CASE STUDY

Focus FS-4 Eliminates Downtime and Helps Brown Art Corporation Meet Client Needs


Challenge

Since 1928, Brown Art Corporation has provided the automotive industry with commercial art services—from the layout of owner’s manuals to technical illustrations, web design, and training videos. And the company continually expands its portfolio of services to meet client requests. 
 
While working with one of the Big 3 automakers, Glenn Lafever, Vice President of Sales at Brown Art Corporation, pondered innovative ways to make this year’s “Take Your Child to Work” Day even more stimulating, educational, and memorable for kids and parents alike. “The client wanted the kids to do more than just sit by their parents all day long. So we suggested filming the children while they interviewed their parents—asking them what they do at work, what’s their favorite part of their job, that sort of thing. And we could give each child their own copy of their interview on VHS. The client just loved the idea,” explained Glenn.
 
The families loved it too—the sign up list for Glenn’s interviews began to grow. And with more than 100 kids wanting to participate, Glenn began to worry about the feasibility of the project and how they could accommodate that many kids in a day. “You can’t say no to your client,” he said. “And they can’t say no to their employee’s kids. We just needed to find a way to make it happen. We started looking for any way to cut down time, and that’s where the FS-4 came in.”
 

Solution

Brown Art used the Focus FS-4 Direct To Edit® Recorder to cut precious time from their production time and stream kids in and out with maximum efficiency. They transformed conference rooms into three makeshift editing rooms to handle three kids in parallel.
The cameraman would record the interview directly to the FS-4 unit, without using tape.
As soon as the interview was done, the cameraman would run back and hand the FS-4 to the editor.
 
“We had our own production line going,” said Glenn. “I’d plug the FS-4 to my Mac workstation. Maybe there would be 4 minutes of video, sometimes more. It would copy over in 10-20 seconds. I’d dismount the FS-4 from the computer, start editing, and they’d be ready to film the next kid. It worked flawlessly. We developed a superb routine and the FS-4 really was the key to it all.”
 
The Focus FS-4 lets camera operators record DV or HDV streams directly to disk via FireWire. It records directly in edit-ready QuickTime, Avid DV-OMF, AVI Type 2, AVI Type 2 24p, and other native NLE formats in timeline, so there’s no need to capture tape, transfer or convert files. By eliminating these intermediate steps, footage can be ready for editing almost as soon as it’s been shot.
 

Results

“The interviews were a huge hit. We heard they were the highlight of the day,” said Glenn. “We would not have had so much success pushing the amount of kids through without the FS-4. If we were still using tape, we’d have to wait, just sitting there doing nothing, while it digitized. It would have killed the whole day, and probably only half of the children would have been able to participate.” And by eliminating any downtime in the editing room, the FS-4 ensured that the kids stayed active and engaged during the process.
 
Focus Enhancements’ DTE Technology® has also proven useful to Brown Art in other less time-critical situations. While videotaping training presentations, the Focus FS-4 provides a convenient and efficient way for the client to review and approve the content while onsite. “Right after we’ve shot a couple of takes, I plug the FS-4 into my laptop so the client can see themselves on a full screen,” said Glenn. “They can instantly choose which take they like the best, or decide we’d better re-shoot. Scrolling back and forth in the QuickTime window is much easier, faster, and safer than rewinding tape back and forth. The FS-4 gives both of us peace of mind that we got the best shot.”



About Brown Art

Since 1928, Brown Art Corporation has been supplying the automotive industry with a full range of commercial art services, including graphic design & illustration, web design, training media, trade show graphics, technical documentation & illustration, video services, and photography.
www.brownart.com

About Focus Enhancements, Inc.


Innovation, efficiency, and superior quality are the foundation on which Focus Enhancements builds its products. A world leader in advanced video production, digital asset management, and digital signage solutions, Focus delivers products that perform superbly day in and day out, and backs them with unparalleled service and support.



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FS-4 Portable DTE Recorder

The FS-4 brings Direct To Edit® Technology to DV and HDV handheld camcorders. It’s the most complete tapeless acquisition solution for digital videographers in the broadcast, sports, wedding and event, and education industries. There’s no capturing, no file transfer, no file conversion—just shoot and edit.
 
The FS-4 is available in two models: the FS-4 HD and the FS-4Pro HD (available in three configurations). The FS-4 HD comes standard with a 40 GB hard disk drive allowing for three hours of DV/HDV recording. The FS4Pro HD is available in 60GB, 80 GB, or 100GB versions providing between 4.5 and 7.5 hours of DV/HDV recording. FS-4 supports all the major DV nonlinear editing (NLE) systems, recording files to disk as RawDV, AVI Type 1, AVI Type 2, AVI Type 2 24p, Matrox AVI, Canopus AVI, QuickTime, or QuickTime 24p. FireStore FS-4Pro models also include Pinnacle AVI and Avid DV-OMF. In addition to DV file formats, the HD models also support 1080i and 720p MPEG-2 (.m2t) files.

Save $200 on FS-4Pro HD for a limited time

Purchase a Focus FS-4Pro HD 80GB or 100GB Portable DTE Recorder from an authorized Focus reseller through March 31, 2008, and save $200 with a mail-in rebate. Click here to download rebate form.

 


"We would not have had so much success pushing the amount of kids through without the FS-4. If we were still using tape, we’d have to wait, just sitting there doing nothing, while it digitized. It would have killed the whole day, and probably only half of the children would have been able to participate."

Glenn Lafever, Brown Art Corporation