Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. For Ed Davenport, it was
worth a whole lot more. While attending an NAB trade show several years
ago, the multimedia communications technology manager for
Hoffman-LaRoche, the U.S. affiliate of the pharmaceutical giant Roche
Group, was wowed by a rear-projection demonstration given by Miranda
technologies that displayed well over 40 images on just one screen,
measuring approximately 18 feet long by 6 feet high. Davenport
immediately thought of his own production facility in Nutley, NJ, and
the space constraints he and his team faced on a daily basis. An idea
was planted in that instant, and it eventually grew into a complete
facility overhaul—an enormous, yet cost-effective and flexible, upgrade
into a new digital studio.
"The big problem for us back then with rear-projection displays was the
depth of the projectors," says Davenport. "If I used them in my
facility, I would have been taking away from my floor space." But he
liked the Miranda technology’s ability to show multiple images on one
screen, which would eliminate the multiple monitors his team used
throughout their facility. "When we started to see plasma displays, and
the industry was making flat screens bigger, I realized I could get rid
of all the monitors we had, install the flat screens, use the Miranda,
or a device like it, and save ourselves valuable space," he explains.
After discussing the idea with his team, which included Peter Pfeiffer,
engineering supervisor, and Rick Belmont, manager of multimedia
creative, it was agreed the upgrade would not only be feasible, but
would actually solve workflow issues and even save clients money.
By 2003, with the help of New York-based engineering firm Cerami &
Associates and New Jersey-based system integrators Tele-measurements,
the team began the design process for a facility upgrade. A total
studio tear down followed, with the project being completed by
September 2004. As Davenport explains, this was the facility’s first
major upgrade since the‘80s, and by far the largest in its history,
entailing the complete removal of the studio’s cabling infrastructure.
"We had 30 years of cable we needed to take out of there," he says. "It
was in the floors, the ceilings, etc."
Today Roche’s Multimedia Communications Department is loaded with a
full complement of Thomson Grass Valley equipment, including a Grass
Valley KayakDD 2 M/E production switcher, a Concerto series router,
Encore facility control software and an array of Gecko signal
processing modules. In addition, there are Editware Fastrack editing
workstations, Apple Final Cut Pro HD NLE systems, Hitachi SK-2700
studio cameras, a Graham-Patten D/ESAM 400 audio mixer, an assortment
of plasma display panels, including an LG 60-inch, and the Miranda
Kaleido -K2 multi-image display system.
Now, the all-digital 2,000-sq. ft. room with a multi-function layout
serves four basic roles for Roche: It’s a production studio with
control room, a post-production area for editing, a graphics
environment for titling and animations and a presentation area for
client viewing. Here, the team is tasked with creating material for
sales meetings, corporate presentations, executive communications,
remote events, live and on-demand Web casting, employee training and
other corporate requirements of the company’s entire North American
sales and marketing departments.
"Before we upgraded our facility, we were only able to do one thing at
a time," says Davenport. "We don’t have a small area, but a fixed one,
in the basement of a building, and really have no place to go but to
re-utilize the space within the building more efficiently. We had to
set up the room a certain way for each type of job we did. Then, we had
to take time out when we were done to reset the facility for another
job." Now that the room is multi-functional, he says, "we can do
several jobs at the same time. That’s saving us hours of extra work
each day and saving clients money."
According to Davenport, the upgrade was a total team effort and one
that everyone is now benefiting from. The only thing left is for them
to get past the learning curve of using new equipment and adjusting to
a new workflow system.
"I have to admit, it was a strange feeling at first," says Davenport.
"When those cables were ripped out of here, I felt like I lost 32 years
of history. It’s hard for people to change." But once the team started
using the new equipment, he says, "we starting seeing the benefits
almost immediately. It’s been a difficult transition but we knew it was
something we had to do. We wanted to go digital and we knew it was
something we had to do all the way. You can’t go half-way into digital."
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