Threshold, with headquarters in Santa Monica, California, is working with single artists in various countries, including the United States and Korea. While groups throughout the world are employed, Threshold believes this can only occur when the group philosophy is in tune with the philosophy of the product.

George Johnsen of Threshold doesn’t consider geographic location a hindrance if he finds talent he wants to work with.

The idea of remote production for them is very interesting. Not only has Threshold enlisted talented animators from studios such as Disney, but its system also allows access to talent from almost anywhere. The practice opens up exciting opportunities to many talented artists around the globe. As Threshold’s chief animation and technology officer George Johnsen says, “We want people with passion, and passion has no geographic limitation.” Threshold is always on the look out for great talent who have a passion for animation. And if they can meet the technical requirements to work with Threshold’s system, their location isn’t an obstacle.

The production process for Threshold isn’t much different from the traditional production process. However, with artists distributed across different locations and time zones, managing all the resources becomes even more significant. Johnsen emphasizes that planning is key. “The best post production starts in pre-production.”

Faced with these challenges, Threshold has partnered with IBM to create an asset management solution to deal with the hurdles of remote production. It is already a challenge to manage production onsite, but with people spread out all over the world, Threshold is faced with production management on a whole new level. Their asset management system allows remote artists to check in and out their work, and is advanced enough to flag vital changes that can affect other work in progress.

In addition to partnering on the asset management system, Threshold is also leveraging IBM’s Render on Demand services. Johnsen comments that it “gives us, essentially, a resource that is almost limitless when you need it, but you don’t pay for the overhead when you don’t.”

Despite the improved access and speed of connection, one of the greatest challenges is currently telephony. “Bandwidth is a major issue,” explains Johnsen. Even with high-speed connections such as OC3 (155Mbps) or OC12 (622Mbps), it is still a major hurdle to transmit all the data needed for a feature film such as Foodfight! Johnsen also recognizes that you do lose some of the collaboration and creative spark that you get from being physically present with other artists. To address this, Threshold encourages online chats among the artists and even offers online activities and parties from time to time.

Conclusion
Technology continues to illuminate the various ways distant groups or individuals can work together. Business necessity may drive the need for remote production, but the companies are no longer simply subcontracting work. Instead, they are finding creative new ways to use these tools to collaborate with partners and colleagues from around the globe.

Michael Fu is a partner at Fluid, a production management and technology company specializing in high-end, computer-animated feature film. Fu recently departed Pixar Animation Studios where he was a unit lead for Finding Nemo. His other credits include Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Josh Piezas, also a partner at Fluid, handles business development and other non-technical aspects of the business. Prior to joining the Fluid team, Piezas managed the start-up of NSI Innovations for the toy company NSI Toys, and worked in film distribution, leading the international licensing efforts for Troma Ent.