Dancing, Quizzes, and a Space Dog: HSE University Celebrates Student Night 2023
This year, HSE University started celebrating Student Day on the evening of January 24, when the traditional Digital Night festival kicked off at Pokrovka. For the first time since 2019, it was held in the pre-pandemic format: the quizzes, board games, lectures, dancing and master classes didn't stop until 6 am.
The Vibrant Student Experience
Activities took place in different buildings throughout the night, but the focal point and the symbolic heart of the festivities remained the building on Pokrovka. The building's atrium was transformed into an intergalactic embassy; images of planets, stars and galactic dust descended from the high glass ceiling, while floodlights and glittering orbs glided across the walls and floor.
Ten minutes before midnight, Dmitry Zemtsov, HSE University Vice Rector, addressed the students from the central stage of the festival. ‘Student time is a wonderful time. My friends, I wish you all a Happy Student Day!’ he said. Dmitry Zemtsov stressed that a university education is not just about a demanding educational programme, but also about the life-changing student experience. ‘Important things happen within the walls of the classroom. The fact that we have such events where everyone interacts with each other, finds friends, and discovers new opportunities for themselves is an important part of the student experience of university life,’ concluded the Vice Rector.
Quizzes and Candyfloss
There was also a marathon session of famous TV quiz shows at the festival. The brightest contestants competed in the game ‘The Smartest One’, while the charismatic host of ‘The Weakest Link’ kept quiz takers busy with tricky questions. Music lovers lined up to take part in ‘Guess the Tune’ and then, to the laughter and hooting of the fans, tried to figure out the familiar but elusive notes of ‘Gaudeamus’.
The event’s partners, VK Education and Alfa-Bank, offered coffee and snacks at their booths. A separate highlight of the programme was the blue, almost cosmic, candyfloss.
The auditorium, atrium, and lobby hosted quizzes, intellectual games, cyber-basketball, sci-fi battles without rules, as well as lectures, topical workshops and memorable presentations.
Mobile Phone Photography and Adapting Novels
Konstantin Leyfer, former head of the TASS Photo Information Editors Office and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Creative Industries at HSE University, led a master class on 'How to Take a Perfect Photo on a Phone’. According to him, mobile phones are sometimes more effective than professional equipment—when people see a photographer with a huge camera, they tense up or try to pose, while a person with a camera on their phone has a better chance of remaining unnoticed and capturing the natural grace of the model. Speaking about shot composition, Konstantin Leyfer recommended directing the reader's eye to the main subject of the photograph. The effect is achieved with straight lines, for example, lines of wires and curbs converging at the end of the street where the main subject is located. Another tip is to catch people's emotions. Experienced photographers tell their subjects ‘Smile! One, two, three!’ and shoot on ‘two’. On ‘three’, the face freezes and the emotion looks unnatural. It is better to take a picture while the facial expressions are in motion. The photographer also recommended capturing repetitive forms in sequences of ‘rhythms’. These could be repeated architectural elements, motorbikes standing in a row, or the same slope of grass and trees bending in the wind.
Daria Soifer, writer and screenwriter, spoke in her masterclass about how to write a book that people will want to adapt for the screen. ‘Something that works on paper doesn't always work on screen, but what works on screen always works on paper,’ she stressed.
Films and Mega Parties
Student Night also took over the grounds of the HSE Cultural Centre, which fully lived up to its name and became a hot spot for lovers of music, dancing and conversation. The Just Dance cover studio, the HSE University Theatre, the HSE University orchestra, No Silence, Ingroup StS, HSE Cheer and others all performed on the Big Stage. The centre was also the venue for the HSE Guitar Jam. In the Small Hall, stand-up comedians performed in the same line-up as musicians, while the dance hall was transformed into a dance masterclass studio devoted to seven styles ranging from sports ballroom to latin and K-pop covers. The cinema hall also boasted a busy programme, with film screenings from the HSE French Club followed by a discussion of short films with HSE Outreach, as well as film screenings by the Taylor Swift Fan Club and the Chinese Club.
Text: Semyon Vasilyev and Artem Samoilov, Research Assistants in the Economic Journalism Project Learning Laboratory