New Etiquette Issue at Live Events: Smartphone Filming Obstructing Views for Attendees

Increasingly, organizers and performers are encouraging photography at live venues

A live house in Tokyo. A special guest made a surprise appearance at an artist’s live concert, and the audience cheered loudly. At the same time, smartphones …… held high from all over the floor.

Have you ever had a similar experience where your view in front of you was filled with the smartphone screens of the people in front of you? ……

In recent years, this kind of scene has often been seen at live music concerts. Audience members take video and still pictures with their smartphones and other devices. By holding them up to their heads, the view of the people behind them can be greatly obstructed.

In the past, taking pictures at live concerts was generally prohibited, although some concerts did allow it.

However, with the evolution of smartphone camera functions, the proliferation of photos and videos on SNS, and the fact that those who are photographed can also benefit from the publicity without incurring advertising costs, the concept of photography as a positive aspect is gaining popularity, and the number of cases where the organizers and performers encourage it is increasing (see below for examples of cases where photography is allowed). (In some cases, the music and corners where photography is allowed are specified, or a separate area is set aside for photography, and posting on SNS is only allowed after confirmation by the performer.)

I understand that you want to capture the fun, excitement, and …… air of the stage in front of you on your phone. I take pictures too. However. In my desire to capture the subjects on stage in a good light, my phone is sometimes held up far above my head. Especially for those who take videos, they are often held up for a certain period of time, and their view is sometimes obstructed.

Of course, there are many people who just enjoy taking pictures privately, but posting them on social networking sites has also become a common practice. This is why the problem of people holding up their phones too high has been on the rise in recent years, and it is a new live concert etiquette that should be considered in the future.

Sometimes “fan’s-eye” photos are better

In the past, most live shows where photography was possible required the photographer to hold a single-lens reflex camera firmly in place. However, the evolution of smartphone camera functions and the ease of operation have made it possible for anyone to shoot images of a certain level of quality.

In addition, smartphones are compact, can be shot with one hand, and have screens that are large and bright enough to be easily seen from a distance. As a result of these factors, the smartphone screen is held above the heads of the audience in front of the stage, which is often in the way of the audience in the back of the stage, creating a phenomenon where the audience in the back of the stage sees the smartphone screen all around them.

When you look from behind, the glaring blue light of a smartphone screen is very distracting and tires the eyes,” says photographer and musician Yaojia Ishizawa, who also works as a photographer.

This is a problem for me,” said Yosisa Ishizawa, who is also a photographer and a musician. Ishizawa often takes photos of the stage as an official photographer. When the number of audience members taking photos at live performances began to increase, he felt that “we are the ones taking the photos, so there is no need to bother taking them,” but he has come to realize how effective the spread of photos on SNS is.

But now he has come to realize how effective social networking can be. “Just like the best photos of my own child taken by parents, I sometimes feel that the ones taken by people I really like, I can’t compare to those (laughs).

Now that images and videos other than official ones are being recorded and published in large quantities, and now that we have the soil for diffusion, such as X and Instagram, I can positively see that this will result in a vast amount of important historical records being left behind.”

A member of the duo unit “PPPPR!-Rua, a member of the duo unit “PPPPR!

She said, “I had the mindset that live performances were something to be enjoyed in the moment, and that it was something to be captured. I thought it was something to be burned into my eyes.

But when I started working as an idol, I realized that “taking pictures” was another way to enjoy live performances. I thought it was the same thing in the sense that I could enjoy it freely.

PPPR! Basically, taking both video and still photos is allowed at PPPR!

Everyone takes pictures with good smartphones and cameras and spreads the information on SNS and other media.

We are grateful for this because it is a cool way to document our performances, and it makes it easier for our fans to understand how we look.

As they say, the act of filming and spreading information itself is welcome in the current trend. However, what we need to consider is the manner in which the photos are taken.

If it is difficult for me to see, it is even more difficult for the people behind me to see. If you raise your phone above your head, you are blocking the view of the people behind you.

Even if you find it difficult to see or photograph, I want you to be aware that there are people behind you as well. I want you to hold your camera at eye level, or at least at head height.

Is the live scenery with glowing phone screens a record of the “now” live atmosphere?

Mr. Ishizawa recommends trusting your smartphone camera and taking a moment to take a picture if you want to take an overhead shot.

I understand the fan mentality of wanting to preserve it and the sense of mission to show it to everyone, but it is not enough if you can take pictures only with your own phone or camera.

All smartphone cameras basically have good performance, and they actually work well with today’s live lighting to take beautiful pictures. You can leave it up to a certain degree and capture something reasonable, so if you just aim for that moment and take a moment, it won’t cause discomfort to the people behind you.

Ms. Ria also offers this suggestion.

If you don’t have a designated seat, you can shoot at the edge of the floor, so even if you shoot from a certain height, the view of the people behind you will be much less obstructed.

Since there are no clear rules for this kind of thing, with different standards for different performers, organizers, and venues, it would be nice if rules and manners could be established naturally while everyone is thinking about it.

Even in an environment where spectators are free to take pictures of live performances, if the view is obstructed by smartphones overhead, or if there is a loud outcry that this is considered a nuisance, then taking and spreading pictures may be prohibited altogether. In addition to the position of the camera, the shutter sound can also spoil the atmosphere if it rings unexpectedly during a ballad song, for example.

Mr. Ishizawa thinks that the scene itself, with everyone taking pictures of the stage with their smartphones, may be a modern version of the ’20s.

When you look at the whole scene from behind, there are a lot of shiny smartphone screens there.

This scene, the large number of phones held up in the air, may be a sign of the excitement of the live performance, an atmosphere unique to the present.

Later on, people may remember with nostalgia the scene of people holding up their smartphones, saying, ‘This is how it was like in the ’20s.

Come to think of it, there were smartphones. …… Such a future may come.