Production and Post Facilities

About Our Production and Post Production Facilities

The department of Instructional Resources and Facilities Management (IRFM) provides access to several facilities allowing for the creation, postproduction, and duplication of audio and video media of a number of formats.

• Digital nonlinear video editing is supported in the MacLean Center’s Digital Authoring Labs.
• Video dubbing between formats may be accomplished in our MacLean Center at our walk-up stations beside the 8th floor Media Center.
• Voiceover recording may be accomplished in our professionally designed and installed Whisper Room in the MacLean Center.
• Contemporary Practices students may accomplish their digital content input and output tasks, as well as audio and video dubbing, in their own peripherals lab in the Sharp building.

Digital Authoring Labs

SAIC's primary digital nonlinear editing application is Final Cut Pro. Room 819 in the MacLean Center contains 15 student workstations equipped with current-release digital media applications and input/output hardware. The teacher’s station in each classroom is identically equipped and connected to the projector and sound system.

To gain access to an 819 Final Cut Pro system, you must first complete a three-hour workshop with an IRFM lab tutor. Workshops are offered several times weekly during fall and spring semesters. To sign up or for information, consult personnel in the MacLean Media Center (room 801).

Additionally, students enrolled in Film, Video, New Media, and Animation classes taught in room 819 are granted access through in-class workshops presented by their instructors. Final Cut Pro-authorized users may sign up for a three-hour workshop on DVD authoring using the DVD Studio Pro software application.

Key cards for each station are circulated from the MacLean Media Center. Overnight keycard checkouts begin Monday through Thursday after 4:00 p.m. and anytime during regular operating hours on Friday and Saturday (pending availability). Overnight users are required to register at the lobby security desk with the checkout form and a valid SAIC ID before 11:00 p.m. Overnight users must return their keycard to the drop-box (located near to the MacLean Media Center window) by 8:00 a.m. the following morning.

Tutors for Help With Digital Authoring

Tutors are available to assist students most weekday evenings during the spring and fall semesters with software and hardware questions and troubleshooting in MacLean 819. While tutors are available to help, they cannot complete student assignments and projects. If you are having a great deal of difficulty, or if you are struggling with basic skills, the tutor on duty may ask you attend a regularly scheduled workshop, or consult other resources, including the Media Center lab workshop guides, the Help menu, or a manual (available for checkout at the window). At busy times during the semester, tutors may limit their time with a single student to 20 minutes per shift. This is so they can assist as many students as possible.

Important Note: Window workers cannot leave their posts to assist students working in the labs. If you are having problems, schedule your work time during regular tutor hours or consult one of the other resources available to you (lab guide, Help menu, or manual).

Video Dubbing Systems

IRFM provides access to four self-serve general-access video dubbing stations located in the hallway next to the MacLean Media Center. These stations do not require a checkout and are available on a walk-up basis. Additional format recorders and players may be obtained from the Media Center through normal checkout procedures. Please visit the MacLean Media Center for more information.

Whisper Room

A sound-dampened vocal recording booth is located in the MacLean Center. A 12-channel mixing board and a CD Recorder are installed in the booth with a copy stand, microphone stand, pop filter, and headphones. A professional microphone may be borrowed from the Media Center along with the key to the whisper room.

Authorization workshops for the whisper room are currently administered by the Sound Department instructional technician, Robb Drinkwater. Inquire at the Media Center or contact Robb at rdrink@saic.edu.

Contemporary Practices Peripherals Lab

Students in the Contemporary Practices core curriculum may use the Peripherals Lab, in the Sharp Building, room 409, which contains multiple stations at which Contemporary Practices students may connect their laptops to print and do other things.

The Contemporary Practices Peripherals Lab is open during fall and spring semesters from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Outside of those times, a keycard may be borrowed from the Sharp Media Center for evening, weekend, and overnight access.

If you need help working in the lab, tutors are available to answer questions during the evening and weekend tutoring sessions (hours are posted at the beginning of each semester). If you are having difficulties, you may schedule your editing sessions during regular tutor hours.

Additional assistance and information may be obtained by contacting Ursula Sokolowska, Student Computing Help Desk Supervisor, at 312.345.3738, or usokol@saic.edu.