Live via Skype!
Last week was the first time we have used Skype to give us the ability to do “live hits” for our BCIT Magazine live production. Utilizing two laptop computers and a Panasonic DVX-100 camera, we connected our on-air talent to the control room for an insert directly into the show.
With a successful first test, we are raising the bar again this week – for a live hit from Argentina as we cover Canada’s national soccer team playing Argentina’s national team!
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.
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”)
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.
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.
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What a night!
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.
- Footage was shot on the Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD cameras
- After aquisition, the footage gets loaded onto the iMac Final Cut Pro edit station via P2-reader and a USB interface
- 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!
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Following our successful tests last week of our new, portable Broadcast Pix production system, this week we trained our first year students on it.
We used the portable system to successfully replicate the same “Studio 1 Live” show that we produced earlier in the year with a full control room, audio room, and VTR room within the broadcast centre. The possibilities are very interesting indeed…
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A Productive day!
With a small group of volunteers, we assembled our five new Panasonic HPX-300 P2-HD camera packages! Starting next term we’re going to be moving to HD productions and tapeless workflows.
Post production will be one one of our new Mac Pro edit suites which are loaded with both Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Studio, in addition to the Adobe suite of products to give TV & Video Production students the widest possible range of options for their post-production workflow.
The TV & Video Production program will also be shifting focus somewhat – in addition to our single-camera digital produtions (film style, but without the film!), we will be producing more live event programming (such as sporting events, theatre, music, etc).
To accomplish this, we’ve purchased a portable Broadcast Pix production package that we can take out to events to enable us to do multi-camera switched live programming. We will be looking for non-profit community events where BCIT students can bring their production skills to the project and provide clients with high quality end-products.
Exciting times!
