Media in the Cloud: XIX Scientific and technical conference-competition for undergraduate and postgraduate students Digital Technologies in the Media Industry - 2021

Students of St. Petersburg universities presented their works in a contest Media in the cloud, that was held in the May-June of 2021.

The name of the contest was given by a new technology that will become one of the technological pillars of the future’s television and will change the world of television broadcasting. The first task for the contestants was to host a live TV program for about 4-5 minutes on a YouTube channel using media technologies in the cloud, i.e. using a distributed television system with remote control. 

The students performed the task in teams or creative groups consisting of 3-4 people including program hosts, an on-air director and an on-air hardware engineer, who was supposed to become an IT specialist in this project. The team members developed the concept and scenario of the program, installed and adapted necessary software.

During the program, every group member was in a different place. Smartphone cameras and microphones were used as a TV camera and microphone, which transmitted digital streams of video and audio data over mobile communication networks to the cloud server. Software package was installed on the cloud server, emulating the director's console and the hardware of a TV center which provide access to broadcasting. Program’s director operated this remote control using a remote desktop application installed on his computer. Voice communication between all members of the group was conducted through a parallel mobile connection.

At the first stage, which took place in May, 16 creative groups (including 53 students of the SPUFT) completed this task. Students demonstrated not only a creative approach, but also a great level of competence in using cloud technologies for TV production. The stage ended on June 2, 2021 with a festival where students' TV programs were shown. The first place was taken by the TV program Vo sadu li v ogorode, that was broadcasted by the Faculty of Television, Design and Photography’s students: Alexandra Devyatkina, Director; Margarita Bronzova and Polina Lebedeva, Hosts (links to all students’ programs made with cloud technologies can be found in the file attached to the article).

The next stage was held in June on a city level. Another team of students from SPUFT and 3 teams of students from Saint-Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" (ETU "LETI") joined the competition, which included 12 students representing the Department of Television and Video Engineering and the Media Center.

At that stage, the production of the TV program was only the first task. Now it was necessary to present a TV program created in the cloud, and to deliver a presentation at the conference of scientific works of undergraduate and postgraduate students Digital Technologies in the Media Industry – 2021. Participation in the conference was individual; each participant had to submit his or her report. The main topic of the 2021 conference was Cloud Technologies for the Production of Television Programs and Virtualization of Television Broadcasting.

The conference was organized by the St. Petersburg State Institute of Film and Television, whose partners and sponsors were:

	IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers)
	Russian Section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
	Haivision – the world's leading provider of mission-critical real-time video streaming and network video transmission solutions
	Nevafilm Company – the largest Russian studio for localization of foreign content for cinema rentals and online platforms and a leading system integrator in the field of cinema technologies
	Saint Petersburg TV channel – the main TV channel about the city life, history, culture, politics and people of the "northern capital" of Russia

At the conference Digital Technologies in the Media Industry – 2021, that was held on June 30, 2021 in an online format, 6 TV programs created in the cloud (3 programs of SPUFT and 3 programs of ETU "LETI") and 11 reports of students on scientific works related to the modern TV broadcasting technologies were heard (3 reports of SPUFT and 8 - ETU "LETI") were presented.

The jury, chaired by Sebastian Moritz, President of the MPEG Industry Forum International Association (2004-2012), member of the Board of Trustees of SPUFT, an Honorary Doctor and an Honorary Professor of SPUFT, evaluated the technical quality of the transmission and the artistic level of the TV programs, the complexity of the task that was set in the report and the way it was solved, as well as the level of English proficiency.

The first two prizes consisted in all-expense-paid trips to Amsterdam from the International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) in order to participate in the International Broadcasting Convention IBC2021 on December 3-6, 2021. The winners were:
• Anastasia Zelenina (SPUFT, 2nd year, Department of Television), who presented a TV program Culinary Secrets and made a report Cloud Technologies: Video Coding Systems.
• Daniil Matveev (ETU "LETI", 3rd year, Department of Television and Video Equipment), who presented a TV program CoffeeNews and made a report Cloud, cloud and one more cloud.

A special prize from the Nevafilm company, announced by the General Director of the company Nevafilm and Chairman of the Russian section of the SMPTE, Oleg Berezin, was received by Anastasia Zelenina.

Ilya Osichev, Deputy General Director for Technical Issues and New Technologies of the Saint Petersburg TV Channel, announced that Daniil Matveev was awarded with a special prize from the Saint Petersburg TV Channel.

A special prize from Haivision, as it was announced by the Sales Director of Haivision in the CIS and Eastern Europe, Alexander Gritsuk, was also received by Daniil Matveev.

All participants and winners of the contest Media in the Cloud and the conference Digital Technologies in the Media Industry – 2021 will receive certificates signed by the President of the SMPTE Society of Film and Television Engineers, Hans Hoffmann. The winners will also receive recommendation letters from the President of the International Association MPEG Industry Forum (2004-2012), member of the Board of Trustees of SPUFT, Honorary Doctor and Honorary Professor of SPUFT, Sebastian Moritz.

The project Media in the Cloud was facilitated for students. Their opinions are very important. Here's what the winners said:

	Anastasia Zelenina: "Participation in the project Media in the Cloud is a great opportunity to learn something new and visit IBC, which is not easy for an ordinary student to get into. This project is a great motivation to explore new technologies and modern opportunities!"
	Daniil Matveev: "Actually, I planned to do an internship like every ordinary person does – at the factory. But then I found out about this contest and decided to take a risk. And it turned out to be the right decision, because I had a tremendous fun during the process. The victory was a pleasant conclusion of this experiment and, hopefully, a promising start of my professional career."

Konstantin Glasman
Head of the Research Laboratory
of Artificial Intelligence in the media sphere of SPUFT,
Member of the Board of SMPTE - Director of the region
"Europe, Middle East, Africa, Central
and South America"

Ссылки в YouTube на ТВ программы студентов_проект Медиа в облаке 2021 .docx