Cue

What is it?

A cue is the go-signal: the precise moment-marker that tells a person or element to start — "cue the video," "cue the guest," "cue music." In live production, where many people and elements must act in coordination without rehearsal-perfect timing, the cue is the atomic unit of that coordination: someone authorized says now, and the thing happens.

Practical example

Watch a floor manager in a TV studio: as the clip package ends, they raise a hand toward the host, counting fingers — three, two, one — point: cue. The host begins speaking at the exact frame the program returns to the studio. The same grammar runs through the whole control room — the director's "ready camera two... take two" is a cue pair (prepare, execute); "cue the stinger" fires the transition; "cue Dr. Rahimi" brings the backstage guest on. Solo streamers internalize the same beats without the vocabulary: the glance at the countdown before unmuting is self-cueing.

Key things to know (non-technical)

• The two-part structure is the safety: "ready X" (standby) then "cue X" / "take X" (go) — preparation separated from execution, so nothing fires by surprise.
• Cues are directional authority: one person (director/producer) issues; everyone else acts on receipt — ambiguity about who cues is how live shows trainwreck.
• Cue forms vary by channel: spoken (comms headsets), visual (the floor manager's point, the tally light), and increasingly software (the take button, the "bring on stage" tap — cues turned into UI).
• The guest experience hangs on cueing: a remote guest who can't tell when they're expected to speak produces the awkward overlapping starts every video call knows.

In Tupic Live

Cues in Tupic Live are UI made from control-room grammar: the "you're next" pre-cue in the guest's backstage view, the visible 3-2-1 before going on stage, the producer's tap that is "cue the guest" — translating television's coordination language into buttons and signals a one-person show can operate.