Provides concierge-level service, including design, installation, systems integration, and training, on-time and on-budget
Midtown Video worked hand-in-hand with Citrix Technology Specialist Fabien Bourdon to design and build a new 4K-capable TV studio and control room for Citrix Corporation, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
With its innovative mission of empowerment, Citrix powers a better way to work by delivering the experience, security, and choices that people and organizations need to unlock innovation, engage customers, and be productive-anytime, anywhere. The company’s vision is that work is no longer a place, it’s an increasingly dynamic activity that people expect to be as adaptable as they are. Citrix powers digital workspaces that combine freedom and security, whether people are working on-site, on the road, or in the cloud.
The new Citrix Studio is now producing a wide range of e-learning programs, training videos, and other corporate communications. Bourdon anticipates that the studio will produce hundreds of videos annually.
The Right Vendor at the Right Time
“The biggest challenge of this ambitious undertaking was to select the best studio equipment and configuration possible from thousands of options, and interface the systems to operate as a single, seamless workflow,” said Bourdon. “From day one, the Midtown team fully understood how we wanted the studio to work and guided us to those solutions that achieved our goals on-time and on-budget. Their specialized knowledge and technical expertise were invaluable.”
Unlike the previous studio that Citrix used, which was a makeshift facility in a small, converted conference room, the new Citrix Studio and its adjacent control room are dedicated spaces on the second floor of one of the five buildings on the Citrix “Cypress Creek” corporate center campus.
Since this location is only a quarter mile from the Ft. Lauderdale airport, acoustics engineering design played a key role in isolating the studio from the noise and vibrations of this busy hub. During studio construction, which was part of a broader renovation of the entire floor, Midtown Video engineers—including Design Engineer/VP of Operations Fernando Iglesias, Video Systems Engineer Hernan Polo, and Lead Installer Robert Chirino—provided a wide range
of services ranging from design, installation, systems integration, and training. They also worked with the architects at Global Architecture Projects, Inc., and building contractors, such as BluFin Construction, on matters involving air conditioning, in-wall conduits, flooring, soundproofing, outlets and other infrastructure to ensure a highly ergonomic studio environment.
Creative and Operational Flexibility
“To keep our productions visually fresh and dynamic, we wanted the ability to transform the look, color schemes, branding, visual displays and other set design elements on a regular basis,” said Bourdon. “Instead of physical sets, our studio features virtual sets keyed into an 18 x 18-foot green cyclorama, as well as an on-set videowall that can display any 4K imagery.” Midtown Video supervised the design and construction of the cyc, which was brought up via elevator to the second-floor studio in four pieces and then assembled in place.
One corner of the studio also features a small talk show set with three 65-inch 4K LCD monitors mounted vertically on the wall. A Digi-Bird DB-VR C4H video processor helps configure the composition of the imagery across the multi-screen displays.
In the middle of the studio, camera operators can freely move a Sony HXC FB 80 studio camera around the studio on pedestal. The color temperatures, hues and brightness of spotlights, key and fill lights on the overhead grid can be adjusted remotely from the adjacent control room using a DMX-compliant lighting controller.
The control room is separated from the studio by a window consisting of two panes of glass 8-inches apart to dampen noise from that workspace. Inside the control room, an 18-foot custom console (by Whitlock Furniture) supports a NewTek TriCaster TC-1 4K/HD-SDI production switcher, and an Allen & Heath audio mixer.
Midtown Video configured the Citrix Studio from August 2018 through early December 2018, culminating with personalized, hands-on equipment training of key Citrix staff. Throughout the planning stage, which actually began in 2016, Bourdon said that Midtown Video had remained flexible, patient, and involved as the company’s plans changed several times, including the site and layout of the studio.
“While this technology is rapidly changing,” Bourdon said, “We’re enabling virtual training and improving the experience to our students. We’re excited to see where technology is going to take Citrix Education. I feel confident that this studio will serve our needs for years to come due to the hard work, diligence, and painstaking attention to detail that Midtown Video provided.”
About Citrix
Citrix is powering a better way to work with unified workspace, networking, and analytics solutions that help organizations unlock innovation, engage customers, and boost productivity, without sacrificing security. With Citrix, users get a seamless work experience, and IT has a unified platform to secure, manage, and monitor diverse technologies in complex cloud environments. Citrix solutions are in use by more than 400,000 organizations, including 99 percent of the Fortune 100 and 98 percent of the Fortune 500. Learn more at www.citrix.com.
