The Max Headroom TV series premiered back in 1987 and was one of the first “Cyberpunk” television shows. The story lines having to do with huge international television / broadcast networks controlling culture and politics were at least 10 or 15 years ahead of their time.
Nobody would argue that mainstream media has a vast influence on these things today!
One of the fascinating things about the fictional “Network 23″, was the idea that all of the camera operators would have continual real time feeds from their portable cameras back to the network. Directors could see the output of any camera at any time, and see their exact location on a map – all in real time.
This type of portable technology was unheard of back in the late 80s, when large satellite uplinks and microwave vans were required to get video back to the station from remote locations.
Fast-forward to 2010, and an update to Sony’s “Location Porter” system looks to be enabling exactly that kind of connectivity, now on a large-scale basis.
Broadcasters have had the capability to use small mobile transmitters and VOIP systems to deliver video for a few years now, but this system takes it up a notch with a turnkey system that enables real time video/audio streaming for up to 12 sources (cameras, remotes, etc) at the same time at the push of a button.
Because it uses high-speed mobile data networks for connectivity, it’s relatively cheap compared with conventional systems. It’s no longer a matter of shooting a story and delivering media back at a later time, but realtime capture right onto a live show, or into an editorial system.
Maybe the future of broadcast news isn’t getting a single camera to an event and trying to cover everything at one, but to get a “swarm” of networked realtime cameras that feed everything and anything back simultaneously.
The Television & Video Production faculty had an opportunity today to go and visit with Tim Lewis, the president of Proshow Vancouver.
Tim is a member of our broadcast advisory committee and offered us a chance to drop by and see what was new in the way of their mobile production vehicles, as well as some purpose-built equipment for doing mobile and event productions (something we’re keen to do more of!)
One of the most impressive things about seeing the Proshow operation is the attention to detail – a good model for students!
We’re going to try and get some students more involved with Proshow, and we are already working to train students in the types of skills that are required for live event production.
Thanks to all of the students and staff who volunteered their time on Sunday, as BCIT Television & Video Production took our portable production system “on the road” down to Stanley Park to handle video Production for the World Partnership Walk.
World Partnership Walk 2010
Everyone had a great time and we put on a show that the crowd really enjoyed, helping to showcase the events of the day, as well as producing short video vignettes telling “walk stories”.
Thanks to our tapeless production workflow (and some great work from our camerapeople & editors), we were able to turn the segments around and push them directly to the server for playback onto the bigscreen in a matter of minutes
Special thanks to the crew that helped bring the equipment back to the broadcast centre, and spent some time washing the mud off of the tarps and cabling.
Also, special thanks to Tim and Sandro at ProShow Vancouver for helping out with some extra broadcast cabling to make the production run even more smoothly!
For the second year, BCIT Television & Video Production will be providing volunteer live event television & video production services for the World Partnership Walk!
World Partnership Walk
We had a great time with the walk last year and both students and staff alike will be on-site in Stanley Park this Sunday, May 30th.
Come out and walk to raise money and increase awareness to fight global poverty. If you’re in the area, feel free to drop by the production tent and have a chat with us!
The regular semester has finished, and our Broadcast students are current involved in Practicum, where the Broadcast Center turns into a leaving, breathing Television station.
Television & Video Production students perform the roles of:
- News Camera (aka “Shooters”)
- News Editors
- Graphics and Animation production
- Newscast production (Director, Assistant Director, Technical Director, Audio, Floor Director, etc.)
Our Broadcast Journalism students are responsible for the stories and interviews that make up the content of our weekly BCIT Magazine production.
Practicum is an intensive 4-week process that ensures that all students get exposure to all aspects of Television & Video Production in a live environment, with the challenges and deadlines that exists in a real station.
Practicum begins another first this year, as BCIT Broadcast has installed two video servers as we move closer to gracefully retiring our tape infrastructure.
Our Facilis server is an 18 terrabyte storage server that provides us with almost 1400 hours of storage for our edit bays. The Omneon server is a play-to-air server which takes the final edited stories and allows playback through our control rooms.
Most of our aquisition and editing facilities are currently using digital tape formats, however we’re moving towards a totally tapeless workflow that allows us to go from acquisition to broadcast without any physical media (aside from memory cards) involved in the process.
Tape, old and busted...
Our Television & Video Production advisory committee, composed of broadcast and film professionals from Western Canada are very supportive of us making these changes.
Memory cards - new hotness...
Employers demand students and alumni trained in digital and tapeless production technology. BCIT delivers.
(Note: No students were blinded in the making of this science, but it was the best title I could come up with … The only other option was trying to find something that rhymed with “Bill Nye the Science Guy”)
Day 1 - Telus World of Science - Centre Stage
So what’s this about Science? We had the opportunity to take our production on the road and head down to the Telus World of Science to do a live production of their Centre Stage science education show.
This was our first live event production using the new Broadcast Pix production flypack that we’ve been introducing the students to this semester (check the blog history for info on our practise events back at the school).
We are actively looking for projects that students can produce with our equipment to get additional production experience. If you have a project you’d like to submit, please feel free to contact us.
Day 2 - Our "Control Room"
Details:
- 4 camera shoot (2 x Sony DSR 370, 1 x Sony DSR 400, 1 x Panasonic AG-DVX100BP)
- Broadcast Pix Slate 100 Flypack
- Crew (15 students, 3 Instructors)
- Load-in 10:30, Full Facs 12:45, Showtime 15:20, Wrap 16:00
I have linked a copy of our SW Technical Production Manual that includes some project planning details for aspiring production staff out there (some contact information has been removed for privacy reasons).
We expect students to provide this type of documentation (and more!) when planning their projects.
