Training for Latin America

César T. Ossa: The Audiovisual Media Center (CMA) was previously dedicated to providing services to the different areas of the Javeriana University, and now became a training center for Latin America with the responsibility of training professionals with experience in the medium, in working with high technology for post-production operations. From now on, this center is the only one in the region although the transition has not been easy, because we went from having minimal resources to having a great development of technology.

TVyVideo: What is the initial consideration to address the development of a project of these characteristics?

C.T.O: The first thing to keep in mind to face the development of a project like these is: Establish what you want exactly from the beginning. When I refer to this I am indicating the need to define what the objective is.

According to my experience in this industry I have always seen that in Colombia and in several Latin American countries, the training or preparation of editors is advanced empirically and that made me ask myself the following questions: Why not give students and those empirical professionals the opportunity to study or prepare in the field of new technologies for post-production? There are some academies in the world that do it, but with what kind of technology? At what cost? What are the disadvantages for those without English language training? And finally, we must think that if we want to be competitive in the international arena, it is necessary to bear in mind that this cannot be achieved with any type of software or resources.

C.T.O: In principle the project was designed for the students of the University with a minimum technology, but when it was approved in Canada, they thought about it with larger dimensions, I was thinking of simple non-linear editing rooms and they went to the big leagues, something very good for the University, the country and Latin America. This project would not have been possible without the support, logically, of the University, but the help of Discreet Logic Latin America headed by Miguel Rodríguez was also decisive.

The initially approved project included five editing rooms, three graphics rooms and a digital composition and special effects room. This determined the way in which the second part of the project should be approached because it was not just about installing the necessary equipment for each editing room, enabling them in a small space and assigning each of them an operator.

C.T.O: The University agreed to hire a company specialized in Television Engineering. In our case the company chosen for this was SEEL Ltda. This more than a necessity is a tip for anyone who wants to develop a project of these characteristics. Regardless of the magnitude of it, you should always have the advice of an engineer or a company specialized in TV engineering. This type of installation does not simply involve the purchase of equipment, it also implies the adaptation of the spaces for it.

It is necessary to start with the design and realization of layout plans of the rooms, to make the most of the space. For our new facilities, many plans were developed before achieving a definitive one. This allowed architects and designers to start making decisions about basic aspects such as the type of materials, divisions, spaces and lighting. As an interesting fact, the team of designers and architects had the experience of visiting different specialized facilities, TV studios, post-production houses and television channels, to get an idea of what was being sought, since there are no professionals dedicated solely to this type of construction.

C.T.O: The Center has five Octane nonlinear editing stations with Smoke software, three O2 workstations with Effect software , and one Onix workstation with Inferno software . These stations are part of the Silicon Graphics product line. In addition to this, we have a studio suitable for the realization of special effects and a radio laboratory that operates on the specialized Platform Dalet, with professional workstations. This made the CMA one of the most developed post-production centers in Latin America.

C.T.O: When you enter any of the editing rooms what you find is a computer monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and a dashboard, because all the central processing units (cpu) are located in a master control room. This is one of the most valuable works, the engineering work is very important, since this is the heart of the center. In that place is where all the audio and video information is processed, it is the place where the communication systems with the different rooms are located and where all the signals are received and distributed through a complex wiring design.

As this is a site designed for training activities, three classrooms were built for students who will come from different countries in Latin America. Each of these spaces has a plasma screen to enlarge the image that comes from the computer and prevent them from having to attend the instruction sessions around the monitor of a workstation.

After having defined the architectural plans, the engineering plans for video and audio, two very important things were missing: the air conditioning and the electrical part. Air conditioning is essential for any equipment because as the working hours pass, the operation of the systems generates an increase in temperature, this implies the requirement of an adequate temperature, without it being so important if it is 18 degrees Celsius, 20 or 22. The important thing in this case is that the temperature is constant. For this, the physical space where the installation of the management systems will be carried out must be taken into account. For our facilities, a system with a capacity of 25 tons was needed to condition all the spaces. The Centre has a television studio, photography laboratories and a radio studio. The cooling system requires an approximate space of 10 square meters and additional space for the water tanks that feed the system and the pumps that drive it. This, in short, is another independent work that requires the design of the respective plans.

Another concern we have always had since this project began is related to electricity distribution. It is not simply a matter of installing poles to ground or establishing that the flow of energy must be constant, in this case, the amount of equipment and the energy consumption of the same made it necessary to install a substation only for the CMA. This determination required the allocation of a new space of 20 square meters. Obviously, this also required design work, blueprints and everything else.

But this was not all. The next question was: what will happen when there is a power outage? To meet the operations that this Center intends, an energy backup system must be available. And what was the next step? Adapt a new space for a UPS power unit that occupies a new space of 7 square meters, because a minimum operating capacity of 36KVA and 7 minutes of duration is required if you want to have enough time to store the files in use and properly turn off the workstations and all other systems.

The initial idea is not to assemble some furniture, support units, connect the equipment and turn it on. This technology works from inputs and outputs of different signals. The equipment we had before starting this project is basically analogous and this factor forced to change all the plans of the master control room.

These changes required additional investment in analog-digital-analog conversion systems for audio and video signals, monitors for digital signals, and routing systems. All these new resources represented a very important figure that should have been added to the overall budget of the project.

The communication between all the equipment and systems to allow the reading of files, sharing materials without having to download the files to another medium to take them to the different workstations, led us to make the decision to buy a switch (equipment for Internet systems different from a hub). ) to enable real-time intercommunication between computers and to have true access to files. In this way we can share editing, effects, graphics and animations.

Fortunately, this equipment does not take up much space, it requires only two square meters approximately.

This is a very important point. As a result of the whole project, a manual of functions was made for each of the members of the team with the idea that each one knows what he should and can do. In addition, a manual of procedures was developed so that the client has sufficient information about the use of the Centre's resources and services, and can make the most of this technology.

This is the first training center of this magnitude in Latin America and will soon be available to those who are interested in receiving training in the use of this technology, of course, with the support of Discreet Logic and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.