Fastrack User - Kevin Quinn, WWE Corp

Kevin Quinn (right)
shows WWE associate producer Todd Moulen
the benefits of building his show with the hybrid Fastrack editor.

I have been editing with World Wrestling Entertainment for about fifteen years. Until recently I’ve been a hardcore linear editor. With non-linear editing taking on such a major role in the post production process, linear editors have been forced to cross over to “the other side”. Editware’s Fastrack is a tool that allows me to keep my external effects equipment I rely on heavily for quick, high-end, real-time looks, and has given me the ability to “bang together” long portions of programming without having to sit and watch it go by in real-time.

World Wrestling Entertainment prides itself on being a pioneer in the latest technologies. We also take pride in our high quality product with extremely quick turnarounds. Our unique workflow can be compared to a mixture of complex Hollywood entertainment and ‘quick news production style’ gathering and turnaround. Our challenge has been to produce 9 hours of original domestic programming, and from that create roughly 40 hours of international programming, all in one week. There are also specials, home video productions, and now with the advent of video on demand, you can be sure we have our hands in that as well. Although only a small portion of our programming is live, we create a feeling of live production in all we produce. At the same time, we make the live portions look as though they were post produced with a high degree of complexity. With such a demanding workflow, we are constantly reaching out to vendors like Editware, to meet our extreme needs. Editware has worked closely with us in developing their Fastrack system to help us meet those needs. With new systems being designed to give better technological results, it is sometimes overlooked that the old processes are still the more time-efficient way of doing things. Fastrack pushes linear editing into the non-linear world, while allowing us to keep the older, but quicker, techniques available for use.

When the time came for WWE to consider a tapeless environment and centralized media storage, the manner in which the Grass Valley Profile and Editware’s Fastrack complemented each other in the hybrid world made our decision easy. Transitioning from tape editing to Fastrack/Profile was also made easier with Fastrack’s ability to work linearly. Our edit staff could continue to meet the heavy weekly workload in ways they were already familiar with, while at the same time having the tools at hand to explore new non-linear ways in which to speed up the production process. I, for one, was an editor who found it quicker and more reliable to operate mixers, switchers and DVEs manually. Once I had an advanced understanding of Fastrack’s ability to control my external gear, I let the Fastrack do all the work.

We have now been working with Fastrack for about one year, and are still, to this day, discovering more and more of the potential it has in moving forward with us from here to wherever technology takes us.