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Hi, I'm Olivia, but you may know me as Liv, your Head of Commercial this year!
Being on LSTV’s committee has given me vital insight into the dedication it takes to run a society, the organisational and decision-making skills that are required for a station manager, as well as the importance of being an approachable point of call for all members.

As your station manager, I will:
- Keep upgrading our kit through new organisation systems, secure cabinet replacements, upgrading the Edit 3 computer to allow for another video-editing station, and decorating the office
- Build industry connections by hosting external industry professional panels at various points of the year!
- Re-invent our general meetings
- Keep securing grants and other forms of extra funding
- Keep our relationship with LUU, activities and events strong
- Create training videos for all members to use!
- Create a new LSTV trailer ready for freshers 2025
- Have LSTV host 'The Ultimate Student TV Showdown' (more info about that in my manifesto ;))
- And most importantly.... BE A FRIENDLY FACE, ALWAYS!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my statement and manifesto :)

Hiya Mates,

I hope you’ve all eastered well and for some you’ve finally recovered from NASTA. It feels mad to be writing this with a whole semester of filming to go, and Varsity and Rileys still on the horizon, but here we are!

I’m going to try and keep it brief here but for those who won’t be in attendance at the AGM, I’ll quickly lay out why I am going for the role of Station Manager and why you should consider my application.

This year I’ve been a part of so much LSTV has to offer, from (accidentally!?) interviewing a famous TikToker to asking a horse ‘Why the long face?’ after covering the Christie Cup equestrian competition. I think this is important as the station manager should acknowledge the scope of the society and all its facets. I was also fortunate enough to be put forward for this year’s Light Entertainment NASTA, with my idea ‘LSTV Pub Golf x Fridge To Fridge’. The video was a huge undertaking, but ultimately worth it as it short listed in post-production and won light entertainment. The whole experience of doing a NASTA was massively enlightening as I got to see how the famous ‘edit suite’ ran, and even sat with Haley to learn the process of how we submit the different nominations; something required of a station manager.

I feel my work as a videographer for The Anfield Wrap is also relevant as it means I have a wealth of experience shooting and editing content to a professional standard that is delivered to hundreds of thousands of followers on a variety of platforms. My role at the podcast means I have shot content in a variety of locations including our studio, contributor’s houses, stadiums and even outside, in fields. The variety of filming mirrors what would be required of a station manager, having to get involved with everything the society has to offer. It also means that I have a lot of experience editing; something crucial when putting together important society videos like the broadcaster entry for NASTA.

I haven’t been on committee this year, but it’s enabled me to see the society as the majority of members see it, rather than purely through a committee lens. I’ve observed the society more broadly than I would have been able to if I had one role, playing a part in everything whenever I could add some value.

In terms of the direction of the society, I have several ideas that I hope would improve everyone’s LSTV experience and mean all members should get something out of the society we spend so much of our time indulging in. I’ve broken most this down, below.


Production Quality

Having done a lot of studio shooting I’d love to see LSTV make a greater use of the office space. Most of the ideas are outlined in my manifesto, but I’d like to lead changes that involve incorporating props, better framing, different backgrounds and more camera angles into our shoots. The addition of plants, tables or section specific props (e.g records for music shoots or newspapers for news shoots) around a presenter can make for a more engaging viewing experience, adding depth and texture to a video. Another way to do this is by shooting into a corner rather than against a flat background; something we do a lot of currently. LSTV already have lots of items around the office that could be used for this, so it wouldn’t require lots of spending and would greatly improve the quality of videos. As station manager I would love to lead the introduction of these changes and teach as many people as possible along the way.

I also think the way we record audio could be tweaked slightly. The rode microphones are really useful, and audio being burnt into the video at filming is certainly helpful in shoots where there might be lots of clips, or it’s being done out and about. However, for interviews or other shoots where it’s likely that it will just be one or two longer clips, I think it would be better to capture audio externally, on a zoom recorder or alike. It significantly reduces the amount of audio editing that’s required in post-production and improves the overall quality of the video.


Charity Work

I’m aware that LSTV has a big student reach on social media, and I feel this could be put to good use supporting charities around Leeds.

Alfie told me a story earlier this year where he and Liv had done some work at a food bank for their course and the organisation were really grateful for the exposure. I thought this was certainly something we could do with LSTV.

I think there is two routes we could take with it, and both feel feasible.

My exposure to sports societies means I know there is a big push for the Movember and CoppaFeel charities at various points though the year and I think it would be good for the SM to lead an initiative where we push different societies fundraising campaigns on our own social feed to try and increase the amount of money donated.

We could also, say once a month, pick a different charity in Leeds and produce a social reel about them outlining the cause and how the viewer could support it. This would be fairly easy to produce as it would be local and require no more than an hour or two of filming on one day. It’s also something that could be done with little experience of filming or editing and therefore an opportunity for all to get involved.


New Members

Despite my repeated reference to an increased production quality, it isn’t lost on me that ultimately LSTV is for everyone, regardless of course or experience. This is why, should I become SM, I would make sure to be an approachable and welcoming figure to help those entering the society. I would ensure there were regular socials at the start of semesters 1 and 2, maintaining traditions of the freshers and refreshers Otley, but also ensuring there were sober opportunities, like ‘The Traitors’ social, for new members to get to know each other and those returning.

In terms of getting new members involved with the technical bits of the society, as SM I would want to work with the different heads of department on committee to ensure there were a number of different, smaller scale, ‘easier-to-get-involved-with’ projects available for new members to sign up for from Freshers’ week. This would mean new members could have a taster of everything the society offers and find what they enjoy as quickly as possible. As a part of this I’d also like to revamp the current GIAG system.
Rather than just having the equipment out and committee members available to answer questions, which can be quite intimidating, I’d like to have a smaller scale project being produced on the day so that prospective members immediately have the chance to feature in front of or behind the camera

To try and get new members up to speed with the vital skill of editing I’d like to create a little training programme in tandem with the Head of Commercial and ‘lstv.mp3’. I learnt to use Premier by editing clips of podcasts and it’s something I’d like to bring into LSTV. Having new members get clips of ‘lstv.mp3’ would serve the dual purpose of widening our social reach and also having more editors in the society. Getting clips is an activity that is mainly done in the two most important panels of Premier, the timeline and effect controls. It teaches basic skills really quickly and would mean that more non-committee members feel comfortable enough to edit their own videos in NASTA season and semester two, where the quantity of content really ramps up.


Collaborations & Maintaining Relationships

I know that one of the most important parts of being SM is the establishment and continuation of relationships within and beyond LUU. I would strive to maintain the good relationships we have with sports societies, to allow society swaps to continue, backstage and musical theatre, to maintain LSTV’s commercial privilege of filming their shows, and LUU, in order to make sure we get the chance to film videos like fruity interviews and we remain as first choice to capture shows such as Riley’s and Varsity.

The maintenance of relationships within media societies is also vital. I would love to continue our longstanding relationship with LSR, particularly on sporting projects as we collaborated really well this year at the Varsity media day. Working with our head of sport, I feel this relationship could be extended into events like Christie cup where teams would travel together and produce an audio and video package of the same event, with both teams then using each other’s material. LSR could use the video for social clips whereas LSTV may need the audio for voice overs to pair with B-roll in the final video. I also think our relationship with LSR and the ‘lstv.mp3’ show could be used to help integrate new members into the society and fast track their Premier Pro and editing ability (details for this are included in the new members section).

I think it’s also important to interact with the smaller media societies. Our own Emma Collins has recently been voted in as the president of ‘Her Campus’ so there is a great opportunity to work in tandem and offer exposure to a society that may otherwise be missed. I’d be eager to do similar with The Scribe and Lippy to showcase the variety of media societies on offer to current and prospective UoL students.

Finally, after a successful NASTA, and getting on well with other stations, especially CUTV, it feels like a great opportunity to collaborate on some larger scale videos. As SM this is something I would love to work with the head of Light Ents on, having had an idea earlier this year for a video similar to race across the county with two teams starting in different locations and having to complete a series of challenges while racing to the same destination.

There is also the potential to collaborate with the Head of Live to run quiz shows (I’m thinking Pointless or The Chase style) against our neighbours to the east (and slightly north?) YSTV. The collaborative nature of the shoot and requirement of many cameras, graphics and crew members, would mean it certainly has NASTA potential..


Networking & Office Upgrades

There was slightly less to say about these so I’ve decided to address them together.

LSTV has a really wide range of contacts and connections within the industry, and I think they could be better used to help members, firstly try and secure a job after graduation, and secondly get advice and inspiration on how to shoot, produce or edit a video. If you’re keen to submit a NASTA who better to seek help from than industry professionals?

As SM I would be keen to make sure there were a wider range of networking opportunities on offer to the members of LSTV by arranging workshops and talks with the contacts on offer to the society.

Finally, I’d also like to secure grant money for the society to upgrade some of the equipment in our office. The current computers are really slow and prone to crashing when editing. Upgrading these and moving to Mac would make it much easier to edit videos quickly, something that can be really important, particularly in sports or commercial projects when videos need to be returned to a society on a deadline. I also showed Matt a premier extension (‘Mister Horse’ for those wanting to have a look) earlier this year which offers nice graphics and transitions that can be added to videos in a drag and drop capacity, but every time you open it on Edit 1, Premier crashes without saving your work. Upgrading the computers means we could have things like this that would massively speed up the editing process of a lot of videos.

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That’s everything I have to say. If you’re reading this and have any questions about anything I’ve said, please drop me a message and I’d be happy to clear it up.

Ultimately, we’ve got a great society filled with kind people passionate about making videos and I think our SM should be somebody who recognises that, enhancing the student TV experience where possible, but fundamentally preserving what makes it special. I think, should I become your SM, I’d be able to do this, and I hope my manifesto and statement have convinced you as such.

- Henry