3 minute read
CASE STUDY
FOR-A provides MAP with production kit for Emirates Draw broadcasts
From left: Imad Bassil, owner and GM of MAP, with Mohammed Abu Ziyadeh, System Engineering Manager for FOR-A Middle East & Africa.
FOR-A has delivered a complete flyaway production kit to Fujairah-based Media and Art Production (MAP). The kit is designed to provide the technology platform for Emirates Draw, a live entertainment and draw programme in the UAE broadcast every Sunday in prime time.
MAP is a major facilities company serving the UAE and the broader region. As well as providing production and post-production creative services, it also develops technology solutions to support them. For Emirates Draw, it provides complete production services from creative concepts to delivery.
When MAP was contracted to undertake the Emirates Draw project, a key creative decision was to ensure the production would not be studio-bound. Rather, it would reflect the diverse nature of the country by taking the draw and its surrounding entertainment out to a different location each Sunday.
That called for a portable technology platform flexible enough to meet the needs of each site while delivering very high production values. While the show is currently broadcast in HD, MAP wanted the capability of moving to 4k Ultra HD in time, to reflect the demands of the audience.
“We have in-house engineering resources who are up to date with “We demonstrated that FOR-A could deliver all the quality, reliability and ease of use they demanded, that we could provide technical and operational support to MAP’s in-house engineering team and we could complete the project to their tight time scales”
everything that is on the market,” says Imad Bassil, owner and GM of MAP. “They set about designing a flyaway system that would deliver the flexibility we needed, alongside the ability to be rapidly rigged and cleared at a new location each week.”
MAP was already familiar with FOR-A as a provider, having used its switchers in the past as well as operating an LTO-based archive from the company. So discussions started around a production switcher for Emirates Draw.
“Our operators were comfortable with the HVS490, and we saw that as the right choice for this project,” says Bassil. “But as we talked to Mohammed Abu Ziyadeh of FOR-A in Dubai,
we realised that we could get more of the kit from the company. We eventually ended up with a powerful, integrated system that would be a real benefit in our day-to-day operations.”
As the negotiations went on, a 642 MFR-3000 routing switcher and multi-viewer were added, followed by an instant replay system, video servers, graphics and the necessary signal processing to link it all up. FOR-A was also able to provide support for MAP’s in-house engineering team on the designing and systems integration.
Crucial to MAP’s decisionmaking was the system’s scalability. It could change from HD to Ultra HD (over 4k quad SDI) at the flick of a switch. Routers and servers could also be expanded in capacity as the production requirements developed. Because the flyaway kit is based on SDI, it can be readily deployed when the show rents space at Dubai Studio City, dropping the kit that the show’s production team is familiar with into an existing studio cabling infrastructure.
The complete solution delivered to MAP included an HVS-490 production switcher, MFR-3000 routing switcher with multi-viewer, Insight servers and Envivo replay management, ClassX graphics platforms, and multichannel signal processor.
FOR-A was able to deliver all the equipment to a tight time scale. This was important, as MAP had an immovable deadline for the new Emirates Draw show: it would be seen first on UAE National Day, 2 December, 2021.
The flyaway system is now in routine use week after week to deliver the creative vision of the show’s producers and engage audiences for one of the region’s most popular shows, broadcast live from a different location every week.
Mohammed Abu Ziyadeh, System Engineering Manager for FOR-A MEA, says this project was the perfect showcase: “We demonstrated that FOR-A could deliver all the quality, reliability and ease of use they demanded, that we could provide technical and operational support to MAP’s in-house engineering team and we could complete the project to their tight time scales.” PRO
Imad Bassil, GM, MAP
Teams from MAP and FOR-A at Emirates Draw. A FOR-A production switcher, router and multi-viewer at the Emirates Draw flyaway studio.
