Colombian Television Station Canal 1 Relies on Blackmagic Design from Production to Post

TV shows and social media content shot on Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pros and finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Blackmagic Design today announced that Colombian state owned television station Canal 1 relies on Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pros to capture the weekly interview show “1 a 1” as well as the daily cooking show “Tú Tienes la Sazón.” Canal 1 also uses DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software to edit and grade the shows, which not only air to a national broadcast audience but are also made available on the station’s social media platforms.

Founded in Bogotá in 1954, Canal 1 offers viewers diverse programming including news, entertainment, TV series and more. Even though the station is state owned, since 2017 Plural Comunicaciones manages its programming. Recently, Canal 1 premiered “1 a 1,” hosted by the station’s President Ramiro Avendaño, featuring interviews with prominent figures and “Tú Tienes la Sazón,” a cooking show that takes viewers on a food journey in collaboration with the culinary school Gastronomía Mariano Moreno.

To deliver a polished and high quality viewing experience to audiences across broadcast and social media, Canal 1 turned to a full Blackmagic Design workflow, from production to post.

“One of the many reasons why we selected Blackmagic Design was because of its high quality to price ratio,” said Raul Gertel Moreno, TV engineer at Canal 1. “It was important for us to stay within budget and not sacrifice the quality our viewers expect from us. We also needed gear that both our production and post production teams could easily integrate into their existing workflows.”

To capture the shows, the team relies on two Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pros. Gertel Moreno explained, “While both shows are shot in studio, we needed cameras that were versatile enough for us to take in the field when shooting alternate scenes and deliver the same level of cinematic image quality. With the Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pros we’re basically getting two cameras in one: an exceptional studio camera but also a camera that is easy to move around out in the field thanks to its compact design.”

While the crew shoots in 4K, Gertel Moreno noted that it was important to have cameras that shoot in 6K, as they future proof the station’s gear, as well as have Ethernet connections for when they’re shooting remotely.

Gertel Moreno and crew also rely on an ATEM SDI Extreme ISO live production switcher for studio and in the field recordings, along with an ATEM Streaming Bridge converter to transport the ATEM SDI Extreme ISO’s signal over IP and a HyperDeck Studio HD Mini broadcast deck to record and play clips in a simple and fast way.

He explained, “The ATEM SDI Extreme ISO is small but powerful, which is perfect for any offsite projects as it’s easy to carry around and get the job done without hiccups. Also, it gives us the ability to stream and record all inputs simultaneously with the program output. To be able to produce two quality shows to broadcast on open TV without the need for a complex, expensive and difficult to manage workflow is a lifesaver.”

In post production, the team relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio to color grade and edit the shows for broadcast, and later they are posted to the station’s YouTube channel. The team also cuts clips to post on the station’s social media platforms to promote the shows.

“The station’s post team was able to start using DaVinci Resolve Studio quickly thanks to its intuitive interface. There wasn’t a huge learning curve, and having a software that our team can color grade and edit in simultaneously is an advantage,” said Gertel Moreno. “The quality of the image we get from the cameras is exceptional, so we just do minor color adjustments to give the shows a certain distinct style. Then, as the team works on the final edit, they can identify which clips they want to use to promote the episode on social.”

A DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor keyboard enhances the team’s ability to search and pre cut content. “The DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor helps the post team save time on basic editing processes that can be time consuming. We’ve sped up our post process and become more efficient, which is essential for shows that are airing weekly,” he added.

“We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved with Blackmagic Design here at the station,” concluded Gertel Moreno. “The experience we’re offering our viewers is top notch. Both shows have been a huge success, and we cannot wait to start using the gear on other shows very soon.”