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Education
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The cutting edge in Carolina
New facility gives competitive advantage to students
Dec 23, 2004
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by Lisa Horan
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A university nestled in a scenic Western Carolina valley is hardly the place where you’d expect to find a multi-million dollar, network-quality production facility. Yet, Western Carolina University, located in Cullowhee, NC, has made a significant commitment to video in an effort to provide its students with a convincing competitive edge and generate new business to strengthen an economically challenged region.
Only a few universities can boast such equipment as a Sony CineAlta HD camcorder, the same core technology used by George Lucas for his recent Star Wars projects. In fact, WCU is one of only seven such universities to exist in the United States. But while the CineAlta is impressive, it’s merely one line item of an impressive facility that emphasizes current technologies and collaboration between departments.
In addition to field equipment that includes three Sony DSR-370L field cameras, Lowel, ARRI, and Frezzi remote light kits, and Sennheiser location sound recording equipment, the university’s new $14 million Center for Applied Technology, which opened to students and faculty in September, features an extensive equipment package that includes an Avid Xpress editing system, a Solid State Logic C200 digital recording console, and a Sony MVS-8000 video switcher and 128x128 HD/SD router.
Sharing Resources
The all-inclusive facility provides theater arts students (who fall under the same department as communication majors) a venue in which to hold “Acting for the Camera” classes and provides the art department the ability to transmit animation and artwork for productions to the television studio from the new Fine and Performing Arts Center via fiber optics. In addition, outside the television studio are two boxes for remote and satellite trucks to plug into and interconnect with the studios, enabling events to be produced and transmitted to the rest of the world.
“Last spring, I visited some of my colleagues at NBC in New York, and they were shocked — and a tad bit envious — to find out we had a better switcher than they have for the nightly news,” said Pat Acheson, director of studio operations and an assistant professor who spent 28 years at NBC. “While we can’t compare with the networks when it comes to quantity, our equipment certainly does compare favorably when it comes to quality.”
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| Students at Western Carolina University get specialized training to give them an advantage in the marketplace after they graduate. |
Acheson, along with assistant professor Bruce Frazier and director of electronic media Don Connelly, visited benchmark facilities (both professional broadcast studios and universities) throughout the country last year to conduct research on the technology being used. “One of most important questions we asked was, ‘What would you do differently?’” said Connelly. “We used a lot of the feedback we collected as guideposts for the process.”
Perhaps the most valuable feedback focused on the lack of cooperation and sharing of resources across departments. “What we found was that, typically, the recording studio would be under the music department, the TV studio would fall under the communications department, and both departments were fighting each other for a budget,” said Connelly. “Our philosophy was that it just made more sense for departments to work in collaboration with one another and combine resources.”
And that’s just what they did. As a result of their visits and their vision, WCU created one of the only facilities of its kind in the country in which the television studio and recording studio — housed next to each other in the same building — are linked via computer and connected by the routing switcher.
“By combining the studios, we’ve made the best use of the technology that we have and, in effect, tripled the facility’s functionality,” said Connelly. For example, students can use the 96-channel Solid State Logic audio mixer housed in the recording studio for a music video without leaving the television studio. “Our setup has definitely broken the mold for the university setting.”
Competitive Edge
Many of the approximately 200 students pursuing communication degrees at the university may very well be breaking the mold upon graduation; they’ll be able to bring to the marketplace a mastery of high-end, network-quality production and post-production equipment. “The new facility offers a learning experience that supports one of the university’s chief goals: to produce graduates who have the capability to enter the industry with a competitive advantage over their peers,” explained Connelly.
“Until this year, the equipment we had was meager, and it showed in the program,” said Acheson. “With the incorporation of the new equipment, we will be able to provide more practical and pragmatic training on the type of equipment they’re likely to see at their first job, training that just may help them enjoy opportunities beyond fetching coffee when they first enter the workforce.”
In addition to classroom instruction, which includes everything from basic through advanced producing and directing for television and producing for film, plans are in the works to launch a student-run campus newscast. Further adding to students’ industry value, the electronics department has created an electronics minor so that communication and music students will not only know how to operate the equipment but also how to diagnose and make field repairs.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of excitement about the facility and the communication degree programs we’re offering now,” said Connelly, who added that a number of students have asked to take independent studies to gain specialized training on specific equipment. The buzz about the facility isn’t restricted to the university, but rather has made its way to potential students throughout the country.
“I’ve received a number of e-mails from prospective students who’ve asked, ‘Are you the university with the George Lucas camera,’” added Connelly, who said he always enjoys seeing students’ faces when they see the facility for the first time.
“We’ve been asked why Western has invested so much into the facility and into the communication program,” he added. “The answer is simple: Our chancellor gets it. He understands that if we want students to excel in industry, we have to make a commitment to giving students a leading edge and provide them with a launching pad into the marketplace.”
Economic Expansion
This launching pad is indeed a unique one. Students will not merely gain experience on equipment via classroom instruction, but will have the opportunity to be involved in professional productions. A second chief purpose of the facility is to attract filmmakers and local businesses that may be in need of production services in an effort to support the economic expansion of Western North Carolina.
While the state’s Olmsted Act prevents the university facility from competing with private industry, they can take on projects from outside clients when students who are enrolled in bona fide classes are involved with the production of these projects. Students who choose to be involved will not only work with professionals and learn the tricks of the trade, they will also have the opportunity to network, which may prove useful after graduation.
Administrators hope that opening up the facility to professional clients will spark economic growth in the region. “One of the missions of university I take to heart is regional economic development,” said Acheson. “The primary industry in Western North Carolina has been logging, which is beginning to die. The new facility provides the university an opportunity to bring in the entertainment industry and potentially boost the region’s economy.”
Located in the Great Smoky Mountains in the far western part of the state, Western North Carolina has been the setting for a number of films over the years. Until now, however, filmmakers have had to go elsewhere to post and finish their projects. “Now we have the resources to entice filmmakers to stay beyond just shooting their film, and take advantage of the one-stop-shop that we’ve set up,” Acheson noted. The university also hopes to draw in more high tech businesses, which need video support.
In fact, the university has already worked with a national client to create a series of training videos, which were distributed to 17,000 of the company’s clients, and the NC Film Commission has been marketing the facility to potential clients. “We recently added Emmy-award winning producer/director Jack Shoulder to our faculty as a producer/director, which solidifies the university’s commitment to bringing in new business,” said Connelly. “And we have already had several major studio scouters look at our facility as a possibility for shooting and editing their project.” At press time, a motion picture production company had expressed an interest in using the facility to shoot, post, and edit an upcoming film.
The high-end facility wasn’t exactly on the fast track for completion. WCU endured a lengthy and tedious state bidding process to obtain the equipment for the facility, planning for which began in the fall of 1999.
“We explored all the state laws and found that there were ways we did not have to accept the lowest bid,” explained Connelly. Instead of conducting a “low price bid,” Connelly and others conducted a design competition in which bidders presented their designs. The design that came closest to meeting their specifications was awarded the job.
An additional challenge was the enormity of project from a systems integration standpoint. Roughly 6,000 cables measuring more than 200,000 feet had to be run through the facility, integrated with equipment, and documented.
“It’s a treat to have sophisticated equipment at our fingertips and a staff of seasoned professionals to instruct students on it,” said Acheson. “But our real success will lie in using this equipment to tell great stories and to initiate much-needed change in our local economy.”
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