Screens Producing & Media Operations
Advanced Practice for Media Server and Video Content Preparation
This website contains video & image references in support of the textbook by Laura Frank
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Chapter 1
What Is a Screens Producer? What Is Media Operations?
Chapter 2
Media Operations: Practice and Principles
•Content Production
•Media Operations
•Screens Engineering
•A Screens Practice That Works in Any Production Environment
•Augmenting This Practice With Rapidly Changing Technology
•Software
Chapter 3
Screens Control History: Screens Control and Media Servers
•Screens Control and Media Servers
•Integration With Broadcast
Chapter 4
Follow the Pixels: Three Strategic Teams to Achieve Excellent Screens
•Creative – Content Production
•Operations/Programming
•Engineering
•Hybrid Teams
•What About Real-Time?
Chapter 5
Content Creation for Scenic
•Designing Media for Space Not Screens
•Working With the Scenic Design Team
•Communicating With Content Designers
•Translating Space Onto Rasters
Chapter 6
Operations and Programming for Screens Control
•What Is a DELIVERY RASTER?
•What Defines a Media Server Layer?
•Layer Strategy for Programming
•One DELIVERY RASTER or Multiple?
•Planning for Maximum Flexibility and Speed
•Clear File Organization
•File Naming and Revisions
Chapter 7
Engineering for Servers: Feeding the Screens
•Signal Flow and Engineering
•Building the SIGNAL RASTERS
•Finalizing a SIGNAL RASTER
•Server Engineering Guidelines
•Backup Planning
•GenLock and Signal Sync
•Timecode and Audio
Chapter 8
Understanding the Set: Documentation and Analysis
•Scenic Design Documentation
•Example 1: iHeart Radio Music Awards 2017
•Example 2: Black Girls Rock! 2016
•Example 3: MTV Video Music Awards 2018
•Example 4: MTV Video Music Awards 2024
Chapter 9
Unwrapping the Set: Templates for Creatives
•Main Template/DESIGN RASTERS
•Example 1: iHeart Radio Music Awards 2017
•Grouping Screens
•Example 2: Black Girls Rock! 2016
•Responsible Pixel Usage – Do I Need a Pixel for Every LED?
•More Screen Groups
•Special Example: MTV Movie and TV Awards 2018
•Example 3: MTV Video Music Awards 2018
•Example 4: MTV Video Music Awards 2024
•Alternate Content Delivery Workflows
Chapter 10
The Media Operations Team•
•Programming
•Example 1: iHeart Radio Music Awards 2017
•File Delivery
•File Management
•Example 2: Black Girls Rock! 2016
•Prepare for “Oh by the Way”
•Example 3: MTV Video Music Awards 2018
•Delivery and Processing
•Example 4: MTV Video Music Awards 2024
Chapter 11
Signal Delivery and Engineering
•Server Signal Planning
•Example 1: iHeart Radio Music Awards 2017
•Working With Screens Engineering Team
•Working With Broadcast Trucks
•Example 2: Black Girls Rock! 2016
•Signal Switching
•Special Example: MTV Movie and TV Awards 2018
•Example 3: MTV Video Music Awards 2018
•Example 4: MTV Video Music Awards 2024
Chapter 12
Content Delivery Workflow: Rendered Content
•Phase 1: Planning and Collaboration
•Phase 2: Drafting and Refinement
•Phase 3: Finalization and Execution
•Start at the Beginning
Chapter 13
Content Delivery Workflow: Rendered + Real-Time
Valorant Championship Tour 2023 Finals at the Kia Forum – Case Study by Sheiva Khalily
•The Project
•Challenge
•Plan
•Opening Ceremony AR
•Integration
•Content Delivery Workflow
•Prerequisites
•Templates and Rasters
•Previz
•Content Delivery
•Communication and Clarity
Chapter 14
Content Delivery Workflow: Real-Time Media
Bristol Myers Squibb Lobby Installation in Cambridge, Massachusetts – Case Study by Nick Fletcher and Nicole Ginelli
•The Spatial Design
•Initial System Outline
•Prep Timeline
•Spatial Design Documentation
•The DESIGN, DELIVERY, and SIGNAL RASTERS
•Real-Time Workflow Refinement
•Supporting Tools and Documentation
•Previsualization
•Content Production Templates
•Team and Communication
•On-Site Collaboration
Chapter 15
Previz
•Previz and Screens
•Previz and 3D
•Cineware
•Element 3D
•Previz for All
•Pixel Streaming and Cloud-Hosted Previz
•VR and AR for Previz
•Democratizing 3D
Chapter 16
Advanced Technologies and the Future of Media Operations
Guest Essays by Carrie Sun & Sarah Cox
•Interactive Graphics
•Scenic Tracking
•Projection Calibration
•Camera Tracking
•Real-Time Generated Content
•Advanced Technologies for 2025
•Advanced Show Control for Video: Code, Low-Code, and No-Code Programming
•Embracing Custom Code
•Node-Based Programming: ISAAC’s Node-RED
•Hybrid Solutions: Stage Precision’s GRID Toolset
•Getting Comfortable With Advanced Control
•Image, Video, and 3D Generation
•Text to Video Generation
•Text to 3D Model Generation
•Expertise
Chapter 17
Practice
•Listen
•Support Others
•Be Excellent
•Support Yourself
•Be Compensated Fairly
Chapter 18
Industry Voices
•A Digital Fireplace
•Collaboration Is Key
•Time, Knowledge, and Personality
•The Physicality of Digital Work
•Emotional Labor
•Show and Media Programming
•Screens for Theater
•Screens Producing in Concert Touring
•How Real-Time Rendering Will Change Production
•Reflections on the Creative Experience
•How to Survive the Entertainment Industry
•The Revolution Will Not Be Rendered, the Revolution Will Be Live