Collaborative Working Made Child’s Play –
Childrens Village moves towards tapeless HD

April 2008: Technology, content and the way content is consumed is evolving rapidly. With this in mind, BBC Childrens needed short-term workflow improvements, to enable greater collaborative working and improved multi-platform ability, before long-term revolutionary changes are introduced. And the improvements needed to be cost-effective.

To meet production’s needs, BBC Post Production has upgraded its BBC Children’s Village to enable staff to access and share material better. Home to Blue Peter, Newsround, SMart, Beat the Boss and Serious Ocean, the Children’s Village is a busy area, churning out hundreds of hours of content each month for BBC One, BBC Two, CBBC, CBeebies, websites, iTV and on-demand services.

There is a new ingest area with full monitoring and four stations that can run concurrently, plus a new transfer room to handle the full range of recording formats, including the solid state P2 tapeless format. BBC Post Production has also introduced 6 new Avid Adrenaline’s to bring the total number of suites to 13 all working at online resolution.

Ten new self-op stations, linked to an Avid ISIS server and utilizing Avid Interplay media management, allow staff to log and view rushes and assemble rough cuts, once the material has been digitised. The BBC interactive teams can also access content to repurpose it for the interactive channels and publish it to the web. The Childrens Village can now support HD and tapeless working and purpose content for multi-platform delivery – whether TV, web or hand-held devices.

Nick Keene, Lead Editor Childrens Village says: “We’re delighted to be helping BBC Childrens phase in new ways of working for the future. Adopting and embracing changes at such an early stage allows BBC Childrens time to develop a clear road map and strong understanding of the benefits of changing production techniques and to be fully prepared for the BBC’s move to Salford and beyond.”

As well as delivering enhanced post production services, BBC Post Production also supports two small studio facilities for BBC Childrens. The Newsround studio and gallery moved to the Childrens Village back in August 2004. Now BBC Post Production is providing a new presentation studio for CBBC’s Ed and Oucho, equipped with three remote controlled cameras and a separate control room next door. Ed and Oucho took up residence in the Childrens Village during the weekend of 8th & 9th March.

About BBC Post Production

BBC Post Production, a division of BBC Resources Ltd, is located in London, Bristol and Birmingham and offers award-winning creative solutions using the latest technology. Working in partnership with a variety of broadcasters and production companies, BBC Post Production’s extensive range of services include SD and HD editing across all platforms, 5.1 audio and telecine, as well as Media Solutions, its new consultancy service. The BBC Post Production team brings talent and experience to a vast range of productions, across all genres. Credits include: BAFTA Craft Award nominated Seven Ages of Rock, Strictly Come Dancing, Eastenders, Match of the Day, Ski Sunday, Gardeners World and the award winning Planet Earth.

For more information visit www.bbcresources.com/postproduction

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