The movie Good night, and good luck shows us the internal workflows of TV in the ’50s. Beyond its thrilling screenplay, it recreates the inside of a studio program realistically during the beginning of mass media. Any current professional watching the movie would be shocked about what these teams achieved with workflows that often implied many tools, different manual processes, and coordination between departments.
Nowadays, the studio workflows are automated and monitored by specialists that have everything under control. Currently, there is no need for the editor to lay on the host’s feet to pass information, and we don’t rely on videotapes to control our rundown. Everything is digitalized, scheduled and automated from the same room. Also, nobody smokes cigarettes during the live show, as it happens in the movie.
Essential elements for studio automation
Everyone will agree if we say that it’s impossible to broadcast any program without a studio automation system. But, which elements are essential in this kind of solution? We answer this question below with four keys:
1. Integration with other solutions
TV production doesn’t depend on a single solution, operator or editor. This process involves multiple systems that are entirely digitalized nowadays, from media graphics to engage the viewers to the modern newsroom solutions that allow journalists to be on the cutting edge of current events.
It’s useless to have a state-of-the-art studio automation system if it doesn’t allow integration with other tools via MOS protocol (Media Object Server) that enables different studio elements to communicate between them without installing specific drivers.
An excellent example of this kind of integration is VSNLivecom’s compatibility with the main newsroom systems in the market, like Avid’s iNews, Octopus 8, Ross Video Inception, ENPS from AP, SCYSIS’s Open Media or ANews from SNEWS, among others. Thanks to this availability, the show editor can control the rundown while aware of any live news using its NRCS. The operator schedules the videos, media graphics and manages the different channels of the studio automation system.
2. Ability to optimize resources
Let’s go back for a moment to the movie example, in which we see how the studio management workflow is full of different profiles and manual processes. Nowadays, the resources are set and optimized thanks to the studio automation systems. We can broadcast any show or news program with an operator and an editor. Therefore, the studio operator must count on a system with all the necessary tools for professional production, such as previsualization of content clips, frame by frame advance, loop, cue preview, next and previous, fast forward (FF), rewind or timeline.
Not only that, this software must be flexible and adaptable to the professional’s needs. VSNLivecom includes customizable modes, such as manual or automatic event management (trimming, reassignment), keyboard shortcuts and Jog Shuttle functionalities. Furthermore, it allows customization of the operation views of the interface for each studio and operator.
3. Complete control of studio audiovisual elements
TV Studios’ appearance experienced a notorious advance during its history. In the first place, we saw how multiple complementary TV screens appeared behind the hosts. Nowadays, it’s usual to see large audiovisual panels in the studios, visually supporting the information, projecting the show’s logo or playing loops.
These new features trigger workflows that our studio automation system must control to produce a professional TV show. The studio automation system of VSN manages multiple rundowns in parallel, controlling up to 4 channels (A/B/C/D) in list mode and allowing control of 16 additional video server channels. With these video servers, we can broadcast different contents from the program’s playlists on the studio plasmas and provide visual support to our broadcast.
4. Flexibility and accessibility
Any program rundown can’t be unflexible or untouchable. Far behind are those times in which the operator received an unchangeable playlist. Nowadays, the rundowns must be open to changes and be accessible for different professionals once the news events knock on the door.
Let’s imagine a piece of breaking news that destroys all our previous content playlists. With this situation, our system must allow access to different NRCS users to introduce changes from the newsroom and send them in real-time to the studio automation, operating in a fully collaborative way with the program’s playlist.
Furthermore, we might also need to create a new and different rundown in a short period to substitute the original. Therefore, it is essential to work offline in this version and then replace it in the studio automation system. These key workflows are not a problem for VSNLivecom. Thanks to this studio automation system, it is likely that Edward R. Murrow would remove “good luck” from his famous phrase, since his team wouldn’t need the fortune to be on their side to get the program delivered.
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