LITTLE ROCK, ARK.
The big in newsrooms is that technology is revolutionizing how television professionals prepare local news.
There are several clear trends. Many newsrooms, including ours at KLRT, a Fox affiliate, are being asked to produce more hours of news without adding staff-and in some cases with fewer people. This is changing the way news can be prepared.
(click thumbnail)Voya Radosavljevic, a news photojournalist for KLRT uses one of the station's six NewsFlow edit bays. At the heart of each room is Adobe Premiere Pro v1.5 software and Matrox RTX boards; Video Technics Apella server clips can be dragged into the NLE project bin and complete timelines are sent directly to the server for playout. In some cases, the staffing crunch is making it more difficult to round out stories with extra details, and in other cases we are forced to create news that is less local and more based on "feed" material from other sources.
At KLRT, we knew that going all-digital would allow us to enhance the quality of our news stories, while at the same time increasing our efficiency and reducing costs. We don't have to support tape-based operations and have been able to keep tape-related, such as maintaining tapes and tape decks, to a minimum.
We record our stories using small and simple digital camcorders, making it possible for reporters to shoot their own stories as they are reporting them rather than using a camera operator. Digitized archives make it easy for staffers to call up footage from any story they choose, whether it is from a months-old newscast or the today's satellite feed. An additional advantage is the decreased likelihood of technical difficulties during a newscast, because a digitized system reduces the chance of technical errors.
Our new digital system at KLRT revolves around Video Technics NewsFlow and Adobe Premiere Pro NLE software. Media comes into our production system from a Video Technics' Apella VCS server.
The server simultaneously creates high-resolution files and low-resolution proxy clips that journalists use to create story rundowns on their desktops. They then drag clips directly from the Apella browser interface and drop them into a story in the AP's ENPS newsroom control software. At airtime, a playlist is automatically created on the server, which dynamically maintains synchronicity throughout the show.
CENTRALIZED DATABASE
We use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit video and audio, and add special effects. Using a centralized database, news directors, reporters and editors can work simultaneously and share digital media.
We also equipped our newsgathering vehicles with laptop editors running Adobe Premiere Pro. Our editors and photographers bring in footage directly from their DV camcorders to their laptops via FireWire and edit the digital video.
Adobe Premiere Pro is integrated with the Apella server through the VT Apella plug-in. Once the story is edited, the revised media is exported directly from the Adobe Premiere Pro timeline to the playout server.
With our new all-digital system, we can prepare news of exceptional quality faster than ever. The new system has also saved us substantial time and money. Our new efficiency gives us more newsgathering muscle, allowing us to differentiate our newscast from those of competitors.
All in all, moving to a tapeless newsroom has resulted in substantial benefits for KLRT and for our television professionals.
For more information, contact Adobe at 800-833-6687 or visit www.adobe.com.
