From CD Duplication to Original Documentaries, They Do
It All
John O'Brien, section supervisor of
Television, Audio/Visual and Photographic Services,
located at APL.
PHOTO BY HPS/WILL KIRK
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Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series
about in-house services available to university faculty and
staff.
By Greg Rienzi The Gazette
It's a lecture hall. It's a lounge. It's an operating
room. Shades of a black box theater, the studio of Johns
Hopkins Medical Video and Multimedia regularly mimics all
these spaces, and more.
Equipped with high-end lighting and cameras, the
studio serves as a set for professional-quality video and
DVD productions for the purposes of classroom instruction,
research and fund raising, among others. Since the 1960s,
JH Medical Video has been an everything-video service for
the university, primarily the Johns Hopkins Medical
Institutions. In addition to video productions, the outfit
offers studio and on-location videotaping, video editing,
videoconferencing, tape duplication and a host of other
video services.
JH Medical Video is just one of several
state-of-the-art, award-winning video production offices
located directly on a Johns Hopkins campus. Whether a
professor wants a lecture videotaped, a development office
wants a presentation of an academic program or researchers
need to videoconference with colleagues abroad, there is
currently a host of cost-effective and convenient service
options available to JHU personnel.
Digital Video Services is located at Homewood, and
Television, Audio/Visual and Photographic Services at APL,
but both have clients on other campuses, as does JH Medical
Video. The Multimedia Department at the Bloomberg School of
Public Health provides services to its own faculty and
staff.
An outgrowth of JHM's still photography department, JH
Medical Video and Multimedia, located on the East Baltimore
campus, until 1999 functioned as a unit of the School of
Medicine. Since May 2003, it has been operated by Accelera,
a learning solutions provider and licensee of the
university.
The three-person group specializes in medical video
production. Typically, a faculty member will request a
videotaping of an operation that can be shown in class, or
a researcher will want a video illustration to accompany an
academic paper. For example, Hopkins scientists
participating in stem cell research used the studio to
videotape paralyzed mice, and then weeks later videotaped
the same mice that had been injected with stem cells and
were literally scampering off a table.
Dale Levitz, director
of Johns Hopkins Medical Video and Multimedia,
located on the East Baltimore campus.
PHOTO BY HPS/WILL KIRK
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Dale Levitz, director of JH Medical Video and
Multimedia and its senior project manager/producer, says
that what sets her office apart from outside production
companies is its intimate knowledge of both the Johns
Hopkins community and the medical profession.
"Any professional can simply walk into a surgery with
a camera, but our staff actually know how and are trusted
to come in and not contaminate the operating room, and they
also know where to look, without even the doctor having to
point," Levitz says.
Levitz says that her group can do anything from merely
videotaping a lecture to producing an on-location
documentary that mixes live photography and 3-D animation.
JH Medical Video can write entire scripts and hire actors,
who might be called upon to play the role of a patient,
nurse or person on the street. Last year the studio doubled
as a clinical office to teach pharmaceutical sales reps how
to speak intelligently with physicians.
In addition, the outfit can host two-way real-time
videoconferences anywhere in the world.
Its walls lined with plaques and trophies, JH Medical
Video regularly wins top honors at the annual Telly Awards
and Communicator Awards. Although it's physically located
in the School of Medicine, JH Medical Video has worked with
the Applied Physics Laboratory, departments on the Homewood
campus and the schools of Nursing and Public Health.
"We're for everyone. We certainly have a growing list
of Hopkins clients," Levitz says.
Also available to all JHU personnel is Digital Video
Services, formerly part of the Instructional Television
facility. Located on the Homewood campus, the 20-year-old
unit provides on-location videotaping, video editing,
digital video compression, tape duplication, Internet-based
teleconferencing and 3-D modeling and animation
services.
For significantly less cost than using an outside
vendor, JHU Digital Video Services customers can have a
lecture or conference videotaped, a research video produced
or have the two-person staff write, direct and edit an
entire production. Digital Video Services specializes in
all aspects of video production — shooting, editing,
digitizing and duplication — of high-resolution,
broadcast-quality programs as well as Web-compatible video.
The finished products can be put into all formats,
including VHS, DVD, Beta and QuickTime movies that can be
posted on the Web.
Digital Video Services can handle any task from
burning a CD to producing an entire series of videos. A
regular winner of awards from the Council for Advancement
and Support of Education, the department has produced
videos for academic departments, affiliated centers and
administrative offices. A sample of works includes a video
presentation of the Homewood campus master plan,
videotaping of the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium and 3-D
modeling of cells for a biology course.
Deirdre Hammer, media producer
for Digital Video Services, formerly part of the Instructional
Television facility at Homewood.
PHOTO BY HPS/WILL KIRK
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Deirdre Hammer, who has served as the unit's media
producer since its inception, says that it can handle
nearly any size project and, if extra resources are needed,
knows what local talent to tap into.
"But don't ask us to produce something like Ken Burns'
The Civil War for $2,000; we do have some limits," quips
Hammer, who earned her film degree from the University of
Maryland, Baltimore County. "Honestly, we can do what looks
polished, and what looks professional. We adhere to all the
requirements of broadcast productions in terms of
resolution and audio quality."
Located at the Applied Physics Laboratory is
Television, Audio/Visual and Photographic Services. The
Lab's section is regularly called upon to provide video
teleconferencing, video recordings of meetings, media
duplication and Web video distribution. A full-service
production center, the unit can create education and
training videos and video press releases using a complement
of cutting-edge digital production tools and an extensive
media footage library. It offers on-site and remote
videotaping, script writing, voice-over narration,
sound-music design, digital video editing, television
graphics creation, 3-D modeling and animation, and the
distribution of end products on videotape, CD-ROM, DVD or
through Web video.
Television, Audio/Visual and Photographic Services
recently produced a one-hour documentary about the
invention of satellite navigation and a diversity training
video that involved a series of vignettes performed by
professional actors. Another recent production was an
introduction to the work of Johns Hopkins' Office of
Critical Event Preparedness, which can be viewed at
www.hopkins-cepar.org/about/index.html.
In addition, its animations for the NEAR and TIMED space
missions have appeared on network nightly news.
The department also holds film and video archives
— nearly 12,000 films and videotapes — that
date back to the Lab's creation in 1943.
John O'Brien, section supervisor of Television,
Audio/Visual and Photographic Services, says that the costs
of his in-house services are nearly a third of that of
production companies in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C.,
area.
Opened in 2003, the Multimedia Department at the
Bloomberg School of Public Health provides video recording,
audio recording and videoconferencing services for school
personnel only. Primarily, it accommodates the needs of
classes and special events held on School of Public Health
property.
Hammer of Digital Video Services says that while JHU's
various video production offices might have a healthy list
of regular clients, she ventures that they are all still
somewhat of a well-kept secret universitywide.
"I don't think enough people realize how pervasive and
powerful video can be for educational and research
purposes. Having an in-house unit, such as DVS, is
convenient, allows for a quick turnaround, and is less
expensive than outsourcing," Hammer says. "I think video is
definitely an underutilized teaching and marketing tool
here. The written word can only say so much, whereas a
video can truly capture the essence of a project, research
or an idea."
University Audio/Visual Production
Offices
Digital Video Services (formerly part of ITV)
Location: Homewood campus, 211 Maryland Hall
Customers: University system
Services: Video recording, video editing, digital
video compression, tape duplication, videoconferencing and
3-D animation
Contact: Deirdre Hammer, 410-516-5322, dlh@jhu.edu
Television, Audio/Visual and Photographic
Services
Location: Applied Physics Laboratory, 1W311 Building
1
Customers: University system
Services: Video recording, videoconferencing, media
duplication, Web video distribution, 3-D modeling and
animation, and comprehensive production of press releases
and training videos
Contact: John O'Brien, Washington: 240-228-6795,
Baltimore: 443-778-6795,
john.e.obrien@jhuapl.edu
Johns Hopkins Medical Video and Multimedia
Location: East Baltimore campus, 65 Turner
Building
Customers: University system
Services: Video recording, digital video
compression, tape duplication, videoconferencing, 3-D
animation and eLearning design
Contact: Dale Levitz, 410-955-3562,
medvid@accelera.com
Multimedia Department
Location: School of Public Health, East Baltimore
campus, W2508 Wolfe Street Building
Customers: School of Public Health only
Services: Video recording, audio recording and
videoconferencing
Contact: Mark Grutkowski, 410-502-0409,
mgrutkow@jhsph.edu
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