rom students to faculty and staff, the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication filled with over 100 dedicated people preparing to cover the biggest event of November, the 2018 Midterm Elections.
There was the sight of the complex mechanical cogs-and-gear operation, Hofstra Votes LIVE, the first ever live, multi-platform Election Night broadcast, simulcast from our news-based program, Hofstra Today and 88.7 FM WRHU Radio Hofstra University. Never before had students collaborated in such a way – working together to cover the 2018 Midterm Elections.
I was absolutely exhausted, but it was probably one of my favorite experiences that I’ve ever had here at Hofstra, [...] Creating something together so quickly... it was great to see the turnaround and the product that we all made together.
– Gabriella Varano, 2018 sophomore journalism major
Who Will Win?!
I jumped onto the huge collaboration during the days prior to the big night. I, along with almost everyone within the communications department met in our NewsHub in order to plan the rehearsal to test the scheduling between the Television and Radio control rooms and what will be shown on screen. The leaders of each organization were held with a variety of staff and Dean Mark Lukasiewicz. From the Radio, Television and Film Department, Professors Nicole Franklin and Peter Gershon assisted in all aspects of the visual storytelling, Equipment Room Manager Patricia Szenher created the Chyron graphics that are superimposed onto a television broadcast, and WRHU General Manager Bruce Avery and Professional-in-Residence Pete Silverman worked with students to develop their on-air stories, in addition to ensuring the broadcast ran smoothly.
While in the meeting, the person who was meant to be the Airspeed Video Playback Operator was not able to come to rehearsal, so I took the initiative and volunteered to take the position in order to help route the right video output to the right control room and accurately organize the correct VODs and video packages that they needed to be played for rehearsal. I provided them with accurate times for each VOD, so everyone can get into the flow during the live broadcast.
Once Election Night arrived, it was time for everyone’s hard work and preparation to be put into action. I arrived early as one of the many Camera Operators to assemble and set up the camera equipment, ready to become the eyes of the show and become a part of this historic 4-hour-live coverage of the 2018 Midterm Elections. However, there were things that couldn’t be foreseen. All of the students needed to prepare for any change in outcome from the swing states such as Florida, Texas, Wisconsin and Georgia and be prepared to discuss its importance of whichever way the vote would sway.
The first run-through of the first hour of the show began at 6:30pm. This would be the one and only time we had to make any last-minute technical fixes in order to ensure both control rooms were running properly and help the on-air talent get comfortable before show time. We went until 8pm, and then we all sprang into action.
I jumped on my camera and began creatively framing and capturing the action of the panelists discussing the tallying and statistics of who would be winning that night. Any sudden change from the tallying, I quickly responded to director's directions and rapidly moved my camera to grab the shot they needed, whether that was of the panelists or their whiteboard that visually displayed the current statistics. Overall, I had an amazing time getting to collaborate as a whole department and create something historic (since we were all in different parts of the building, which was tough to quickly relay information back and forth).
But this is just my perspective,
To read more on Hofstra Votes LIVE, check out: https://www.hofstra.edu/worldchangers/votes-live.html