A low cost, professional grade 10-bit production switcher and a virtual control board minimized Boston University's costs and allowed for a true ROI.
By Scott Wasser
August 08, 2012
Unlike most other institutions and industries, colleges and universities can’t always measure return-on-investment (ROI) for technology purchases by looking at a profit-and-loss statement. But the folks at Boston University’s College of Communication had little trouble assessing the value of a recent investment that enabled them to totally revamp a television studio that is used to educate students and produce BUTV10 and butv10.com programming.
Motivated by the need to upgrade the high-definition capabilities of Studio East, the university’s main production studio, the College of Communication (COM) acquired about $14,000 worth of new technology. The end result was a total transformation of Studio East as both a production facility and incubator of student learning.
Jake Kassen, COM’s studio engineer and post-production specialist, spearheaded the project.
Kassen, working with coworkers on the engineering staff and Director of Technology Brad Fernandes, handled all of the equipment acquisition, installation and implementation in-house.
Kassen said, “We’ve found outside contractors… rarely… understand that the needs of a teaching facility are different from a production facility. As in all of our projects, the engineering staff is in constant consultation with the teaching faculty to ensure we select technology and workflows which meet the teaching mission of the college.”
Boston University Assistant Professor of Film and Television Chris Cavalieri, praised the collaboration that went into the studio overhaul, which was completed last September. “The faculty is fortunate that COM’s engineering staff is very collaborative in hardware and software purchasing. It’s appreciated, and I state that having had a conversation with a colleague at another institution where the relationship is seemingly quite different.”
Cavalieri, who also is the faculty advisor for BUTV10 and butv10.com, the Boston University
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