The School of Communication provides a wide range of facilities and related equipment to students, including broadcast and film studios, photography and computer laboratories, a reading room, a cinema, a radio station, and a cable TV channel.

Post-Production Resources

The first floor of the School of Communication International Building houses two PC-based Avid Symphony Nitris editing stations, two Avid NewsCutter Systems, a Pro-Tools LE audio lab with eight MAC-based work stations, and two ProTools HD edit stations.

The Symphony Nitris systems are used by Motion Picture students and Broadcast students, and the NewsCutter is used by Broadcast Journalism students.

In addition, the school has ten Avid Xpress Mac-based editing stations for Motion Picture students and two FinalCut Pro stations for Broadcast students.

BILL COSFORD CINEMA

The Bill Cosford Cinema is a state-of-the-art exhibition facility with a Dolby Digital surround sound system and 35mm projectors. The theater seats 240 and is used for both instructional and public exhibition programs.

The Bill Cosford Cinema is located on the second floor of the Memorial Building. Tickets are $6 for UM employees with valid identification, $8 for the general public, and free for University of Miami students. For movie times click below or call: (305) 284-4861.

For information, e-mail us at cosfordcinema@miami.edu. Closed during summer. Driving directions

Bill Cosford Schedule

CABLE STUDIOS

The School of Communication has two fully-equipped digital television studios and control rooms that are used for producing UMTV programs as well as teaching video production and broadcast journalism courses. They are located in the Cable Studio facilities off the Wolfson building main lobby.

Studio B
Studio B is a working newsroom as well as a permanent news studio. NewsVision, Midday Report, SportsDesk, and news specials are all produced in this studio. This facility also houses all broadcast journalism classes. Studio B is 30' by 30' and has three Panasonic 50'' plasma monitors, a Grass Valley Kayak 3 ME switcher, and a Grass Valley Concerto SD router.

Control room B also includes WheatStone D7 Mixing consul, three Sony SDI cameras, Sony DSR 2000 DV decks, Avid Deco and Thunder graphics systems, and a Clearcom intercom system.

Studio C
Studio C is our major production studio for non-news programs such as Contact, To the Point, and U-Talk. It also houses all video production classes. Studio C is 30' by 45' and is equipped with three 50-inch plasma monitors, three Sony SDI cameras and a light dimmer board.

Control Room C also includes a Grass Valley Kayak 3 ME switcher, and Grass Valley Concerto SD router, Avid Pinnacle graphics machine with two graphic outputs and animation capabilities, a Clearcom intercom system.

Master Control
The master control room houses all of the hardware and mainframe units that both studio B and C connect to. It also has the satellite receivers for both the PathFire CNN news feed used by broadcast journalism classes and the MTV-U satellite feed which is sent to Comcast Cable where it is integrated into UMTV, channel 96.

Editing Suites
All edit suites have the ability to route video sources to and from their location.

FILM SOUND STAGE

Located next to cable studios B and C the School of Communication's sound stage is a 40' by 40' space fully equipped with grip and lighting equipment for motion picture production.

The space includes a permanent 18' H by 23' L Cyc wall for green screen shots, black curtain for full stage, steel pipe grid and two 200 amp power distribution boxes. All equipment for sound stage use can be checked out from the School of Communication's equipment room in room 1014 of the Frances L. Wolfson building. Lights such as: 10K mole baby, 5K mole baby, 4K soft, and 4K supper soft are kept in the sound stage for student use.

The sound stage is used by undergraduate and graduates for film projects and also as a teaching space for production courses.

COMPUTER LABS

The School of Communication's computer facilities include several labs for both classroom and non-classroom use. The Macintosh labs in the Frances L. Wolfson building, rooms 3032 and 3033 and the PC labs in rooms 3034 and 3035 are open for use to Communication students or students taking Communication courses and are for support of instructional class room use. These labs are designed to mirror each other as closely as possible in software applications.


Additionally, the new School of Communication International Building houses a 21-station Macintosh and 21-station PC lab designed specifically for non-instructional student use.

Virtual handouts are available for a variety of application, ranging from electronic mail to class mailing lists to web development.

Computer Lab Hours

UMTV

UMTV is the University of Miami's cable television channel, owned and operated by the School of Communication. It is transmitted through Comcast Cable and can be seen throughout the University on channel 40 as well as 96 in the surrounding Coral Gables community. The cable channel provides local programming throughout the fall and spring semesters. A large part of this programming is student-produced.

Any full-time student may volunteer to work for UMTV. Producers, writers, directors and on-air talent are needed along with both studio and field production crews. No experience is necessary but students must maintain a 2.5 GPA in their major and attend an initial meeting at the beginning of each semester followed by training workshops.

For more information contact the director of UMTV, Steven Yavner, in the Frances L. Wolfson building, room 2020, (305) 284-9289, or at his e-mail, syavner@miami.edu.

UMTV Website

ADDITIONAL FACILITIES

Digital Photography Studio
Digital Audio Lab
Digital News Bureau
Animation Studio
Teleconference Facility
HD, 35mm, Digital, Super 16mm, 16mm cameras
Sidney and Dorothy Head Reading and Resource Room
Bridge Career Development Center
Common Ground "Courtyard"
Class and Seminar Rooms
Multi-Media Convergence Lab
3000+ Titles Moving Image Archives