the gig as many people were asking where the poster had been hidden. We created small A5 versions of the posters to hand out as well as flyers. TONII made physical stickers with the event ticket link added as a QR code (9D) that we handed out prior to the event on a table we ran on Tuesday 10th. In hind sight we should’ve planned this to occur on the 17th which was the day TONII’s new single was released and only two days before our event.
Financial Outcomes
We made £458.00 gross income, from ticket sales on the door/in advance and PRS royalties. We then took away £214 that included the venue hire, posters and leaflets which left us with the profit of £243. As detailed in the settlement (10A) this was split four ways between Optics Promotions, TONII, Deff60, ShotbunGullet, each receiving £60.94. In our events team we each received £10.16 out of the £60.94 split. Our financial outcomes determine this was a successful event.
Conclusion
To conclude this evaluation we believe that our event was a very high standard in terms of logistical, technical and being hospitable to our attendees. The night ran fairly smoothly and efficiently due to our completed risk assessment, marketing and teamwork leading up to and on the night. Even though we had a delayed start due to people not being in the basement we were still able to finish on time because of our organisation after this occurred. We made financial profit and were able to pay each artist a substantial amount because of this. The feedback we gained about the events atmosphere was very positive due to the sound and visuals/lighting being excellent as well as each performer delivering an outstanding performance. We wanted to achieve an electric, 2000s inspired night to be remembered and we all collectively feel we delivered this.
