LSU Exec Elections 2018

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The executive elections at Loughborough Students' Union are a fairly large event, following the week of campus-wide campaigning. The results show is held in the venue's largest room, holding 1000+ audience, and is also live streamed to a wider audience.

I led a lot of the planning, setup and operation, from the set design to programming.

Rebecca Coughlan, Salome Dore & Glenn Fellows (left to right), the Welfare & Diversity Executive Officer candidates at LSU Exec Elections 2018. Photo by Ellie Hardwick.
Welfare & Diversity Executive Officer candidates. Photo by Ellie Hardwick.

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Lights

I hired in Robe picklePATTs, Showtec Sunstrips and Studio Due CS4s to give the event a tungsten look, emphasised by gelling the stage wash a bluer tone. There were a few playbacks for when the candidates walked on, won or lost.

The successful candidates at LSU Exec Elections 2018. Photo by Ellie Hardwick.
The winning candidates at LSU Exec Elections 2018. Photo by Ellie Hardwick.
QLab used to display the number of votes candidates had received at the LSU Exec Elections 2018
QLab used to display the number of votes candidates had received

Visuals

The idea behind the visuals was similar to the gameshow Pointless, where the bars would expand to graphically show the live audience whom had received the most votes. In addition, a live camera on the night showed the candidate's face when their votes were being revealed (streamed through a capture card). All this was achieved through QLab which meant the show was very repeatable and reliable - as we were only given the results on the night, the graphs all had to be programmed not long before the live show.

The output from QLab showing the number of votes candidates had received in a round of voting, plus the use of live camera
The output from QLab showing the number of votes candidates had received in a round of voting, plus the use of live camera

Team

It of course would not have been possible without the great team we had:

Production Manager: Fraser Stockley

Sound: Ed Hodges & Ed Hanks

Lights: Chris Stevens

QLab (visuals & tracks): Gareth Nunns

Vision Mixer: Ben Heslop

Camera Operator: Dafydd Thomas-Hillman

Stage Management: Chris Moore, Matt Oakley, Amie Woodyatt & Jack Millington

LSU Crew after Exec Elections 2018
Exec Elections 2018 Production Team. Photo by Ben Heslop.

The show went very well as planned and gave me a better understanding of lighting design and QLab programming.

All photos belong to their respective owners; all edited by me.