I was back working for Sally Greaves today. I was one of the camera operators filming at the Royal Albert Hall. The event was called Arena of Debate and it was a debate about whether or not Stem Cell Research is good. Twelve schools have made videos. Half for Stem Cell Research and half against. Each video was introduced by a member of the panel, which were made up by experts in the field. Then once the video was finished, pre-selected members of the audience put questions to panel members. Then after that, the audience would vote for or against using a electronic voting system, that would give the results in real time... well that was the idea with the voting.

I got to the Royal Albert Hall early, so I could be there for the dress rehearsal. The dress rehearsal went well, I guess. There wasn’t much I could do, until the show started. I was there to catch audience’s reactions. They tested the voting system out, which worked with the few handsets on hand. These handsets look like pin and chip machines you see in the shops. The dress rehearsal went slowly and I left before the end, so to get some lunch, but as I left there was no sign of problems.

The first indication that something was wrong, was when the event was delayed. At the time there was no explanation given for the delay. It only became apparent that the voting system had crashed, when the show's 2 presenters came asked the audience to show their hands. The audience was asked to vote for a few test questions, like who is number one in the charts (haven’t got a clue), to demonstrate how to vote. Hands up for a). Hands up for b). etc.

After the first lot of videos were finished, the presenters announced that the handsets were working. Then promptly took us through the demonstration again, this time using the handsets. I think the hands up system was a better way of doing things than the electronic, because half of the handsets didn’t work.

It added half an hour to the whole show, so what was supposed to be an hour and half became two hours. And of course I had the camera on my shoulder. The weight of the camera was killing me about the hour and half mark. I had to prop myself to keep the camera from shaking. All I wanted was for the show to finish, so I could take the camera off my shoulder and the show went on and on. As soon as those two presenters said goodnight, I was out of there.

It was an exhausting shoot. I always like working with Sally, but this one was a tough shoot. It didn’t help with the technical glitches and I felt the organisation on wasn't very good. It wasn't as good as "Raps 4 Gaps", which Sally organised. That one went without a hitch. I will be working for Sally again in July, so I looking forward to that one.