Post Magazine

August 2012

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Rentals& Finding the right partner is key. By Randi Altman Michel Suissa: Like himself, most of B&H's "sales engineers" come with hands-on experience in production and post. B&H Michel Suissa, formerly a long-time founding member of The Tape House, has been the head of technology consulting at New York's B&H for three years now, focusing on high-end production and post, specifi- cally on file-based and digital workflows. B&H is a long-time New York fixture, known for selling camera gear to pros and prosumers. Shortly before Suissa joined, this reseller opened The Studio, which caters to broadcast, digital cine- ma and post professionals — from HD, 2K or 4K workflows and finishing solutions for digital cinema to broadcast facility equipment, studio and ENG cameras. Their "sales engineers" are trained and certified to handle this type of pro gear. Some of them, like Suissa,, come directly from a post house or production environment. Suissa refers to The Studio (www.bhphotovideo.com/find/ thestudio.jsp) and its hands-on approach as a year-round, mini NAB. "There are people who come to us because of our level of inventory, which allows them to have a tremendous level of tech- nology choices," he explains. "But they also like the fact that we can help them test the technology they're looking at, and we invite them to experiment with us so we can better design the exact workflows they need for their own projects. A lot of that can be done right within our technology center." While some customers aren't exactly sure of what they need, some come to The Studio-B&H looking for a very specific solution for a very specific project. "We sit down, we study their projects, we survey the physical location and then put together a system integration team to deploy and commission all the equipment," explains Suissa. "Also, in conjunction with manufacturers, we pro- 38 Post • August 2012 www.postmagazine.com Resellers Buying or renting gear for a project can be daunting. There are more choices these days than ever before. The best solution is to find a reseller or rental house to "partner" with. A company that not only offers the most up-to-date solutions, but also one that knows best practices and offers some kind of training to go along with the gear. And don't forget to do some research and ask questions before committing to anything. There are many of these types of companies these days and no way to cover them all in one feature, so we've just grabbed a hand- ful to talk to this month. But keep an eye on the pages of Post for more news on rental houses and resellers.

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