AJA Ki Pro Rack Delivers Spot-On Recording for BlueScreen Every Time

Launching a successful business out of a natural talent for compositing, Bob Kertesz founded BlueScreen LLC three decades ago. The company specializes in live, on-set blue/green screen compositing and multi-cam productions for high profile gaming companies and studios such as EA, Disney, Warner Brothers and Viacom. A core component of BlueScreen's business involves live blue/green screen compositing for press events prior to the launch of major films, and for this niche market, Kertesz has established a specialized setup comprising high-end cameras and Ultimatte hardware, with AJA's Ki Pro Rack at the center of the workflow for reliable recording and playback.

At each media event, Kertesz is given an average of seven hours to direct, live composite and record more than sixty journalist interviews. The studio typically provides him with an animated environment and characters from the film it is promoting. Kertesz then works his compositing magic to insert each reporter into the scene, so it appears as though he or she is interviewing the animated characters. Upon wrapping the day, each journalist leaves with a Compact Flash card containing the segment in his or her requested format.

Kertesz shoots each interview in the highest possible quality using a range of Sony and Panasonic three-chip broadcast style cameras, so that clients walk away with broadcast-ready video. Generally, he captures in 1080 59,94i, recording to the reporter's requested format using Ki Pro Rack - whether in DNxHD or ProRes 422 HQ. I love that the Ki Pro Rack makes it very easy to switch the recording format in less than a minute, and you can instantly generate files that will go directly into clients' Avid, Final Cut or Adobe systems without a hitch, and that I can use the network connection to quickly copy the Ki Pro Rack files to a Compact Flash card in a USB writer, expressed Kertesz.

Tasked with producing such a large volume of content under tight deadlines, Kertesz depends on Ki Pro Rack to not only record each segment, but also to playback animations provided by the studio, often more than 200 times per event. He said, Ki Pro Rack is a marvelous device for what I do; it cues up, records and plays easily, and I can transfer files to it over a network connection rather than copying them over. That's a huge bonus when I'm setting up and trying out various things with the animations to make the junket work.

I'll be playing back clips a thousand times, and there's never a hiccup, he continued. Everything has to work without fail, or those segments will never make it to air. There are no second chances or take twos, and Ki Pro Rack gives me one less thing to worry about when I'm out there on the battlefield; I can trust it to do what it is supposed to do.

Kertesz believes that a vast majority of professional projects today are relatively straightforward but depend on reliable gear for successful production. Today, what creatives really seem to want in the field is quality and dependability. That's why I stick with AJA products; the quality, reliability and feature sets meet, if not exceed, all of the needs required to complete a vast majority of jobs out there, he explained. Having gear I can trust in the field is the single most important thing to me in production. AJA's support is also second to none; if I have questions, I can always talk with a human being who understands the product I'm working with, which can't be said for other outfits.

Ki Pro Rack has saved me time and money, but most importantly, it's freed me from angst. I don't like problems, and my clients definitely don't like problems. If my equipment fails, my reputation and business are on the line, and with AJA gear that's never a concern, Kertesz concluded.

When not working on press junkets, BlueScreen LLC also lends its composting and multi-cam production expertise to projects ranging in scope, size and market. When those projects require a quick edit, Kertesz often uses Adobe Premiere Pro with AJA Io XT or AJA KONA.

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface and conversion solutions, bringing high-quality, cost-effective digital video products to the professional, broadcast and post-production markets. AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at http://www.aja.com.

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