Battle Of The Bands 2008

Battle of the Bands 2008
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Genre:	Music Event Coverage
Producer(s):

Produced by Ian Martindale with Nick Howell as the Technical Coordinator, BoB 2008 improved on the previous year yet again, being the first BoB ever to broadcast and record all 5 Heats, both Semi Finals and the Final.

Heats

The Heats took place in Goodricke dining hall again, with two roaming cameras, Deathstar and a Wideshot being setup. All cable runs were brought back to the station where all the usual equipment was used. URY were setup in YSTV's studio space due to a room booking error with YUSU, which actually turned out really well.

By the end of the Heats YSTV's crew were very good at 'de-rigging', cutting their time of over an hour on the Monday down to just over 30mins by the Friday. After the Friday Heat the YSTV crew decided a few drinks were in order and headed into town where in impromptu social took place when YSTV, URY and Ents Tech all turned up in the Lowther within about 10 minutes of each other. This then led to the infamous 'Dark Larger' night, and the largest number of drunk techies in one place anyone had ever seen.

Semis

The Semis also took place in Goodricke dining hall, which gave the YSTV crew another easy setup similar to the Heats rig. This time URY got their room in G/045 again, and YSTV kindly gave them a video feed of the stage. Ents Tech also got a video feed of the main output so they could adjust the lighting to make it look good on screen.

YSTV used their studio space this time to interview the bands ready for use in introduction VTs for the Finals.

Finals

Once again the Finals were held in Vanbrugh Dining hall with YSTV occupying V/120 and V/122 for use as a Control Room and a Studio. YSTV again arranged hire of a projector and screen, which was this year flown from the lighting truss off to the left hand side (as you look at the stage).

For YSTV the rig was fairly standard -- 3 cameras in the Hall plus Deathstar flying from the truss. Audio was remixed by URY for broadcast and a copy given to YSTV. The studio rig was setup as a simple sofa style set using the blue chairs found near the balcony in Vanbrugh. Set boards and the two pillars were used to create an all black backdrop using the curtains.

It was arranged that YSTV's presenters, Roxanne Benson-Mackey and Kristy Harper, would effectively co-host the event, which led to some interesting technical challenges getting the on-stage Compere and the on-screen presenters communicating efficiently. YSTV hosted the Judges for the event, which seemed to go down remarkably well and set a precedent for years to come.

Once again, Matthew Tole performed a Live-Edit of the finals which was broadcast just before the results were announced.

Pictures of the event can be found in the YSTV Gallery.