TV, Video & New Media at Sunderland
Our students have production facilities that are the envy of many academic establishments. The David Puttnam Media Centre is one of the UK's most advanced centres for training media students with industry standard facilities - we are the largest media school in the North East. The David Puttnam Media Centre received a £1.5m upgrade in the autumn of 2009 and our facilities boast:
- The Media Centre Equipment Store provides resources for TV, Video, New Media and Radio modules, ranging from equipment manuals to links to online resources, production paperwork and Risk Assessment Forms
- Two broadcast quality TV Studios. One is 120m2 and fully tapeless with four full HD cameras, and the other 60m2 has a 2/3 camera chroma 'box' capable of virtual reality upgrade. The studios are supported by state-of-the-art control rooms.
- A green room with changing area and shower room.
- Over 40 full HD tapeless field camera systems, comprising Sony EX1 and EX3 models complete with associated location kits, lighting, field monitors and audio mixers.
- 4 Steadicam rigs plus dolly, track and mini crane
- 70 workstations with state-of-the-art HD Edit systems, including Final Cut Pro, Avid and Media Composer. All computers have Blu-ray burning capabilities and are linked to an Editshare server
- 20 station digital audio postproduction area
- 40 Avid non-linear edit suites
- New media suite
- 203 seat cinema with full HD projection, 7.1 surround sound facility and even the capability to play 3D feature films
- Six radio studios, including a drama studio, a transmission suite for community radio station 107 Spark FM and a 20 station digital audio post-production area complete with four voiceover booths
- Four Journalism suites, each housing 18 Apple iMacs running the Leopard operating system for design applications and video editing
- Broadcast Journalism Newsroom with 17 workstations plus an Avid Utility server, Sky feed and 2 x 40 plasma screens
- Live Sky feed and off-air recording facility, including DVD and Blu-ray recording, plus extensive footage archive/library
- Several film viewing areas for independent study
- Suite of eight seminar rooms fully equipped with: audio visual technologies; internet connection; dual platform laptops; and dvd/vhs/cd playout systems. Two rooms have the above equipment with the addition of Blu-ray playout
- A digital drama and production studio
- Professional recording equipment
- ISDN lines that link us to studios and stations all over the country
- State-of-the-art lecture theatres and seminar rooms
- Modern, attractive library on campus
- Spark, the region's largest community media broadcaster and publisher
- Creativitiworks, our business support unit for creative enterprise
- We are also a member of the BBC Education and Communities Partnership: Connect and Create
David Puttnam Media Centre 3D tour
You can now tour the David Puttnam Media Centre online through our 3D tour. Click the link on the right to access the tour, or you can download it from the iPhone AppStore.
Spark
Spark is our multi-award winning radio and television station, and magazine. We broadcast from the David Puttnam Media Centre to Sunderland on 107FM, and to the North East and the world at www.sparksunderland.com
Since 2009 we’ve picked up a host of awards, including Best Station in the North East (Radio Academy Nations and Regions), and Best Community Engagement (Student Radio Association), and we’ve one both of those no less than twice.
Most recently we’ve won another three national student television awards to add to our cabinet.
We’ve just invested another seventy five thousand pounds in three more Spark studios, and you’ll find that broadcasting and publishing on Spark will be at the heart of your Sunderland Media experience.
