Thomas Schubert
He's German. And small. Some might say he's a...small German boi.
| Thomas Schubert | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active in YSTV | 2017 - Present |
| Positions Held | Station Director Production Director Treasurer |
| Current Location | The YSTV Studio. Probably. |
| Hometown | Erftstadt-Lechenich, Germany |
| Degree | BSc Film and Television Production (2017–2020) |
| Appearance | Looks like a small child. |
Thomas is the current joint station director of YSTV, together with Stephanie Shires (together they make up the Dynamic Duo). They are the first to ever lead in a joint position. Steph is the 'station' and Thomas is the 'director' and they must be addressed as such.
About
Thomas (often called "German Tom" or "Schubert") is an international student that joined YSTV as a fresher in 2017. He soon became one of the most active members of that year, taking part in and leading a wide range of productions. In late spring term, he replaced Dan Maher as treasuer after a by-election. He was re-elected into this position at that year's AGM, but later took over as Production Director from Courtney Brotherson in another by-election. He spent a lot of time throughout his second year creating new films and shows, while working hard on improving existing programmes such as YSTV Reports and the station's branding. Usually, he was active as director, camera operator or editor. In 2019, he was elected into the position of Station Director jointly with Stephanie Shires.
It must also be noted that Thomas is one of the most lovely, kind, hardworking and modest individuals to have ever been part of YSTV. (Note on authorship: This bit was written by Stephanie Shires, who is being incredibly nice. It's not exactly true, but too flattering and cute to not include - Thomas)
He also has an unhealthy obsession with custard creams.
"History"
(Editor’s Note: I had no idea what to call this section)
Coming to York as an international student, Thomas had no idea YSTV even existed until the day he arrived at uni. After stepping out of the bus from the airport, he was greeted by none other than Raquel Bartra. She suggested he should join YSTV, which he did the week after Freshers’ Week.
The first productions he worked on were the weekly instalments of Coffee House Sessions, where he got to know most of the older and also new members of the station. Very soon, he realized that YSTV was the society he enjoyed the most. He ran for OB and Events Coordinator at a by-election early in the term, but lost to Stephanie Shires. This was the first time they properly met, despite doing the same course and should be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
The first major production he was involved in was the Christmas Massacre livestream. He pitched to producer Iona McEwan that the show should be bookended by two found-footage style horror VTs, which included jumpscares, a weirdly extensive lore and Katherine Bell being revealed as the evil Killer Santa. Subsequently, he was tasked with writing, directing and editing these VTs. During the shoot, he worked with several soon-to-be key members of the station, an experience he enjoyed so much he started planning his own first big production:
Over the winter holidays, Thomas wrote the script for Hidden, a short film drama. Pre-production for the film would begin early into spring term with support from Anastasia Arsentyeva, Richard Jones and Stephanie Shires. At the same time, he got involved in several other major productions – most notably the YUSU Elections 2018. During the different livestreams and video shoots he regularly worked with Production Director Edwin Barnes, for example as editor for the ERN Intro video or as wireless camera OP for the live broadcasts. He would later regularly reprise these roles.
During this term, Thomas also started producing his weekly programme YSTV Rants, in which he wrote a comedically angry review of whatever film he had watched that week. This was his first on-going production.
At the end of spring term, Thomas stood in another by-election and was voted in as Treasurer, replacing Dan Maher.
During his third term, Thomas was part of the team at NaSTA 2018 and Roses 2018, while also stepping up to lead and create several other productions (like the Love York Awards 2018 and the film review show Scene It!). During this time, he gained a lot of experience in camera operating, directing live shows and editing. Alongside Stephanie Shires, he was also responsible for pushing YSTV to do more commercial work. However, these paid jobs also led to him being stuck in edit hell for the first time (a place he would find himself over and over again during his time at the station).
During the election 2018, Thomas was the only one to run for the role of treasurer, and therefore kept his position.
He returned to York early during summer in order to help crewing on Micklegate Run. The rest of his time back, he spent trying to figure out After Effects and the finer workings of Premiere Pro.
Before term had even begun, he had already produced and edited several episodes of YSTV Reports together with Stephanie Shires. During this time they became the Dynamic Duo, and would go on to take on several major productions together.
With his new experience in editing, Thomas became heavily involved in the videos for Freshers' Week 2018 and other productions early in the term. Besides that, he also appeared in front of the camera more regularily, usually doing something silly (like trying out pole dancing).
At the beginning of autumn term, Thomas was elected Production Director after Courtney Brotherson stepped down. In this new position, he revived the station's YouTube channel (for which he also created a new thumbnail scheme), introduced weekly Writers' Rooms (unfortunately rather unsuccessful) and changed the way Production Meetings were held. Most notably, these new meetings included weekly schedules, lists of all programmes in edit hell and a lot of weird photoshop pictures to illustrate upcoming productions.
With Hidden being released at the end of autumn term, Thomas started shooting his new short film: Robbing Chloe, a dark comedy about a group of robbers using their big heist for petty revenge.
During the coming terms, he continued working on a wide array of productions, always trying to trial new formats and push for more complicated and challenging ideas (both on factual and entertainment content). He also joined YSTV for their trip to Malham Cove, took on the role as Content Lead and VT Editor during Roses 2019 and was in Nottingham for YSTV's Best Broadcaster win at NaSTA 2019. He also edited the winning showreel with Matthew Zeffertt.
At the elections 2019, Thomas was elected Station Director jointly with Stephanie Shires. The Dynamic Duo are the first to run YSTV as a team. They promised to push the station's boundaries even further in terms of scale and ambition of future productions.
Productions
In a desperate attempt to stay as busy as possible without actually doing any work on his degree, Thomas has worked on a wide range of productions in an even wider range of positions.
YEAR 1
| # | Show | Position | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coffee House Sessions | Various Positions | Working as camera OP on several sessions at first, he soon produced his own session. Was mostly there for the free Nachos |
| 2 | Christmas Massacre | VT Director/Floor Manager/Actor | Encouraged by Iona McEvans, the combined Christmas-Halloween livestream saw him acting as director for the very first time. The short found-footage style horror sequence saw him work with many soon-to-be important faces of YSTV: Charlotte Rogers, Theo Bimson and Richard Jones. |
| 3 | Hidden | Director, Writer, Editor | He wrote the script for Hidden during the christmas break, which soon became his pet project. Shot on 5 days over 2 terms, mostly crewed by freshers and with a lot of help from DoP Anastasia Arsentyeva, Hidden developed into a massive project that caused the new generation of YSTV members to bond (especially over the 2nd day of shooting, which lasted for 17 hours). The film would only be released at the end of 2018's autumn term. It was shortlisted for Best Drama at NaSTA 2019. |
| 4 | YSTV Reports: AESTHETICA 2017 | Assistant Camera OP | Thomas joined the team at Aesthetica, which saw him use the C100 for the first time. Except for one interview, none of the video was ever released. |
| 5 | ISA Cultural Performance Night | Camera OP | Helped crewing and setting up the recording of the performances. This marked the first time he worked with Olivia Gibbs, with whom he would soon work together regularily. |
| 6 | FTO Debate 2018 | Wireless Camera OP | He spent several hours running around with a camera but without comms. Still seemingly did a good enough job to gain extra praise on the production's wiki page. Mostly due to catching bored audience members in embarrassing moments. |
| 7 | Unibrass 2018 | Director, Wireless Camera OP | For the first time, Thomas got to direct a section of YSTV's live broadcast. Which he enjoyed a lot. |
| 8 | PTO Debate 2018 | Vision Mixer | He vision mixed for the first time. Which was arguably not very impressive because he had exactly two cameras to work with. |
| 9 | ERN 2018 | VT Director and Editor, Wireless Camera OP | He volunteered to take on the live stream's intro video with Edwin Barnes, presenter Josh Gonorro Chapman and surprise cameo Alex Urquhart (YUSU President). The plan that had been made was mostly abandoned due to the sudden access to YUSU's Voteswagen - which was a good call.
The intro linked directly into the opening of the live show, where Josh was picked up by Thomas on the wireless camera as he entered the hall. |
| 10 | Lemons for Leukemia | Presenter | Making a deal with Richard Jones, he took part in the Lemons for Leukemia challenge. For which he had to eat a lemon. Which he enjoyed way too much. |
| 11 | Roses 2018 Trailer | Director, Editor | Directed the trailer for YSTV's coverage of Roses 2018, which was mostly improvised. |
| 12 | The Wizard of Oz | Co-Producer, Editor | Happening to find a hire opportunity on a shoot with bestie Stephanie Shires, they both produced this major commercial hire in just two days. They filmed two seperate performances of the musical and ended up spending several weeks in Edit Hell. The result was so well liked, however, that YSTV got hired several times in the future to film more theatre shows. |
| 13 | Behind the Streams: NaSTA 2018 | Camera OP | Thomas attended his first NaSTA in 2018, and spent most of the weekend running around with a camera - which kind of makes him the camera OP, right? |
| 14 | Roses 2018 | Various Roles | Thomas joined the crew for Roses in Lancaster, taking on several positions ranging from director to floor manager. |
| 15 | YSTV Rants | Writer, Editor | Throughout the second and third terms, Thomas created his own weekly show, which was aiming to be a more vulgar version of Honest Trailers. Each week, he would watch a new film and write an intentionally angry review on it. The show was voiced by Lydia Juhrich and span across six episodes. |
| 16 | The System | Partial DoP | He was a part of the fateful shoot of The System, joing the crew on three days as one of five overall DoPs. |
| 17 | The SU | DoP | Thomas took on the role of Director of Photography on Hector Macduff's satire short film. |
| 18 | Love York Awards 2018 | Producer, Director | With Edwin being nominated for an award, Thomas was trusted to both produce and direct one of YSTV's biggest live streams of the year. He also shot the video for the Outstanding Contribution to Student Life Award. |
| 19 | Summer Ball 2018 | Camera OP | Joined the crew as a camera operator for the whole evening. Nearly died in a fatal bumper car crash, due to Steph's inability to drive forward. |
| 20 | Guide to Campus | Actor | Spent a day wheeling around Richard Jones on a trolley and being abused by him. Which counts as acting, I guess. |
| 21 | Scene It! | Director, Editor | In his second term, Thomas started planning a comedic film review show with Charlotte Rogers and Theo Bimson. After several concepts failed, the show (which was themed around the film "Sleepless in Seattle") was shot at the end of Summer Term and got released shortly after Freshers' Week 2018. Before this, Thomas edited both an announcement video and a stand-alone review of Isle of Dogs as proof-of-concept. |
| 22 | A Killer Opportunity | Director | For the first TFTV 48h Film Challenge that he took part in, Thomas led a team made up out of YSTV members and directed a fake commercial for "Death Direct", an assassination firm. |
| 23 | Micklegate Run 2018 | Camera OP, Editor | Thomas came back early from his summer holiday to join the team for Stephanie Shires' big project. On the race day, he and presenter Jacob Boyle were stationed behind the finish line, welcoming the teams after the race. Thomas later edited the highlights video. |
YEAR 2
| # | Show | Position | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YSTV Reports | Various Positions | He has worked on a wide range of YSTV Reports videos, re-vitalizing the format with Stephanie Shires before Fresher's Week 2018. He took part in the following:
|
| 2 | Dad's Army | Producer, Co-Editor | This was the second theatre production YSTV was hired for. Thomas produced the shoot alongside Stephanie Shires, and edited one segment. |
| 3 | Guide to Freshers' Week | Director, Editor | With the aim to inform Freshers better about Freshers' Week and the events put on by the colleges, Thomas directed and edited a short guide video presented by Joel Mitchell. |
| 4 | What are STYCs? | Actor | Appeared in the video, pointing out the difference between a STYC and a stick. |
| 5 | Freshers' Week 2018 | Various Roles | Alongside Edwin Barnes, Thomas was one of the most active YSTV members during Freshers' Week, appearing and editing the videos for 50 Shades of Constantine and Constantine College Freshers' Fair. He operated the wireless camera during the Freshers' Fair livestream and acted as producer, camera OP and editor for Freshers' Festival 2018. |
| 6 | YSTV does Come Dine With Me | Canditate | Created the show with Stephanie Shires, and took part as a candidate. Cooked what was meant to be a gnocci casserole, but failed miserably. The show was never released. |
| 7 | Cats | Producer | For the as-of-yet last hire by a local theatre company, Thomas took on the role of producer. |
| 8 | Guide to the City of York | Assistant Camera OP | Assisted Edwin Barnes and presenter Joel Mitchell, and shot B-Roll during the following summer. |
| 9 | Halloween Livestream 2018 | Guest | Thomas appeared as a member of the YSTV team, mercilessly destroying the URY team in Apple Bobbing. Was later dressed up as a mummy for some reason. |
| 10 | Robbing Chloe | Director, Writer, Editor | Directly after the release of Hidden, Thomas began work on the next short film. Trying to write a proper comedy script this time around, he started shooting at the end of November, but once again had to complete the film in the following term. Due to many other productions and his course taking up an increasing amount of time, Robbing Chloe was delayed several times and will be released around Freshers' Week 2019. |
| 11 | YSTV does First Dates | Camera OP | Operated the hand-held camera for the programme's first installment. |
| 12 | Joe Cooks | Camera OP | Operated the hand-held camera for the cooking show with host Joseph Wharfe. |
| 13 | Tea Time Chat | Presenter | Took part in several Tea Time Chat episodes, usually as advisor for new members or as presenter (where he first tried out hummus, to everyone's delight). |
| 14 | YSTV Trips - Malham Cove | Camera OP | Joined the group travelling to Malham Cove and - obviously - spent most of the day running around filming. Later claimed that this day was one of the best out of his time at uni. |
| 15 | YSTV Sport | Various Roles | Thomas worked on all YSTV Sport livestreams throughout the year, in positions ranging from Floor Manager, Live Highlights Editor and Producer/Director for the Water Polo livestream. |
| 16 | Theo and Alex Are Rocking Around The Christmas Tree | Guest | For some reason ended up being a guest on the weirdest show YSTV has ever produced. Also, it never got released. |
| 17 | Christmas 2018 in York | Camera OP, Editor | After filming YSTV Reports: Carols in the Minster, Thomas felt so christmas-y that he decided to walk back alone through town, gathering shots of York in full christmas decoration. The rest of the crew subsequently spent a while trying to find him, believing him to be lost. The video was released as the culmination of 12 Days of Christmas on Christmas Day 2018. |
| 18 | YSTV goes Pole Dancing | Presenter | Got talked into trying out pole dancing on camera by Klara Simonova, Prakriti Jha and Charlotte Rogers. The video led to a lot of amusement within YSTV and its viewers and launched the "YSTV does..." series. |
| 19 | Riddle Me This | Executive Producer | Hoping to produce a more impressive Give It A Go session, Thomas led the team creating the concept for Riddle Me This, a riddle-themed game show. |
| 20 | YSTV does Hunted | Fugitive | Thomas was one of the first to sign up for the very spontaneos filming, for which he went on the run with team partner Joseph Wharfe. After several adrenaline-filled chases and even being split up from his partner, Thomas and Joe were eventually caught next to Clifford's Tower. To this day, both insist that their rivals (Andrew Waddle, Zoe Dickinson and Caroline Preynat-Viero) only won because the Hunters spent the entire time chasing after them. This shoot also caused Thomas to furthermore refer to the hunter Cal Cooke as "The Terminator". |
| 21 | James College Video | Assistant Camera OP | Helped Edwin Barnes film a short commercial project with James College. |
| 22 | #Bustice | Director, Producer | Asked for help by YUSU's Community and Wellbeing Officer Steph Hayle, Thomas agreed to create the campaign video for her Bustice initiative. |
| 23 | YorCups | Director, Producer | Following the release of the #Bustice video, Thomas was contacted by YUSU Commercial Services who wanted to advertise their YorCup scheme. Despite being busy with Elections, the team produced the video in record time - and ended up with a ton of free YorCups in the studio. |
| 24 | The FetSoc Doc | Presenter, Editor | Joined the team for Matthew Zeffertt's pet project as advisor and editor. He also took part as presenter in YSTV's visit to a discussion meeting and a rope workshop (continuing an unhealthy trend of him being tied up in YSTV productions). |
| 25 | YUSU Elections 2019 | Camera OP | Reprised his position as Wireless Camera Operator for the FTO Debate, sharing the role with Andrew Waddle due to the sheer weight of the new gimbal. During the Elections Results Night, he worked as Floor Manager for the main hall. |
| 26 | #RentRant | Camera OP | Operated both cameras for the interview with Steph Hayle. |
| 27 | AES Conference | Camera OP | Helped out occasionally on the massive live stream, which lasted for three days. |
| 28 | YSTV does Rockclimbing | Director, Editor | Originally created for a course assessment, Thomas created a longer version of video to share Matthew Zeffertt's failed attempts at rockclimbing. |
| 29 | NaSTA 2019 | Camera OP, Editor | Once again, Thomas spent most of the NaSTA weekend filming everything he could find. He also helped edit the Best Broadcaster showreel with Matthew Zeffertt, which led to YSTV winning the prestigious award. |
| 30 | Roses 2019 | Content Lead | As Content Lead, Thomas was responsible for the production quality of YSTV's output. He also directed and crewed several live stream, edited the live highlights of the Opening Ceremony and directed and edited a variety of videos for VTs and general social media output. |
| 31 | YSTV Reacts | Producer, Editor | Despite knowing full well that it would be a horrible idea, Thomas organized public watching for the disappointing Game of Thrones finale. The reaction video was posted just one day after the episode had first aired. |
| 32 | Love York Awards 2019 | Producer, Co-Director, Live Highlights Editor | Reprising his role as LYA producer, he also shared the roles of director and live highlights editor with Olivia Gibbs. He and the rest of the crew had a cameo when YSTV won the Best Committee Award. Additionally, all used graphics were created by Thomas about 3 hours before the start of the live stream. |
| 33 | YSTV Trips - Camping in Scarborough | Camera OP, Editor | Took part in YSTV's camping trip, spending most of the two days running around filming every single thing. Edited the video over the holidays and created travel animations in After Effects. |
| 34 | Maths Skill Centre | Camera OP | Helped film this commercial project, which included him shooting a timelapse following Jacob Boyle from HesEast to the library. |
| 35 | Summer Ball 2019 | Camera OP, Editor | Was assigned to produce the announcement video and a 30sec recap video. Managed to edit and release the intro video just in time for the event's opening (despite having to re-shoot it). Crewed as camera OP for the rest of the evening. |
| 36 | Everything Sucks | Director, Co-Writer | Thomas took part in TFTV's 48-Hour-Film-Festival with the YSTV team. After most plans failed throughout the first day, he ended up helping Olivia Gibbs write the script at 2am and directed the short film with her the following day. The film premiered the next day and will be released for Freshers' Week 2019. |
| 37 | TV on the Radio | Guest | At several points throughout the year, Thomas was a guest on the radio show. Three times to be exact. Which is more than he was allowed without paying membership. He still hopes he won't be caught. |
Trivia
- Thomas makes regular appearances on the Quotes Board, mostly due to his failure to properly use the English language or understand English culture
- Every conversation he is involved in at some point includes a joke about him being small, German or both - much to his boredom
- He coined Edwin's nickname: "Fuck off, Edwin" - based on frequent expressions. Since then, this expanded to litterally everyone
- For some reason, he has a big disliking for ties and suits, which is why he usually is the most underdressed at any formal event
- His catchphrases include: "No I won't stay much longer", "It's in the policy" and "Just one more time, please"
- Together with Stephanie Shires he was one of the main creators of The 52 Amendments at the AGM 2019.
- Fascinated with the YSTV wiki, Thomas created the Wiki Secret Santa, which turned out rather unsuccessfully. Instead, he wrote most of this entry during summer vacation 2019.
Anecdotes
- During Roses 2018, Thomas was woken up twice by Steph accidentally sitting on his face, much to the amusement of everyone else.
- At Roses 2019, Thomas nearly crashed the van by driving on the wrong side of the road. For this reason, he was not allowed to drive for YSTV Trips.
- Thomas is known for spending entire nights in the studio in an attempt to finish editing a project.
- For Tea Time Chat, Thomas ate hummus for the very first time live on air
FLOPPYs
In 2018, Thomas received the "Can I See Your ID?" Award for his childish appearance. At the 2019 FLOPPYs, he got the Time Management Award for famously always submitting his essays only one minute before the deadline. In both years, Thomas did not the receive the "YSTV's Favorite German" Award. They always went to the German friends he brought along to the award ceremony.