Unfortunately, we’ve come to our second and last episode of Midnight Snack. I was assigned to a much bigger role this week (two in fact!) as a Writer and Auto-Cue Operator. Having experienced the elements of liveness from the previous shows I’ve been in, I already knew what to expect and how to get ready for the show.

I was assigned to Studio C so I wasn’t familiar with the exact layout of the entire control room and set in comparison to Studio A. This is what it looked like:

The control room 

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The set 

In terms of Karin Van Es’ reading on liveness, her claims of liveness to be existing everywhere immediately relates back to our Midnight Snack show – I would like to focus on the connection between Studio A and C and the attachment of liveness. Even as an autocue operator, I had to pay attention and be well aware of when the switch was going to occur. It’s easy to lose focus when you may not have as many responsibilities as the other roles. However, auto cueing did relate to my role as a writer as I knew the pacing of the whole script and of course, our talent’s pacing too after a few rehearsals.

In hindsight, no matter how small a role you are assigned to in the studio, it is important to always keep up with the unpredictability of liveness. Whether you were the one who wrote the script or the is operating the autocue, other roles in the studio could definitely use an extra hand or two when we are live.

During rehearsals, everything seemed to smooth sailing for the first few minutes. Not until we actually rehearsed BEING LIVE. A lot of things that could’ve gone right if more attention was paid, went wrong. For example, scripts weren’t printed out (I’m not sure whose responsibility that is) and I ended up printing most of the script for Studio C, because why not? I am the writer after all. I just felt that I could’ve had less weight on my shoulders if someone offered to help. Also, excuse my language, but getting around the technicalities of EVS and the green was a HUGE pain in the ass. The techs themselves were already intimidating enough and only stressed me out more when my files for the green screen weren’t clear enough. Again, I felt I could’ve had less pressure if someone lent me a hand, but oh well. This is the environment of a live studio and it is something that I’m going to have to be more vocal about in the future.

Now that I’ve gotten the negatives out of the way, I’d like to focus on the positives. By the end of the show, my co-writer, Marcus had been practicing the Bean Boozled Challenged and that is one of the aspects that I tremendously enjoyed during our shooting for Midnight Snack. I also think that communication was perfect for everyone and we all got along with each other. A few laughs here and there but ultimately, a shared team effort from everyone. Acquaintances turned into friendships and connections were established.

Midnight Snack is the first of my many shows that I will be able to be a part of and I am extremely proud of everyone’s hard work! I can’t wait to get more involved in the future.