by Peter Currier, WSU intern ’17
The 48th Annual Kiwanis Auction got underway on Sunday, where hundreds of items were auctioned off to the highest bidder so the proceeds could be donated to charity. Viewers were able to see Father Joe show off various items for auction such as a large beer cooler and a signed picture of Malcolm Butler’s ‘immaculate interception,’ but most viewers pay no mind to what is happening behind the scenes.
I had the opportunity to be a part of the production team for this years auction, and I want to shed some light on the work that goes into the event before it airs and while the cameras are rolling.
I walked into the Westfield State University TV studio Sunday morning ready to begin a day of what was likely to be madness. Despite the inevitable hysteria, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was when I walked in, the only sounds coming from studio heads Mark St. Jean and Alex Simisky, both appearing so calm I would have thought it was a regular day had I not known better.
I went onto the main studio floor to see dozens of boxes filled with items to be auctioned off and separated by their respective blocks. These boxes had been sitting there since the week before, the fruit of the labor of the Kiwanis Club members who looked to local businesses to donate the items, as they have for many years, often in exchange for some ad space during the broadcast. The items were estimated to be worth over $50,000 according to a statement from Kiwanis.
Kiwanis president Elect Cathleen Bastible (photo by Peter Currier)
The first stage of putting the auction together typically begins several months before the TV broadcast goes live. The Kiwanis Club convenes at the beginning of October and sets a budget. “We’re budgeting based on prior earnings,” says Cathleen Bastible, Chairperson and President Elect of the Westfield Kiwanis Club, “We averaged about $47,000 last year.”
After examining the items, I walked over to the row of phones on the other side of the room. Each phone was paired with a laptop that was running a software with which the phone operator would update the bids as they were called in, a smooth technical combination of sophistication and simplicity. The set up is a far cry from how it was run in the early days of the school hosting the show.
The auction was brought to the university in the 1970’s, and at that time it was broadcast on radio rather than television. It was not until the early 1990s that video was introduced into the broadcast, although at the time that consisted of a camera pointing at a wall where the bid board was projected and there was no visible host.
The first time the auction began to resemble its present self was in 1992, when the campus TV studio was still in its infancy. Mark St. Jean began working in the studio later that year. “I was just the technical director on the video side,” says St. Jean, “There was a member of the faculty who was also in Kiwanis named Dr. Edwin Abar who took care of the logistical side.” After Dr.Abar became ill, St. Jean took on the role of logistical coordinator as well.
Students, staff, and volunteers in the studio for the live Kiwanis auction. (photo by Peter Currier)
When I finished examining the set up of the studio we began doing our final checks as more student crew members arrived. The microphone levels were good, the cameras were white balanced, and all the pieces were in place for a good production.
At exactly noon we went live, starting with an introductory monologue from the Kiwanis Club President Geana Delisle. I was running the camera responsible for the opening shot. I have been running cameras for almost four years now, yet I still get nervous when doing a live shot.
After Geana finished her speech and the hosts opened up the show, the phones started ringing for the first bids. The hosts talking, the phones ringing, and the crew scrambling offered a stark contrast to the utter silence I experienced when I first walked in.
Students, staff, and volunteers in the studio for the live Kiwanis auction. (photo by Peter Currier)
Once the show was well underway the crew began to fall into a groove. Everyone knew where to be, what to do, and when to do it. Every so often people would swap positions to minimize fatigue. At the beginning I was standing behind the display desk camera. Eventually I found myself using the shoulder mounted camera to get a better view of individual items.
My only heart stopping moment was when the hosts cut to the display desk and I was not ready with the shoulder camera. I was standing on the left side of the shot, the camera was on the right, so I had to duck underneath the live shot to retrieve it and quickly hoist it to my shoulder so that I could go live. This task was only made more difficult by the weight of the camera, which left my shoulder sore for the rest of the night.
The auction is the only live production we expect to do every year. We also film As Schools Match Wits, but it is not live and there is room for error because we can usually go back and fix it in post production. There is no such liberty for a live show. If a camera shot gets messed up or a microphone malfunctions it is broadcast to everyone at home.
Thankfully this year went relatively smooth besides a faulty microphone near the beginning of the broadcast. Of course a good production does not rely on luck, but careful planning. The studio begins the pre-production phase near the end of January. We begin to collect volunteers, make the graphics for the show, and finalize the logistics with the Kiwanis Club.
Next to the main studio lies the control room, where you will find the audio board, video switcher, and graphics generator. It is from this room that St. Jean gives direction to a dozen people all performing different tasks, while he follows a carefully timed script of how the show is supposed to run.
On camera, the viewers at home saw two main hosts, a new guest host every block, two people behind the display desk, and occasionally a shot of the telephone operators. Off camera were dozens of students, staff, and volunteers making a live show run like a well oiled machine. However it seems that those outside the frame are only acknowledged when something goes wrong.
