Elections 2003

Elections 2003
Genre:	Events Coverage
Broadcast:	7 March 2003
Producer(s):	Cally Nixon Chris Thornton

Elections 2003 was broadcast on 7th March 2003, and produced by Cally Nixon and Chris Thornton.

Unlike previous Derwent election nights, where the set and control room were both placed in the JCR, this year the terrace room next door was used for the set and the JCR for the control area. This allowed as much noise to be made in the control area as was needed!

The new set was designed and built by John Biltcliffe and Andrew Talbot. The small cream set boards were seperated by tall thin purple boxes with a number of circular holes in each. These holes were covered in tissue paper and a long bulb was placed in each box, creating a pleasing glow on camera. These light boxes were in fact inspired by part of the set BBC Sport's snooker coverage was using at the time! The desk used since SU Elections 2001 was placed in front of this. For the interview set a "coffee bar" was constructed to try and bring a more relaxed approach to this area.

Using the terrace room did have its problems. It is a fairly small room to try and cram two fairly large sets into, and once lights, cameras and Big Telly had been hauled up the stairs outside and added to the mix there wasn't a lot of room to move!

There were technical problems on the night which led to Giles Burdett's campus map graphics not making their debut until twelve months later, and the programme itself wasn't able to go on air until around 9.45pm. The programme also suffered from using the dying Cox T8 (8-input) vision mixer which gave out mid-programme. YSTV's brand new Panasonic Max (4-input) was rushed back from HQ at the other end of campus and rapidly connected into the setup, leaving the presenters filling in sound only over graphics and VTs whilst this ocurred!

Fillers on the night included WoodenSpoon, the final of Games Disaster, Have I Got News For YUSU and that year's NaSTA Best Broadcaster film.

The title sequence used time-lapse footage of that year's Battle of the Bandsrig and other campus clips, edited by Ed Jellard and going on to be highly commended at 2004's NaSTA awards. The theme tune was an original composition by Rob Humphrey, Kev Gedge and others, which went on to be used for 2004's programme and 2005's Bona Dicta specials and 60 Second Manifesto. It was revived (in a remixed form) for 2007's show.

Other than the technical problems listed the content on the night went smoothly. The programme's main legacy was the set, which remains in use to this day. Immeditately afterwards the links area became YSTV's generic news and current affairs set, and was used for YSTV Week, Bona Dicta and many future election night programmes. In later years it made all manner of appearances on shows such as YSTV Sport, The Sofa Show, FourPlay (repainted orange), YSTV News (repainted red and silver) and many, many more besides. The coffee bar appeared on many subsequent election night programmes, but it has since been used most regularly in panel game-type shows, for which it isn't entirely suited due to the sharp point of the wood join at the back where the presenter sits, as it was originally designed to be sat in front of. However it serves the purpose well, and has featured on Have I Got News For YUSU, The Great Big Massive YSTV Christmas Quiz Game Show Thingy 2003, LipSync, Welcome To Venus and Your Answer's Rubbish to name but a few. All of this is a testament to the hard work put in designing and building in early 2003.

The original design for the Elections 2003 set