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£5 million regional e-media project aims to create
opportunities
for around 250 creatives - one of a knid in the sector.
UCE’s Technology
Innovation Centre (the tic), is leading a major Midlands
creative electronic industry thrust with the opening
of a Content-Creation and Digital Asset Management resource
for screen-based media. Known as ‘The Media Vault’
it is a crucial aspect of the tic’s incubation
work with clusters of small, Midlands, interactive,
screen-based creative businesses. This £5m regional
e-media project aims to help create opportunities for
around 250 talented Midlands creatives looking for a
kick-start for their screen-based business or project-
and is reckoned to be one of a kind in its sector.
Located in the tic at Birmingham’s Millennium
Point, Media Vault is a unique European-funded project,
designed to provide such businesses with access to the
specialist advanced equipment and resources which can
help them realise their creative vision.
It could even mean up to £2,500-worth of assistance.
According to Steve Smith, centre manager for e-media
activities at the tic, it’s all about unlocking
creativity.
“The Media Vault is a unique facility that gives
local SME’s, working in and with screen-based
media, access to leading-edge digital media creation
and management tools,” he says.
Funded by the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF), the tic, BT, Integrated Solutions
Technology (IST) and Advantage West Midlands, the project
aims to help small and start-up businesses overcome
the initial costs and other barriers to develop in their
markets. There are two aspects to The Media Vault:
• The Content Creation Facility features a full
3-camera virtual studio, online and offline editing
systems and a range of broadcast and professional cameras,
sound and lighting kits, as well as laptop editing systems,
for location production. |
• The ‘vault’ in Media Vault comes from
its Digital Asset Management System which is designed
to store every kind of digital video, sound and graphics
in a secure online environment.
This enables producers to both distribute their material,
as well as collaborate with others, anywhere around the
world.
The tic ‘s Media Vault staff come from both the
public broadcasting and independent production sectors,
bringing a wealth of industry knowledge and experience
which all users can tap into.
TV Studio Professional, Maureen Davis, who has joined
The Media Vault team from a major broadcasting network,
says: “The virtual studio provides the perfect way
to seamlessly integrate your presenters with any 3D computer-generated
environment.
It is the only facility of its kind that’s freely
available to screen professionals within the region. It
can also be used as a conventional three-camera studio
offering users the best of both worlds.”
In terms of post-production facilities, Media Vault offers
three industry-standard
real-time, online suites.
Chris Roberts, Media Vault’s Post-Production Professional,
has extensive experience in both the corporate and broadcasting
worlds.
He says “There is loads of archive material around
that people might want to be looking at repurposing. The
suites integrate directly with our laptop editing systems
so that clients can complete an offline cut while in the
field before putting it into The Media Vault’s online
systems for final finishing.
Everything is interconnected – we can record a feed
directly out of the studio and have it ready for editing
in post straight away. We need never leave the digital
environment.”
This is where the Digital Asset Management (DAM) system
comes in. Basically the DAM is a huge repository for digital
data, video, sound and graphics. |
Using Media Vault’s high-speed broadband Internet
connections users can make their productions available
for distribution to global markets.
If clients want to sell their latest programme material
to the Far East, they simply direct potential customers
to their online clip for a preview prior to downloading
the full version which will then be of broadcast quality.
You may want to work with a colleague in New York and
collaborate with a composer in Australia. There is no
problem - the DAM system enables you to do just that.
Sven Rudolph, the Media Vault’s
Content Management Administrator says of the system:
“The DAM is a secure online archive for any piece
of digital media.
The main benefit of this system is that it not only
enables producers to keep track of what assets they
have and just where they are stored, but also enables
them to use that content easily in any number of ways.
And by distributing content via broadband, we can virtually
eliminate the need and cost of tape and film duplication
and special courier services.”
So how might a business qualify for £2,500 support?
tic e-media manager Steve Smith explains: “The
Media Vault exists to provide the technological resources
to assist established Creative Industry SMEs to modernise
or diversify into higher value-added markets. It is
also there to encourage new companies to start-up and
grow.
Companies in both categories can claim up to £2,500
to be spent on business support services, or 5 days
of the tic team’s time to help start-ups get up
and running.
We would encourage anyone working in the screen media
field to get in touch to see just what the tic can do
to help.”
ticfact:
UCE's tic integrates lifelong learning with business
support and forms a major part of Millennium Point,
the keystone development of Birmingham's new Eastside
Learning and Culture Quarter.
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