Safeguarding Cyprus tradition – one video at a time!

Updated on August 3 2020.

The UNESCO Chair here at the University of Nicosia has consistently been involved with highlighting, preserving and emphasizing the importance of Cyprus culture and heritage.

The Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO, with the support of the UNESCO Chair, University of Nicosia and Mediazone, collaborated on a project documenting elements of intangible heritage, spanning two years that began by bringing to the forefront the important art of Lefkaritiko Embroidery Lace making, in the village of Lefkara. That was just the beginning of an incredible relationship.

In the first project, 20 Cypriot artists received the opportunity to work with the teachers of the craft, to learn and live alongside them and ultimately create their own works of art, culminating in a gallery opening and an exhibition in Strasbourg France.

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May 9, 2017 /  2

Photography Classes at University of Nicosia

It’s a click of a button and viola a photo is born, kind of! Photography has become so very easily accessible to all of us but yet has lost its true notion of documentation of either real life events, a moment in time or a fabrication of our imagination. The photography classes at University of Nicosia are designed through the enthusiasm of its instructors to release the passion of true photography again, through the difficulties of capturing the perfect light or the greatest expression through a class mates face this class really focuses on getting students to reconnect with what photography really is all about. Continue reading →

March 3, 2017 /  

(E)volve (R)eflect (A)chieve (S)earch (M)otivate (U)nderstand (S)tart

Have you ever wished to undergo the fastest possible evolution during your university years? Do you agree that “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop” learning? I personally do and that motivated me to take part in the Erasmus Study Mobility program and spend the spring semester of 2016 in the History of Art department of Kingston University in London.

This time abroad proved to be a very transformative period for me, especially because of the challenging nature of the courses that I was taking. One thing that I really enjoyed, and would love to see happening more here in UNIC too, was how the different departments, i.e. Art and History of Art, Architecture, Design and Film collaborate between them and inform each other on various items; e.g we once had a guest lecturer from the Modern Interiors Research Centre of Kingston University, which is recognized around the world for being dedicated to the study of interiors and their contents. Therefore, the lectures were extremely interesting yet seemingly a bit all over the place, which led me to the realization that it is actually this interdisciplinary type of fields of study that characterizes the way we study Fine Arts nowadays, i.e. the incorporation of research in practice and vice versa. Continue reading →

October 20, 2016 /  

One shot and a thousand stories. Discovering Photojournalism

Have you ever thought that every picture has a story behind it? Every selfie, picture of a cat or food on Instagram can tell you a story… even if it is banal it still tells you something. On the other side of photography, there is a professional world which is more versatile, complex and deep. If I ask you to explain what photojournalism is, would you first imagine photos of pain, devastation, war, poverty, death and cruelty? Or maybe you see happiness, success, bright colors and celebration? It doesn’t really matter because all of these could be photojournalism; it is more important what you feel when you imagine it. Photojournalism is about telling different stories – happy and sad, persuading, motivating, informing and making about making you feel. Continue reading →

October 18, 2016 /  

The Journey, Hristiyan Stratev

It’s been quite a while since the last time I wrote something for the blog here at Mediazone. Many things happened after I finished my education and work at the University of Nicosia and Mediazone, and I would like to share my experiences so far with you.

Right after I got my degree in Applied Multimedia I decided to go back to my home country – Bulgaria (even though Cyprus is my second home, because of my family roots).

The first reason was that I wanted to try and grow as a professional there, the second, to do my Master’s degree at the University of Sheffield, which was possible to be done in Bulgaria because the institution has a branch there. The degree that I chose was in Technology Management, which in other words is the managerial aspect of my Bachelor’s degree. Continue reading →

September 8, 2016 /  

Multi-Camera free run timecode sync (SONY PXW-Z100)

Syncing multiple camera is an important aspect of live events and if done properly, it can save you time in post production. There are various ways to sync multiple cameras, but in our case we will examine timecode (TC) syncing. This method requires a master camera which will produce the timecode and slave cameras that will accept the generated timecode. Your cameras must be capable to produce and accept TC signal (analog signal). The TC input/output is usually an RCA or a BNC connector. Continue reading →

June 1, 2016 /  

CasparCG TV Studio Workflow

About a year ago Mediazone decided to move the CG SD workflow (Playbox Airbox+Titlebox) to HD. Unfortunately the cost of an HD CG solutions is extremely expensive and the ones that are affordable provide poor functionality. This is why we decided we switch to CasparCG (an open-source CG) which nowadays is an industry standard CG solution used by many broadcasters.

CasparCG consist of 2 entities:

  • CasparCG Server – Play-Out professional graphics.
  • CasparCG Client – Control graphics and video playout from the CasparCG Server. Note that anyone can develop his own client.
CasparCG_Server

CasparCG Server Overview

For the needs of our TV studio we needed 2 machines (which must meet CasparCG minimum requirements). One for the Play-Out of content and the other one for Graphics (Fill+Key). CasparCG Server and Client can be installed on different machines for maximum reliability, but I chose to install them on the same one. First, our TV studio does not broadcast (it’s an educational TV studio) and second it will save us some space because we will only use one machine.

As for reference, our studio workflow is 1080i50 and we use the DataVideo SE-3000 vision mixer.

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May 25, 2016 /  

Connect Allen & Heath XB-14 with CANFORD illuminated sign ES base fitting

Find below instructions on how to connect the Allen & Heath XB-14 radio mixer with CANFORD illuminated sign ES base fitting (type B, 230 volt). This connection will light the ON AIR light whenever a MIX fader is ON and fade UP.

Make sure the installation is made by an electrician.
Follow the steps below at your own risk as Mediazone, University of Nicosia takes no responsibility as to the choices you make that may have any negative impact in any way.

The base of Canford Type B units has a PCB that includes a semi-conductor called a triac – that acts like a mechanical relay – and this triac performs the final mains switching to the fitted lamps within the same Canford Type B unit. Continue reading →

May 23, 2016 /  

Open Teleprompter v2.0

I am glad to introduce you Open Teleprompter v2.0 (http://mz.unic.ac.cy/files/open-teleprompter/) which I have developed from the scratch. It’s a web based, browser independent teleprompter. It was developed using jQuery JavaScript Library. This web software can work in any web browser making it a portable prompter.

Open Teleprompter was developed in order to give our students a simple UI to work, eliminating any unnecessary functions which exist in our older teleprompter software.

Some of the functionalities:

  1. Rich text editor
  2. Font size adjustment
  3. Speed adjustment
  4. Progress bar
  5. Reset function
  6. Play/Pause using the SPACEBAR
  7. Inline indicator
  8. Full screen mode
  9. and many more which you can find on the project page

Future development? Create a key controller using the X-keys (http://xkeys.com/xkeys.php) input device.

 

Mediazone Broadcast Engineer

April 12, 2016 /