Interview: WarwickTV at the Summer Party

Laura Primiceri interviews Robert Bowler and Helena Skinner following WTV’s coverage of the 2014 Warwick Summer Party.

How was TV coverage of the Summer Party organised?

R: TV coverage was based around doing interviews with all the artists. We also filmed some other content around the summer party including on some of the rides and of parts of the performances.
H: We have two presenters, Lauren and Jordan who interviewed the acts. We filmed an intro and some light hearted footage of the presenters off the job sampling the Shisha garden and Curiousitea’s cocktails.

Who was your favourite artist to interview?

H: I would personally have to say Zane Lowe. He was an absolute gent. Very complying considering he was heading off to Aiya Napa straight from the Sunmer Party. He was complementary about our presenter’s interview technique and genuinely very nice.
R: Like Helena I thought Zane Lowe was very good. I also enjoyed filming Chasing Grace because they were happy to be interviewed for a long time and were very enthusiastic. On the whole I would say that all the artists we filmed were great, and we got some really good interviews from them.

Did you feel it was a lot of responsibility?

R: I don’t feel the filming was too much responsibility. Presenting and asking questions I would say took quite a bit more responsibility.
H: I’d have to agree with Rob, the interview preparation undertaken by the presenters was extensive!

What was the training like for the presenters/ what made it so intensive?

H: They had a research pack compiled with detailed information about the artist’s history, and on top of that they also had to be prepared with light hearted, trivial information to butter the artists up before the interview. They did really well. We all feared that some of the acts may be slightly stilted and reluctant, however the research paid off and our presenters were able to show they were genuinely interested and acquainted with the acts!
R: I also felt the team did a really great job and it was clear they had prepared well for the interviews. One thing that made the job so intensive was that they were kept busy throughout the day going from interview to interview, constantly preparing questions ready to ask.

What did you think of the Summer Party this year? 

R: I thought it was good and the weather really helped that. Not sure I would have gone if I had had to pay to get in, as it really was quite expensive, but I enjoyed it.
H: After last year’s downpour, the weather this time around was fantastic. The Summer Party had a lovely friendly festival feel to it; but the toilets were far better than those at a conventional festival!

Is there any policy on what you can and can’t film, or what you have to get permission to include in the final cut? Do you need to get permission from students used in the video?

R: I hope not. Getting permission from every student that may have been included in one of the videos would be impossible.
H: However, we do have to take care editing the final cut, as obviously we can’t show inebriated students. Another drawback is swearing; no doubt we’ll cut out parts of the interview in which the artist’s deploy the odd expletive.

What other events do you cover at Warwick University?

R: Lots. I am the head of sport next year so the main event we will cover is Varsity, so we normally film some sports live and others recorded. But there are many other events covered by Warwick TV.
H: In my personal and biased opinion, WTV is an unsung hero. We film a huge amount of footage throughout the year, to name but a few Fresher’s Week, Coffee House Sessions, Student Theatre, Poetry Slams, Student Council meetings. Webroadcast live the SU Elections and UniBrass, the latter was an 11hr live broadcast, a huge undertaking for the station. We also interview acts performing at the Arts Centre and visiting poets to the English department.

What has been your favourite event that you’ve covered with Warwick TV in the past?

H: I personally would say my favourite event WTV has covered has been UniBrass. It’s such an under publicised event. With universities coming in from across the country, there was a real sense of competition. The bar was open from the start of the performances at 9am, to the announcing of the results 12 hrs later. Obviously by this point the brass band players were raucous and it all descended into vulgar chants and inter-university abuse. I remember they had representatives from each uni on the stage as the results were announced, several had fallen asleep. From a camera operator’s perspective it enabled me the chance to be creative with shots, we had two cameras in action and the live broadcast swapped between the two. As a team, both Raw and WTV work incredibly well together.
R:  I haven’t had as much experience filming events with WTV, but for me it has to be the ice hockey varsity match. It was the first big event I was part of for WTV and nothing can beat the buzz of live TV. We had a great team of people on the day from both WTV and RAW and again we worked really well together despite a few technical problems.

And finally, where can people watch the coverage of the Summer Party?

H: Hopefully the footage will be cleared and shown on the big screen in the Piazza.
R: And definitely it will be on the WarwickTV YouTube page and on the WTV website as soon as the editing is done.