Original Date: 09/14/1998
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Raytheon Missile Systems Company’s (RMSC’s) Sight and Sound Media is a multi-functional media communications facility capable of producing state-of-the art photographic digital imaging and video editing, as well as traditional photographic and video services. Divided into the services of Photo, Video, and Instrumentation, the facility handles all media communication needs for the company, its customers, and the local community. The Sight and Sound Media maintains over 800,000 negatives and 5,000 hours of videos; generates 12,000 new negatives per year; and is capable of high-speed photography up to 40,000 pictures per second.

The Sight and Sound Media combines the best photographic, video, and instrumentation capabilities from five other divisions as a result of the recent mergers and consolidations. Prior to these consolidations, each division offered various degrees of capability in these services. Total staffing was 60 employees. The establishment of the Sight and Sound Media enabled RMSC to reduce the overall staff, and increase its capabilities and services. The facility supports many groups at RMSC, and offers one-stop shopping services in Photo (e.g., product display photos, electronic imaging, formal portraitures), Video (e.g., taping and editing, narration, standards conversion), and Instrumentation (e.g., high-speed photography, field testing, multiple and sequence cameras).

Staffing now consists of five personnel for Photo (e.g., photographers, technicians), seven for Video (e.g., scriptwriter/narrator, electrical engineer, cinematographer), and one for Instrumentation (e.g., instrumentation, videographer). The facility uses automation for inventories, tracking of negatives, videos, instrumentation, and job requests. In addition, the Sight and Sound Media provides unique instrumentation and quick turnaround times which are not readily available by other internal or commercial sources. Almost 50% of the workload comes from the engineering test group, followed by the operations group at 14%.

One of the Sight and Sound Media’s unique capabilities enlists the use of sophisticated multi-cameras and instrumentation to obtain video shots of RMSC’s missile test launchings. In 1997, the facility spent 4,000 hours in the field conducting these types of services. By combining the best capabilities and personnel skills from the other facilities, the Sight and Sound Media provides extremely effective and centralized communication services for RMSC.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.