QuickLink StudioPro Powers Next Generation Student Media...

Westminster Schools, a K through 12 school in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 2,000 students, has transformed its student broadcast and digital storytelling capabilities with the integration of QuickLink StudioPro supported by the StudioPro Proton control panel. This marks a major leap forward in production quality, workflow efficiency and creative opportunity.

For more than a decade, Westminster's student run broadcast club, WCAT, has produced weekly news, sports coverage, podcasts and short form video projects. WCAT started as a sports broadcasting club, but it grew into weekly news, podcasts and short films, says William Turton, WCAT Technical Director. Before we constructed this new space, everything was filmed in a classroom studio using traditional, single camera workflows.

That changed earlier this year, when Westminster opened the Blake Center, a state of the art facility featuring a full studio with a 30 foot LED video wall, lighting grid, three cameras, a control room and dedicated classroom space. The school worked with integrator FORT on the design and installation of the studio, and the list of capabilities included multi camera switching, ISO recording, graphics, remote guests, video playback and more.

A member of the FORT team asked if I had heard of QuickLink, Turton recalls. He told me that its StudioPro basically did everything we were looking for, all in one unit. It sounded too good to be true, but it really had a full rack's worth of equipment in one chassis.

Following an on-site demonstration, Westminster selected a QuickLink StudioPro-3 as the central production engine of their new space. It's really been the backbone and the brain of our new studio, Turton says. QuickLink StudioPro now powers Westminster's weekly news program, regular podcasts and a growing number of curricular and extracurricular video projects.

The shift from traditional recording and edit workflows to live switching has dramatically streamlined production. Before, it was record and then five hours of editing for a kid to do, Turton explains. Now, we're coming in, filming, switching through cameras, tossing to videos, putting up graphics while we're filming and then uploading it right after. It has significantly simplified our workflow.

Turton says students have adapted quickly to the system. It's super user friendly. You show it to them once, and they pretty much understand it. If they want to build a new scene or add graphics, it's easy; hit the plus, find your source, drag things around. They picked up on it pretty quickly.

The studio is primarily operated by grades 9 12, with middle school students also participating. Even lower school classes have begun using the space for special projects. QuickLink's flexibility has enabled students to experiment with more advanced storytelling techniques, including remote guests, NDI sources, web inputs and dynamic video wall integrations.

With the video wall, we have aux channels going out of QuickLink into the processors, so we can put different graphics up on top of the wall and layer things, Turton says. During March Madness, some kids wanted their bracket behind them. We routed a screenshare into StudioPro with a browser source, then into the video wall software, and they had it behind them while they picked it. It was cool.

Teachers have also embraced the studio as part of a growing digital storytelling initiative. Instead of writing a paper, the final project might be a podcast or a short film, Turton says. Kids would put something like the Roman Empire on the video wall and record their project. With QuickLink, they were done as soon as they finished filming instead of having to do green screen work later.

He also highlights the addition of the StudioPro Proton control panel, which has further streamlined operations for student crews. The Proton panel has made switching even more intuitive for them, Turton says. It gives them tactile control in a way that feels familiar but still ties directly into all the advanced features QuickLink offers.

The new space has already made a strong impression on students, faculty and visitors. Our production quality has definitely gone up, Turton says. When the upper school teachers toured the space, they were blown away. And the students were definitely enjoying figuring out all the different features and getting to implement them.

For Turton, the impact is clear: I really don't think this space would be as usable as it is now without QuickLink, he says. It's been super flexible, very helpful with the video wall, and it's truly the backbone of this studio.

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