Vatican’s Pontifical University Selects Blackmagic Studio Cameras for Ultra HD Training Facility

Mar 22, 2016 Mark Shueard 0 Comments

Blackmagic Design today announced that the Vatican’s Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, which trains the next generation of Catholic priests and leaders of the Church Communication Office, has equipped its dedicated studio facilities with a full multicam production workflow, featuring the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K and ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K.

Fremont, CA - March 21, 2016 - Blackmagic Design today announced that the Vatican’s Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, which trains the next generation of Catholic priests and leaders of the Church Communication Office, has equipped its dedicated studio facilities with a full multicam production workflow, featuring the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K and ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K.

Forming the hub of the University’s School of Church Communications, it is designed to help students understand every aspect of broadcast production. “The university established a media and communication training faculty in 1996 to complement the existing theological and philosophical curriculum, however it became clear to us that students shouldn’t just learn about presenting in front of camera, but to also have the ability to produce a broadcast themselves,” explains Jorge Milan, associate professor of audiovisual communications at Pontificia Università della Santa Croce. 

The production facilities have been designed to be extremely flexible, not only to enable all students to gain practical hands on experience in all aspects of production, but also to work with a variety of programming, from a news broadcast to documentary shoots and through to prerecorded OB reports. The University is using three Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K for acquisition and programs are cut on an ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K, delivered by reseller Cherubini.

“Finding studio quality cameras that would appeal to students beginning to develop their production skills was crucial,” explains Jorge. “It’s wonderful to see the faces of the first year students when they walk into the studio and realize that they will be able to get hands on with professional grade equipment. But it was just as important that the cameras were user friendly and easy to get to grips with, and the studio cameras from Blackmagic provide the perfect balance.” 

The cameras can either be controlled by camera operators, or when working in a smaller team, through the ATEM Camera Control software, which provides CCU like camera control.

Signal distribution throughout the studio and post production facilities are managed with a Smart Videohub 20x20 while a MultiView 16 provides monitoring of all incoming and outgoing feeds for the students gaining experience in the production gallery. “Previously we had used rented or second hand equipment but as our student numbers grew, we decided to invest in a Blackmagic Ultra HD workflow to ensure our facilities are future proofed, and are capable of producing impressive results.”

“Everyone gets the opportunity to experience all aspects of television production, which we believe is a fundamental part of our communications program,” Jorge concludes. “These students will become the future spokespeople for the Catholic Church, and so if they understand not only how to present in front of the camera, but also what a production team needs for interesting and watchable content, that will help to spread the Church’s message far and wide.”