University Of Surrey Adopts Award-Winning Autoscript Solution

The University of Surrey has selected Autoscript's award-winning WinPlus-IP News prompting solution to help boost a degree programme at the institution.

Through an all-new integration with Rundown Creator software, WinPlus-IP News gives students in the Film and Video Production Technology degree program invaluable hands-on experience working with professional solutions for producing and prompting on-air TV programs.

"In my previous career as a studio director for major broadcasters like BBC News, I had become quite accustomed to working with Autoscript for TV studio prompting. It's been an integral part of just about every production I've worked on," said Susan Pratt, director of learning and teaching for the University of Surrey Film and Video Production Technology degree. "When I took the academic post at the University of Surrey, I was committed to bringing in industry-standard tools, like Autoscript, that the students will likely encounter when they begin their professional careers."

A core component in the Film and Video Production Technology degree is the opportunity for students to produce and broadcast their own live entertainment programs. The University of Surrey students were among the first users of the new WinPlus-IP News/Rundown Creator integration, deploying it initially for a three-and-a-half-hour live broadcast of a dance competition modeled on a highly popular prime-time celebrity dance program. Since then, the students have adopted the solution for three more live transmissions: "Professor Challenge", a game show pitting students against their professors; "SurreyFess", a social media talk show based on local postings by current students at the University of Surrey; and "The World War Service", a recreation of a news program that might have been broadcast during the years of World War II. All programs are streamed to the YouTube channel of the University of Surrey Department of Music and Media.

Pratt added: "WinPlus-IP News and Rundown Creator is a powerful combination that gives the students maximum flexibility in creating running orders for their live TV programs. The Cloud-based Rundown Creator means that students can work in the TV studio or at home to improve their scripts and running order. Then the changes are automatically updated on the scripts into the prompt, ready for the live broadcast. We're proud that we were one of the very first users of this solution for the dance program, a show that required about 85 pages of scripts. But the system worked brilliantly."

WinPlus-IP News software is a key component in Autoscript's Intelligent Prompting range, a fully IP-enabled, end-to-end teleprompting system that is also compatible with all HD-SDI and composite video workflows. WinPlus-IP News enables instant script updates not only from Rundown Creator but all leading NRCSs and other newsroom systems.

At the University of Surrey, the WinPlus-IP News/Rundown Creator solution replaces a previously inefficient system in which rundowns were created on spreadsheets and scripts had to be manually input into the prompting system. Now, the students are able to create a rundown template for each program within the Rundown Creator cloud storage. When the students make changes in the running order, the changes are automatically updated in WinPlus-IP. The ability to manipulate and update scripts in real time means the students can adapt programs on the fly, even while on air.

"The fact that WinPlus-IP News is a native IP prompting solution is another huge plus, and one more way we're able to give our students experience working with technologies that are rapidly become industry-standard," Pratt said. "IP-based prompting with WinPlus-IP offers really significant advantages, such as greater connectivity and the ability to do remote prompting from any location."

Robin Brown, product manager at Autoscript, commented: "The University of Surrey's Film and Video Production Technology degree program is truly outstanding because of its emphasis on industry-standard tools and equipment. Students will have a big advantage when they graduate because of their deep training in the broadcast engineering and postproduction approaches that are used in television studios everywhere. Susan's commitment to ensuring that her students have the best possible preparation for their professional careers is second to none, and we're honoured that WinPlus-IP News is playing such an important role."