• 3/4″ VTRs
• Black and White Monitors
• Video Typewriters
• Amiga Computers
• Cassette Tapes
• Audio Carts
• …and more

And the reason for the inability to touch this equipment is that we’re getting rid of it all.  This is what our hallway looks like right now:

The guys who have to dispose of all of this old analog gear have their work cut out for them.

While some of this equipment has served us well over the years, we’ve been replacing it with networked video servers, new character generators, iMac edit suites, and High-Def Cameras.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been assembling a “yearbook” of sorts, from the behind the scenes production photos I took during our commercial productions this term.

When everyone is back in September I’ll be taking orders if anyone wants a high-quality hardcopy version for themselves.

First up is a new install for TV Audio 2 to replace the old audio board with something a bit newer, including a new iMac 24″ for playback.

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!

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!

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.

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.

First off on Tuesday was a spot for helping asthma sufferers using the “Buteyko Breathing Method“, where a couple spending a nice warm summer day in the park deals with an asthma attack using a special breathing technique.

On Thursday we made our way to Tsawwassen and onto the Boundary Bay beach to shoot a commercial for Kayotics Skimboards.  Our actor made a fairly quick transition from his day-to-day work in a cubicle to a more exciting work locale.

Also this week was a commercial spot for ZipCar, a short-term car rental service available in the metro-Vancouver area.  In this case, it’s particularly useful for short shopping trips, especially when your hands are full!

First off was a going-away party for both our Associate Dean, Brian Antonson and his administrative assistant Janet Wadsworth.  Plenty of good stories, good friends and good food.  Thanks to everyone who was involved both planning and holding this event.  I’m sure it left everyone with fond memories.

Also tonight (as if the party wasn’t work enough), we had our Big Info Session, where all of BCIT’s programs show up and show off to the general public.  The broadcast department had some great displays up (would it be too much to say we stole the show?).

Part of the Television Booth at the BCIT Big Info Session

This was the first public performance of our Broadcast Pix production system in combination with our iMac edit stations and Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD cameras.

This was also the first time that we had an end-to-end digital workflow.

1. Footage was shot on the Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD cameras
2. After aquisition, the footage gets loaded onto the iMac Final Cut Pro edit station via P2-reader and a USB interface
3. The finished edits are pushed via ethernet to the clipstore on the Broadcast Pix system and into our live show.

For the most part, it worked flawlessly – just a few hiccups when the power went out (note to student editors: “save often”).  Looking forward to our next live event in the second week of April when we take our class out on location to do a live show for a client!