Products
Overview
Michael D’Ambrosio about cutting remotely with Renegade Animation & using ClearView Flex to capture the magic of in-person creativity (from a distance)
Introduction
Michael D’Ambrosio, editorial department manager and lead editor at Renegade Animation and his team have parlayed two Tom & Jerry features for HBO Max, animated shorts for Sesame Workshop, and feature produced this into two Tom & Jerry features for HBO Max, animated shorts for Sesame Workshop, and feature production for Sony Pictures Animation. Renegade have now switched to a permanent hybrid studio set-up with just a handful of artists in the office at any time.
Challenge
Micheal stated that while live-action was shut down, animation will still continue. He described it as trial by fire. Renegade had to figure out a way to work remotely more efficiently, and that’s where tools like ClearView Flex became critical.
The team had been using a tool another tool, that was not quite up to scratch and led to quality and synch issues. D’Ambrosio explains, “It was sub par for us with connectivity and latency issues. There was a high level of frustration level, particularly with issues of sync.”
“The film involved musical numbers. I cut one of them and was quite happy with it. I invited the director, Darrell VanCitters, into the office for review. To my horror, when we played it back, the sequence was out of sync by 2, 3 or 4 frames. It was missing downbeats and some impacts. This is slapstick. This is Tom and Jerry – so you notice this immediately. Tom is getting walloped, and Jerry is scooting around and we’re missing all these beats timed with the music.
Solution
According to D’Ambrosio, the whole experience made it clear that the team need a new remote streaming solution. So Renegade researched the market, talked with peers, and selected ClearView. “We immediately saw a difference,” reports D’Ambrosio. “It performed at a much better level for our needs and essentially gave us the confidence to finish at home”.
When it came to performance, ClearView eliminated one of the issues the team had when using previous software to work remotely. “The other product required to be hard-wired in order for it to operate without delay or freezes. But since the director worked from home, that was not feasible. Without dropping out, ClearView establishes a WiFi connection with a laptop. That in itself is a significant benefit. According to D’Ambrosio, the whole experience made it clear that the team need our remote streaming
Result
Renegade now has one ClearView Flex module but says it will buy another as projects scale up for additional editors and assists.
D’Ambrosio appreciates the fact that ClearView Flex enables Renegade Animations to maintain this hybrid home/office workflow without experiencing connectivity or latency issues. He has said the solutions give him, their artists and their clients “a higher quality representation of what the work is looking like. It means the director feels more confident, as an editor I feel more confident, and all round the work is better.”
