Filed under: Vidiots | Tags: broadcast, creative business, edit, multi-media, partner, vendor, video production, video story-telling
First, a little English lesson…
ven·dor [ven-der; especially contrastively ven-dawr]
–noun
1. a person or agency that sells.
2. a vending machine.
part·ner [pahrt-ner]
–noun
1. a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.
2. a player on the same side or team as another
When it comes to the type of work we do, I’m not too fond of being referred to as a “vendor.” After all, we’re in the creative business, which is so much more than selling, and as convenient as it sounds, we can’t stick money in a slot and have a custom video or multi-media presentation pop out like magic. So when it comes to our clients, we like to think of ourselves as partners, not vendors. Because what we do, and do well, is integrate our selves into a client’s organization in order to better tell the client’s story. We listen. We digest. We recommend. What’s important to them; becomes important to us. The ultimate goal is to help the client succeed, whether that be in the effort to raise funds, promote a service/product, communicate with company associates, train new employees or increase sales. To that end, we become as passionate about the client’s product or service as the clients themselves and go the extra mile to provide a finished product that is effective, dynamic and worthy of showcasing.
What we do is truly a service industry and more often than not, we give a lot more than we take. But then again, that’s what team players do – they set up the shot, so that someone else can make the goal – namely, the client.
-Ada Sheerin, Creative Producer / Director VTA
Filed under: Vidiots | Tags: axial, broadcast, down conversion, evertz hd logo inserter, high definition broadcast, high definition closed captioning, live edit, multiple record, rendering time, video on demand, weather channel
Viewers of The Weather Channel are used to getting accurate and timely national and local forecasts 24 hours a day. But for the past few years, TWC has produced compelling original programming which shows how the weather affects our daily lives and altered the course of history.
“100 Greatest Weather Moments”, “Epic Conditions”, “Weather Ventures” and “When Weather Changed History” are some of the programs TWC has produced and broadcast on this topic. Seeking to widen their audience, TWC offered these and other series as Video On Demand. For the third year in a row, VTA has been privileged to be TWC’s choice of editorial partner on this project.
The Weather Channel project started with a phone call. They wanted to know if we could reformat their broadcast HD masters to VOD specifications faster than the current workflows and without disturbing the existing HD closed captioning.
As clients and staff of VTA know, I likes a technical challenge. Because VTA uses video equipment from many different manufacturers, I was able to create a new workflow for TWC that maximized technical quality and accuracy while minimizing post-production time.
Live Edit is a tool that VTA has used to great effect in the past and I was certain it could save our client time and money. Rather than taking the time to capture, render and output half-hour or one-hour shows, I decided to work directly off the HDCam masters and add the Weather Channel logo in realtime using our Evertz HD logo inserter.
Because the TWC logo could not interfere with existing graphics and supers already in the program, I used VTA’s Axial 3000 edit controller to precisely time the fades or cuts of the logo to be as unobtrusive as
possible while maintaining field accuracy to the existing edits.
To capture and output back to tape a one hour show takes at least two hours. Rendering time to add an HD logo throughout the program increased total delivery time per episode way beyond that. Live Edit was the solution that kept the project on schedule and budget.
After successful use in 2007 and ’08, TWC added, in late 2009, an additional requirement for the series “Storm Stories”. For this program, standard definition Digital BetaCam masters were generated at the same time as the HDCam VOD masters using real-time downconversion.
Live Edit came through again. By using the Multiple-Record feature of the Axial, I was able roll HD and SD tape machines, cascade the video through different mix/effects banks of the switcher and transcode HD closed captions to SD without needing an additional pass.”
VTA is not locked into a single edit system manufacturer or workflow, butcan provide the flexibility and quality that its clients have come to expect for the past 40 years.
-Bob Castro.
Filed under: Audio A | Tags: audio engineering, broadcast, cereproc, dvd commentaries, roger ebert, vocal database, voice
As a tragic complication after cancer surgery to remove his jaw, legendary film critic Roger Ebert lost the ability to speak. He relies on handwritten notes and a computer that synthesizes what he types. For most people, this would result in a life dependent on a random text-to-speech computerized voice. We’ve all had fun picking the voices for our GPS systems, but imagine if this was all you had to represent yourself?
Interestingly for Ebert, there is a Scottish company, CereProc, with a fascinating option. There are hours and hours of recordings of Ebert’s voice, from years of TV shows and numerous DVD commentaries. CereProc has combed through all those recordings to create a database of his voice for his daily vocabulary. According to CereProc, the average American uses about 2,000 words a day. Many of the words it can’t find already recorded were pieced together from syllables of other words.
CereProc has been able to create libraries for people who knew they were going to lose their voice and could pre-record their vocal database. In Ebert’s case, he’s fortunate that there are already a wealth of recordings of his voice. That is, if you can call anything about Ebert’s tragic situation fortunate. Take a minute and use your voice to say something nice to someone you care about or just go sing a song. You never know if that might be the last time you’ll be able to use your real voice. –Leslie Shapiro
Via Esquire Magazine
