Leonardo Starring at VTA Leonardo Starring at VTA
Field trip host Suzanne Safron, Archeologist Jeanne Schaaf, and Producer Gary Rowe in VTA's Edit 6.
VTA and Turner Network Television recently edited and encoded a CD-ROM video presentation for a new mobile museum accompanying the traveling Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, "The Wall That Heals." TNT's Director of Special Events, Jay Newell, brought the video to VTA Editor Joey Tucker . The video will play onto a large screen across the back wall of the trailer.

A PBS Electronic Field Trip featuring the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Alaska marked the debut of a component digital desktop editing system designed by Jim Leonard, Graphics Manager of Video Tape Associates. Produced by Gary Rowe of inSITElearning, Inc. and funded by PBS and the National Park Service, the two-day "field trip" was a live, interactive learning resource that took students to the Alaskan park, via broadcast, cable, satellite, and computer technologies. Edited segments, created in earlier sessions on Leonard's Mac-OS multiprocessor edit system, were intercut with live interviews between a host, an archaeologist, and a meteorologist from The Weather Channel, all located in VTA's Atlanta studio, and park rangers in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rowe is not a newcomer to the field of educational programming. Before starting his own company, he was Senior Vice President of Turner Educational Services, where he helped launch CNN NEWSROOM, a daily news program for use in the nation's schools. He also developed video based learning products and services that coordinated with Turner networks programming. With inSITElearning, Rowe works with cable, broadcasting, and publishing clients to create learning resources for schools, higher education, professional training, and home. The timing was perfect when he approached VTA regarding the PBS project: Leonard was on the lookout for just such a project to try out his new edit system, dubbed "Leonardo," a play on Leonard's name as well as VTA's history as the inventor of the da Vinci color corrector for film to tape transfer.

Playing back off DVC Pro, "Leonardo" provides machine control of any record deck in VTA: audio mixing and editing, graphics creation, video effects, multi-layering, and a component digital output signal. It features ease of operation, low cost, and ability to utilize all the quality Macintosh based programs such as PhotoShop, AfterEffects, and Illustrator. Leonard currently serves as a beta tester for many softwares. Rowe has already booked Leonard, the editor, and "Leonardo" for three more scheduled projects.