November 2007: BBC Post Production, part of BBC Resources Ltd, is launching a new consultancy service, to provide practical guidance and advice to programme makers outside of the BBC. It is opening up access to twelve of its top design team, who collectively have nearly 250 years of experience, designing and managing facilities and workflows across all platforms. They have supported thousands of projects, from complex HD tapeless operations such as the FIFA World Cup and Live Earth, to natural history programmes, drama and documentaries.

BBC Post Production’s Media Solutions team can offer advice and support to design, set up and configure an installation and design a workflow to maximise its efficiency and potential. They can also provide advice on pre-production and shooting, through to media management and transmission.

“Whilst we can support those launching grand projects, we also know that there are production companies out there who just need to give their set-up an overhaul”, says Malcolm Cowan, who is heading up the team. “They might have purchased various bits of kit over time and know that they are not getting quite as much out of it as they could. We can come in and give it an MOT and suggest ways to improve performance and output.”

Services Available:

Case Studies:

Live Earth 2007 : BBC Post Production supported 22 hours of live high definition coverage of the Live Earth concerts which went out to over 135 countries across the world. It created a totally tapeless purpose built environment big enough to handle all the world feeds, complete with a continuous logging operation. It provided around 8Tb of EVS Server Storage to record and store the footage. Live output was made available and accessed worldwide during the live broadcast. New lines were installed between BBC Resources' post production and studios divisions to transfer material and get it out of Television Centre and around the world.

FIFA World Cup 2006: BBC Post Production designed and managed the BBC’s first tapeless HD workflow from ingest to playout. It was based on EVS equipment for the coverage of live matches and Avid equipment for the highlights packages. The tapeless workflow was also extended to the acquisition stage, with the use of the Panasonic P2 technology. Following a successful trial at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, BBC Post Production advised and supported BBC Sport in their use of the P2 system to capture footage of matches, team training and player interviews.

Trauma 2005: BBC Post Production created a bespoke solution for series three of BBC documentary Trauma, which takes a revealing look at the work of the doctors, nurses and paramedics in one of the UK's busiest Accident and Emergency departments. A new work flow using Avid Unity storage was pioneered, enabling the production team to capture and organise an estimated 1000 hours of footage close to the source, and view and log material in a tapeless environment whilst on location at the Royal London Hospital.

The Team:

Staff have vast experience, technical know-how and engineering capability, as well as award winning creative flair. Between them they have nearly 250 years of experience and have worked on thousands of projects. From cutting material in a jungle and setting up satellite links so packages can be transmitted direct from the rain forest, to designing and building a bespoke facility to support the world's largest HD broadcast in media history, it’s people have the wealth of skills and expertise to create the right solution to support production.

Lesley McMahon-Hathway, Director BBC Post Production says, “It’s the right time to harness the potential of our very best people and make their expertise available to a wider market.”

For further information, please contact:

Georgie Hollett, Head of Communications, BBC Studios and Post Production
Tel: +44 (0)20 8624 9495
Mobile : +44 (0) 783484 5612
Email : georgie.hollett@bbc.co.uk

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