Trip to Nascar Media Group

Today Video II toured the NASCAR Media Group.  Their top-notch facility is equipped with the latest technology. It provided valuable insight to the many opportunities available in the media industry.  From receiving the media from the field to the editing of the images, adding graphics, and working with the colorization and audio to sending it out local and international clients was very fascinating.  Touring the production studios and hands-on in the radio studio provided a different perspective into broadcasting.

Lighting always seems to be a challenge in studio production and in one of the production studios there was an unbelievable amount of lights.  Another studio on the street level was surrounded by windows so people on the street could see the live productions.  We discussed different aspects of the lighting dealing with the changes in the outside lighting from the windows as it changes throughout the day.  There were curtains that could be shut as well.

Another topic was the challenges surrounding the screen aspect ratio of 16:9 versus 4:3,  that is still being dealt with by producers.  Producers take into consideration those that have not upgraded their televisions to the 16:9 ratio.  Some stations just provide black banners on the sides and will put their station logo's or other graphics to compensate for the shows that are still produced in the 4:3 aspect ratio.  One of the challenges that the NASCAR media group contends with is having room to add graphics or banners at the bottom of footage when the camera operator has framed the shot too close and not allowed enough room.

In the archive library we saw a new and unexpected process.  They take the old video tapes from the 70's and put them in a convection oven for several minutes.  Over time some tapes deteriorate because of the breakdown in the glue or binder that holds the oxide on the tapes.  Baking the tapes temporarily restores the tape so it can be copied to another format.

Other areas we experienced were editing of the live in-car radio on race day which is on a three second delay to allow the editors to "sanitize" the audio to make it acceptable to the young audience, and the live radio broadcast for Sirrus satellite radio.  This was a very informative tour that provided a greater vision of the opportunities in Broadcasting.