About 1,500 tune into inauguration via Web
by Byron Kho
The Daily Pennsylvanian
October 22, 2004
Even if one was not actually at Irvine Auditorium for President Amy Gutmann's inauguration last Friday, there were many other ways to be with her on stage -- and all thanks to the magic of Penn Video Productions.
"The Office of the Secretary had already put in remote viewing sites for the inaugural event. At the same time, people could watch it live on the Web, and it was simulcast on" the residential television network, said Christopher Cook, a director and producer for Penn Video Productions.
Cook estimated that more than 1,500 people tuned in to the live webcast at some point. Several hundred more have since watched the archived video feed.
In addition to handling all the digital filming and video editing for the event, Penn Video Productions coordinated the encoding and real-time streaming of the video feed as well as the on-campus cable production through the decade-old Penn Video Network.
"We're a three-man team, basically. We handle everything -- the videography, the editing, streaming, even videoconferencing," Cook said.
Normally, Penn Video Productions coordinates the recording of smaller-sized events that do not necessarily require much planning, but with events like the inauguration and Commencement -- which have been webcast for the last two years -- a lot more forethought is required.
"We knew it was going to be webcast, and that it would be a big job. We brought them in around April, right at the beginning of our planning process," said Julia Ledwell, events coordinator for the Office of the Secretary. "We had to discuss and adjust camera, microphone placements, and make sure everything was approved."
For the event itself, Penn Video Productions partnered with a high-level production company from the city in order to cover all the angles at the inauguration.
"The teams handle the many cameras, the audio, the tilting, and we have an on-site director there who decides on which shots to air, like, say, a reaction shot of Amy Gutmann. They work closely with us here in the Penn Video Productions office," Cook said.
According to Michael Palladino, associate vice president of Networking and Telecommunications for the University, 10 different production teams were required to film the event.
Much of this video material is available to the public through its Web site, requiring only RealPlayer to access the archived files. Some of it is also available through ResearchChannel, which has been called the "C-SPAN of academia." Co-founded by the University, ResearchChannel is a consortium of institutions that offers extensive academic materials both online and on satellite and cable television through the DISH Network.
When live Web streams are required, Penn has an open contract with Akamai Technologies to handle the immense volume of video data for worldwide audiences.
"We can handle around campus, but to reach the rest of the world, we need a reliable and high-quality reflector service like Akamai," Cook said.
Cook related that the University administration has embraced his services, making Penn Video Productions the central department for video services in the University community despite the large number of video professionals at Penn.
"We're always staying on top, exploring higher-end video applications like high-definition and high-bandwidth streaming," Cook said.
Penn Video Productions, founded just three years ago, is a part of the department of Networking and Telecommunications within Penn's Information Systems and Computing.