A riverside view for new FT video studio

TVBEU R O PE T H E W O R K F L O W
On time and on budget, with content output transformed
A riverside view for
new FT video studio
By Chris Hook
In August 2010 VSC Design
completed work on the new
video studio at the Southwark
Bridge headquarters of the
Financial Times in London. The
Teddington-based
broadcast
systems specialist was contracted
by the FT in early 2010 following
its successful installation of the
audio studio there in 2009.
VSC was again contracted to
project-manage, design, build and
install the technical aspects of the
facility. The new studio is installed
at the riverside end of the building,
where the huge glass windows
provide fantastic views of St Paul’s
cathedral, the River Thames and
City of London skyline. It is a mark
of the importance of this new facility that it was officially opened by
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of
The European Central Bank,
who cut the ribbon after a brief
ceremony in September to celebrate
the opening.
FT Global Head of Video
Richard Edgar is thrilled with the
new facility: “It has absolutely
transformed our output at the FT,
both in the number of videos we
produce and the look and ambition of what we can do here.”
Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the Financial
External view of the Financial Times
building on Southwark Bridge in London
The three main departments
within the FT organisation — FT
Editorial, FT Communications
and FT Business — have experienced a growing demand for
video output, both editorially and
commercially. FT Editorial, with
its website FT.com, is responsible
for reporting the news, interviewing key figures in business and
politics and adding expert analysis. FT Communications provides
commentary on events for the
BBC, CNN and other TV and
radio stations worldwide by key
personalities including chief
economics commentator Martin
Wolf, economics editor Chris
Giles and defence editor James
The new facility is designed to
be as multi-functional as possible. It is used for interviews to be
published on FT.com as well as
to conduct live down-the-line
interviews, using the studio’s bidirectional video circuit. The
spacious studio area has three
Sony DXC-D55WSPH cameras
fitted with Vinten Radamec
remote controls and a fourth
camera, a Sony PMW-EX3, is
mounted in the lighting grid for
wide establishing shots.
Chroma key areas and an
in-vision monitor have also been
provided. The studio equipment
list also includes: Fostex 6301B
floor monitor speakers, TSL
AMU2-2MHD audio level
measurement unit, Wohler
AMP1A rackmount speakers
and a Trilogy Orator intercom
system. The set employs the latest DMX controlled multicolour
LED panels, allowing the look
to be instantly changed as
required. These are featured in
the ‘coffee table’ on the main
rostrum, large strategicallyplaced wall panels and the
movable ‘bar’ and bench seating
which can be used for more
informal presentations.
Times has a daily average readership of 1.9 million people worldwide but also produces video and
audio for FT.com and syndication
clients. The company also makes
its expert correspondents and
editors available for comment to
the BBC, CNN and other media
outlets around the world.
Blitz. The many smaller magazine
publications within FT Group,
such as Investors’ Chronicle and
Pensions Week, all have a presence on the internet but without
broadcast expertise have, until
now, relied on freelance producers and equipment to produce
their output.
The FT’s new multi-functional video facility features studio space for interviews
with a London skyline backdrop and a room for a small studio audience
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Incorporating the city views
through the huge windows on two
sides of the studio is a key aim of
the set. The interview dais can be
moved to one corner, now called
‘St Paul’s corner’ where the classic
view of St Paul’s cathedral across
the river adds a glamour to the
set that no amount of dressing
could achieve. A small studio
audience can also be accommodated if required.
The studio control room was
especially tailored to a single person operation using a Custom
Consoles bespoke production
desk and Grass Valley Kayak 100
vision mixer. Care was taken
to optimise the operation layout
to achieve this. VSC was able to
provide full colour 3D renders
of the custom manufactured
furniture to ensure the design
met ergonomic requirements prior
to manufacture.
Studio recording and replay is
via two Apple Mac Pro computers fitted with AJA Kona HD
capture cards and monitoring is
via an Evertz VIP series multiviewer with SDI embedded audio
bargraph displays. Files are managed using Final Cut Server and
“It has absolutely transformed our output at
the FT, both in the number of videos we produce
and the look and ambition of what we can do
here” — Richard Edgar, global head of video, FT
Tapeless TV
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Dubai
are shared with the FT’s video
editing suite for post production.
A remote broadcast area has also
been created in the FT newsroom,
allowing for live contribution
from the newsroom and for
down-the-line interviews.
Distributed by Evertz 7700
and 500 series audio embedders/de-embedders/distribution,
the audio is controlled via the
Soundcraft LX7ii-24 mixing
console and monitored through
Genelec 8030 speakers. The presenters use Sennheiser EW-300
IEM G3 in ear monitoring, Sony
UWP series radio mic packs and
Tram TR-50X lapel mics.
Because the studio is situated
within a section of the working
offices, a great deal of attention
and planning was required to
ensure that disruption was kept
to an absolute minimum. VSC
Project Manager John Hartz
explains: “To ensure the acoustic
solution met full broadcast
standards, even in an office
environment, the use of custom
acoustic panels fitted within
the building’s infrastructure was
the answer.”
Continued on page 43
42
www.tvbeurope.com J A N U A RY 2 0 1 1
TVBEU R O PE T H E W O R K F L O W
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A riverside view for
new FT video studio
with acoustic walls.
VSC project managed the
entire project process. In addition
to the system design and installation, this also involved creating
and maintaining project plans,
chairing project progress meetings
along with financial reporting and
managing the budget. The company worked very closely with the
Financial Times’ video department to ensure that the studio met
its exact requirements.
Edgar comments: “What surprised me was the huge amount of
work involved before anything
was bought. VSC’s job included a
needed along with the use of a lot
of imagination.”
To enable the project to be
delivered in the shortest time
possible a parallel approach was
taken. The broadcast system was
pre-fabricated at VSC’s premises
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if the subject in the framing box
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by an easily readable code: focus
in front of the subject; focus
slightly in front of the subject; in
focus; focus slightly behind the
subject; focus behind the subject.
So even when you don’t use the
full or part-time AF, this information gives you that extra edge to
avoid overshooting your focus in
difficult environments. I find this
information extremely valuable in
all of the modes of this lens.
All things considered it comes
down to trust; trusting AF
technology to be your aid and
free your creativity to focus on
the greater picture. When trusted
and used to its full potential it
will make your job easier and
more creative. Since I have used
it, the Canon AF system has
gained my trust.
Auto-focus for live action
Continued from page 42
Acoustic panelling was provided by acoustics specialist
IAC and constructed off site and
bolted, floor to ceiling, to the
existing
structure. Together
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systemis was
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different. Although most people,
including myself, were conservative about auto-focus I wanted to
give this new technology a try.
My first experience with the
100AF was working as a dynamic
isolated camera in the top
Swedish Ice Hockey League
(Elitserien). The work consisted
of getting individual player shots,
close-ups, crowd shots, coach
reactions and so on and the
dynamics of auto-focus proved to
be perfect for it. During the first
games using the 100AF, I was able
to experiment with the full-time
AF and the part-time AF, as well
as AF framing and AF resolution.
When you know where all the
expressive crowd faces are and
when you know which players on
the bench show feelings, then
time is of the essence to capture
the reactions. So in any given situation I knew that if I pointed
my camera, and framed the picture while pressing the Part Time
User case study
All things considered it comes down to trust;
trusting AF technology to be your aid and free
your creativity to focus on the greater picture.
When trusted and used to its full potential it will
make your job easier and more creative
AF, I could shave off important
seconds and get a better storytelling picture. In this mode I
normally used a large AF framing box and AF resolution on the
fastest speed to get a fastfocused shot.
After this success, it felt like I
could use more of the AF framing
together with the AF resolution to
produce smooth, controlled focus
to player in a smooth and precise
way — just by moving the AF
frame with the joystick on the
focus demand.
I found this intriguing and as
soon as I had the 100AF available again I wanted to experiment even more. Finnkampen
(the Swedish vs Finn Track &
Field competition) gave me a lot
of opportunities to test the AF.
Karel Keim captures the action at Swedish Ice Hockey League game
A riverside view for
new FT video studio
designed and installed along
with acoustic walls.
VSC project managed the
entire project process. In addition
to the system design and installation, this also involved creating
and maintaining project plans,
chairing project progress meetings
along with financial reporting and
managing the budget. The company worked very closely with the
Financial Times’ video department to ensure that the studio met
its exact requirements.
Edgar comments: “What surprised me was the huge amount of
work involved before anything
was bought. VSC’s job included a
lot of planning for what would be
needed along with the use of a lot
of imagination.”
To enable the project to be
delivered in the shortest time
possible a parallel approach was
taken. The broadcast system was
pre-fabricated at VSC’s premises
in Teddington, allowing FT staff
to accept the facilities and familiarise themselves with operational procedures while the
building work was being carried
out on site. Edgar adds: “The
pre-build at Teddington allowed
us to check the kit and the
ergonomics of the console and to
allow the wiring looms to be cre-
Continued from page 42
Acoustic panelling was provided by acoustics specialist
IAC and constructed off site and
bolted, floor to ceiling, to the
existing structure. Together
with sound proof studio doors,
the result is almost total
acoustic separation from the
noisy bustle of the adjacent
office environment. A custom
air-conditioning system was
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IBIS and Octopus
Find Media Assets
IBIS and Octopus Newsroom have
announced that IBIS iFind Media Asset
Management client operated successfully
with Octopus6 NRCS following tests at its
Ranmore facility. During testing of the
integration of the two applications, the
iFind Media Search engine was used in a
MOS workflow to find available media in
the Octopus6 run down. The browse copy
of the media located by iFind can be
viewed at the journalist workstation
within the Octopus6 user interface.
Commenting on the development, IBIS
CTO John Haselwood said: “This
integration clearly demonstrates the
power of iFind working with such a
flexible and popular newsroom. The
Octopus interface still functions perfectly
but with the addition of the powerful
iFind media search, management and
video browsing being available to
everyone in the editorial workflow.”
www.ibis.tv
Fast Atto storage
ated off site rather than cluttering up the studio site. It was
much more efficient. But then we
have worked with VSC Design
before and we know them to be
very professional.”
VSC Managing Director
Martyn Hales says: “Despite the
many varied challenges that the
location presented, the project
was delivered on budget and on
time. The professionalism of the
FT team made the installation a
pleasure to manage and ensured
we had the freedom to put our
experience to good use.” To see
the studio in action go to:
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multiple tiers of SAS/SATA disk storage
enclosures. FastStream offers the
lowest cost-per-video stream and
enables users to connect existing
direct-attached storage without the
addition of complex Fibre Channel SAN
equipment. Jim U’Ren, Product
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“Our latest models provide enterpriseclass features normally found in
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helps end users increase productivity
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http://video.ft.com/
43