Elections 2004

Elections 2004 was held on March 12th 2004. It was produced by Jonathan Bufton and James Thorniley.

Planning

After Elections 2003, due to technical problems, didn't get on air until 9.30pm, and members were pulling trolleys of equipment across campus until 7am the following morning, it was decided that there would be changes to the format of the election results programme in 2004. It was decided early on that the sort of problems experienced the year before could be made even worse due to the lack of active members at the start of 2003/4. It was also an ideal time to try something new as so many members had graduated after 2003's programme. As a result it was decided to try and anchor the night from YSTV's Goodricke headquarters, with only an OB-style setup taken down to Derwent. This would mean we wouldn't have such a race against time to dismantle the set in Goodricke and reassemble it in Derwent (and then dump it back in Goodricke until it was put back together sometime after Easter). It was also decided to re-use the previous year's set and theme tune. This mean more time could be spent on preparing for the content for the night itself.

Over time it was decided that links presenters and graphics would be based back at Goodricke HQ, and Derwent would be home to interviews and obviously coverage of the results themselves. There was also a desire for the "filler" programmes to be more linked to the content of the programme. Finally presenters would be encouraged not to dress overly smartly - partly as there was no need to do otherwise and partly to make a stand against URY (that's University RADIO York) who always wore smart suits.

Fillers

Another edition of Have I Got News For YUSU was considered but rejected due to little time on the part of Jonathan to prepare another programme, and also a feeling that all university-related jokes had been used up a year earlier. A documentary provisionally titled "Chris Jones - The Movie", looking at the outgoing President's year in office, was mooted for a while but in the end not produced. James Gallagher suggested an idea called This Is YOUR: Manifesto, where a big red book would be taken around campus asking students to fill in their wishes for campus facilities, with the book presented to the returning officer. This idea was filmed (and ended up being continued for the 2005 and 2006 programmes). Finally Michael Prior-Jones's STV VT from the previous years was to be re-used to explain the voting system.

Structure

It was decided that the programme should at least attempt to be more structured and visual - with re-caps every half hour, the title sequence played out more, and a ticker bar providing updates along the bottom of the screen. Links set presenters would also be used just to "link" and not to waffle endlessly. To this end a Bona Dicta-style panel was to be in place on the interview set in Derwent available to pontificate endlessly.

Set

The previous year's set was re-used (with the logo repainted) in order to continue the "corporate" look used since the previous year. In Derwent the "coffee bar" set was eventually placed in front of the large glass windows in the terrace room after a lack of ideas for a backdrop. Large lights were used to attempt to light the backdrop of the lake and tree with mixed success.

Titles and theme

The new titles were filmed by walking around campus and speeding up the footage, with important positions scrolling across the screen in the YSTV News colours of purple and cream. The climax of the sequence was as the camera reached Derwent, the SU centre and YSTV HQ. The logo was designed by Tom Hughes.

Graphics

In 2003 Giles Burdett had designed a graphics system which would allow viewers to "fly over" 3D representations of the colleges to be used alongside the usual graphical data. This didn't work on the night due to unforseen problems interfacing with the main graphics system ENformation. These problems were ironed out by 2004 and they were used on the night, and again in 2005. They also made an appearance in the URYVision Song Contest later in 2004.

To be continued...