Carney James Turner Captures the Spirit of Sheffield for Paul Heaton’s Live Screens.

While Paul Heaton was raising pints and spirits in Sheffield on Sunday 25th May, there was another kind of magic happening just out of sight—behind the screens, behind the crowd, and behind the camera. Enter Carney James Turner, Crows Nest Films' resident visual gunslinger, who spent the night weaving a different kind of poetry: live visuals for the big screens at one of the UK’s most beloved musical gatherings of the year.

It was a delight to join forces with our old pal Spenny and work with Martin Riley's Geared4Digital at this event.

With Shed Seven and The Lightning Seeds priming the crowd in true indie institution style, the scene was already electric when Heaton took the stage. But it was Turner—perched among the buzz of the production pit—who helped translate that raw, sweat-slicked energy to thousands beyond the front row. Live camera work at a gig like this isn't just about pointing and shooting. It's choreography. It's instinct. It's storytelling in real time.

“Capturing a Heaton show is like trying to bottle a thunderstorm with a lens,” Turner says, wiping rain and adrenaline from his monitor post-show. “You’ve got decades of songs people feel in their bones, and you’ve got to do justice to every lyric, every look.”

The atmosphere in Sheffield was predictably euphoric, with Heaton delivering a set heavy on hits and heart. But what Crows Nest fans might not see is the level of coordination it takes backstage to bring that to life on screen—from snapping guitar close-ups during “Happy Hour” to sweeping shots of the bouncing, beer-wielding crowd during “Rotterdam.”

This isn’t Turner’s first rodeo—he’s a familiar name on the indie circuit for a reason. But Sheffield, with its soaked streets and sky-punching choruses, gave him a new kind of canvas. And judging by the reaction both in the arena and online, he delivered.

So here’s to the unsung heroes of the lens—the ones who frame our memories while we lose ourselves in the moment. And here’s to Carney James Turner, who made sure Paul Heaton’s Sheffield homecoming looked every bit as iconic as it sounded.

Crows Nest Films—where music and motion collide.