Videoscope went back to school this summer to help The Country Day School get ready for fall.

With a hundred acre campus north of Richmond Hill, the school provides university-preparatory education for boys and girls from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12.

This exceptional campus also boasts a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Centre, opened in 2002.
As the school website explains:
At CDS, the Arts are considered to be as much a part of a child's development and success as reading, writing, and arithmetic. (www.cds.on.ca)
The Country Day School chose Videoscope to handle A/V upgrades for the Centre, as well as other areas of the campus.

The Performing Arts Centre was designed with an excellent audio and lighting system. The acoustics are so good that it is rented out for professional sound recording for classical music CDs. Originally however, there was no video component.

To add video recording for performances and presentations, Videoscope installed three Sony BRC-300 cameras with remote control and monitors. The cameras are all mounted at the 2nd floor level: one just outside the Control Room and one on each side closer to the stage. Pan, tilt and zoom are handled by a joy stick panel in the control room. The switcher sends the camera feeds directly to a DVD recorder along with the audio. This way, events are ready for immediate distribution. Future plans include webcasting as well.

Videoscope had already installed a large venue Sanyo LCD projector with a custom long-throw lens. Part of the summer project was to add a 20-foot diagonal motorized Da-Lite screen for special events.

For theatre event audio, Videoscope supplied an 8-channel Sennheiser wireless microphone system. Students perform in many ambitious school productions, such as Romeo and Juliet, Aladdin and Fiddler on the Roof, all crewed technically by Performing Arts Centre students. Videoscope Engineering Project Manager, Lee Burke, discovered their enthusiasm when a group of six students showed up for his summer training session on camera operation.

CDS Technical Director, Kim Marchessault explains:
Since all our productions are run by students (including our Junior School show) we needed equipment that was of high quality but simple enough for youngsters to operate. Videoscope was very receptive to this.

Excellence is a hallmark of The Country Day School experience for students, teachers and in terms of resources, including technical support.

Videoscope Sales Consultant Lorne Feld comments:
Kim Marchessault’s technical direction always challenges Videoscope to create solutions that are up to the high standards of the Performing Arts Centre.
At Videoscope, we always look forward to meeting that challenge. We are proud to be involved with this exceptional educational facility.