Training day

zoom

zoom

zoom

zoom

Anju Chandran Menon, manager, operations, Image.

zoom

Mohammed Khasrow of ADMS says people had to go to London to do the courses he now offers in the region.

stop

Half a decade ago, the broadcasting space in the Middle East was almost empty. Today, as TV channels crowd our air space, new broadcasters and production firms set up shop here, and the old ones expand their channel offerings, it has become increasingly important for companies to retain the skilled people they have and also source more trained from the local market.

This is no easy task in a region, where the media communications industry barely existed five years ago. As a result, not many people thought it profitable to train in animation, production or editing. And if broadcasters needed people with specialised skills, it was often their wont to poach them from their neighbours down the street.

Today, the scenario has changed and there is a dire need for industry-trained professionals. "Broadcasters are now on the lookout for preditors," says Giorgio Ungania, corporate training and marketing manager of SAE International. "Producers cum editors - people who can shoot as well as edit. This does not mean that companies do not need people with specialised skills, but their specialists - whether they are producers, editors or video editors - can focus on more complicated tasks while employees with multiple skills - who are more in demand -- can work on the routine and less complicated projects. Most European companies and broadcasters look for people with multiple skills and with technology being more intuitive and friendly today, it is possible to reskill people or add to their existing skills. This is appealing to broadcasters because they can save money this way," he adds.

This is especially true for the many boutique channels and small businesses that have opened up in Dubai Media City. While boutique channels operate with limited investment and rely on interactive services such as SMS to get their revenue, small 3D business owners often double up as the cameraman, director and editor, all rolled into one. They often do not have the resources to hire full time specialists and their projects probably do not demand that as well.

SAE realised this when it opened two years ago in Dubai. As a result, it started a corporate training department a year ago. Headed by Giorgio Ungania, this department develops customised courses for companies based on their training requirements. This has been utilised by Showtime, MBC, Du and other corporates in the last one year. Realising the demand for training in the Middle East, SAE is now expanding to other parts of the Middle East as well.

Likewise, another area that has seen significant growth in the last couple of years is 3D animation and graphics. Indian company, Maya Institute of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) has barely set foot in Dubai Knowledge Village and is already speaking of opening similar training centres in other GCC countries as well.

MAAC, which is well known globally for its courses in 3D animation, visual effects and post-production, believes that the time is ripe to bring the institute's services to the UAE. "Media entertainment has become serious business," says Jai Natrajan, business development manager of MAAC. "There is a lot of demand for architectural walkthroughs as well as the development of regional animation content. We are hoping to create a talent pool here that can get absorbed into animation companies, TV channels, architectural firms and so on," he added.

Those who graduate from MAAC will receive a certificate that is endorsed by Cambridge University. Students at MAAC will be trained to use both industry standard tools as well as the latest software in the market to ensure that they add value to the places that hire them. "We are an industry-based centre so people who train under us will give their employers better value," says Natrajan, who adds that MAAC trains both students as well as professionals.

Dubai-based training centre, Applied Digital Media Services (ADMS) believes that the market for training is so huge that it is only capable of catering to corporate requests right now. "We are here to serve the corporate segment," says Mohammed Khasrow, managing director, ADMS "We are not catering to students right now although there is sometimes the odd student," he adds.

Early this year, ADMS, which is an authorised training centre for Apple, Avid, Adobe and Digidesign in the Middle East, trained employees at Al Watan TV in Kuwait. Al Watan is said to have the biggest HD production facility in the Middle East and is scheduled to go on air this summer. "Before we came, the nearest centre to do these courses was London, and I am not talking about basic courses in Photoshop and Illustrator," says Khasrow. "We trained Al Watan's staff on Apple - from compositing and editing to Motion and Shake," he adds.

ADMS is like the local franchise for Future Media Concepts, a New York-based audio, video and graphics training centre. ADMS has one lab for each of the brands its represents. The Apple lab is loaded with Apple applications from Final Cut Pro all the way to Shake, and also includes Adobe software. At a time, the lab can handle about six trainees and is expandable to nine in the future.

"For Apple, we have one machine to one student because that's what the course prescribes. For Avid, however, we are allowed to have two students for each machine as these systems are very expensive," explains Khasrow.

Each lab at ADMS is well equipped with top-of-the-range systems to facilitate complete training. "This is very important as our clients invest their money in training so that we can teach them on the latest," he says.

SAE's Ungania agrees that having state-of-the-art systems is especially important for the corporate sector. "It is always important to have the latest technology at hand. SAE invests heavily in acquiring the latest tools so that we can train our clients on them," he adds.

To this effect, SAE has teamed up with Apple to offer training to broadcasters on Final Cut Studio 2, Apple's latest offering. "Technology in this field is often upgraded or changed. People need to update their skills if they are to stay ahead of their competitors," he adds.

Ungania also points out that as technology is increasingly becoming more user friendly and intuitive, it is easier for people to train on new technology. "Apple, for instance, has user friendly applications now. TV staff, therefore, can learn how to do additional sourcing or editing on their own instead of relying on editors to do it. This is a win-win situation for both the employees as well as the organisation," he says.

SAE itself has no set courses for corporate clients. "For the corporate world, we always have to customise courses based on their need. For instance, we may train one lot in TV production and another in 3D animation. Based on the requirements of the client and the nature of its business, we develop courses that are best suited to them," explains Ungania.

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

USER COMMENTS (1 COMMENTS)

POST A COMMENT

Sony trains end users
Posted by N Mohamed on 2 July 2007 at 15:00 UAE time

Very glad to hear that Sony has started a Training Centre here in Dubai. Does this facility offer training on Vegas, DVD Architect etc?

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.