Kapow produced the short Show and Tell (left) and the series Yakkity Yak. On the television project, Kapow worked remotely via a secure FTP site with its Canadian partner Studio B. © Kapow Pictures.

Kapow Pictures is an animation studio based in Sydney, Australia. The award-winning studio recently completed production of the CG short Show and Tell and is developing animated programming for television. Sandra Walters, exec producer for Kapow, notes that approximately 50% of a production budget can be raised domestically — perhaps 20% can be raised from a broadcaster, 10-15% from the FFC (Film Finance Corp. — a government organization). Access to these funds will often stipulate geographic parameters for the production. The balance will come from pre-sales and advances on distribution. The remaining 50% would come from a partner.

For the Flash-animated series, Yakkity Yak, Kapow partnered with Canada’s Studio B to execute the project. Kapow had a simple approach to the remote production problem: it provided remote access to assets through an FTP site. Kapow and its partner were able to send plans, artwork and files back and forth. At each location, a studio would upload the progress from the end of the day so that the other location would have it when they started their day. The two studios coordinated via e-mail and conference calls. A common language also reduced the challenge of working remotely. Still, despite solutions to information sharing at any level, remote production success depends upon the experience of the individuals or groups working remotely.

However, problems can arise, spawned in part by cultural and creative differences. In the end, compromise is paramount. While downloading sequences to view show status may not be as engaging as walking into an animator’s office and commenting on actual production for a director, the process does work. As Gravas states, “I don’t see any difference in doing CG, traditional or a combination [by remote]. Essentially, you’re left with the same tools to work with as far as getting information back and forth.”

For future production, Kapow looks to maintain creative control, where they develop the project in-house and send out animation to Korea. Key artistic work would remain at Kapow such as design, modeling and texturing, but then animation would take advantage of the talented animators in Korea. When completed, the work would come back to Kapow for final touches such as compositing.

Distributed — A New Perspective
Utilizing advancements in connectivity and standardization, Threshold Digital Research Lab has taken remote production in a very different direction. In an effort to address the problem of producing high-quality projects on smaller budgets, Threshold introduced a business model advocating “distributed remote production.” Instead of simply outsourcing work to another facility, Threshold is attempting to blend a traditional studio with the cost benefits of remote production — in this instance, remote individuals. The intent is to create a process with the creative and quality controls of on-site production and the economic advantages of remote staff.