Rainmaker Artists Streamline Project Review with Shotgun

Rainmaker Entertainment has standardized on the Shotgun production management and review system for secure, efficient collaboration with clients and partners. The Vancouver-based entertainment company has a 15+ year history in animation, and is currently expanding its portfolio of feature films with the upcoming (2015) feature Ratchet & Clank, based on the popular Sony Computer Entertainment videogame franchise, as well as TV and DVD projects.

Shotgun provides us with everything we need to manage our processes internally, and partner effectively with studios and clients around the world, said CG Supervisor Steven Elford. Using Shotgun's Screening Room for review enables us to easily and immediately share important information both within our team, and with production partners locally and in other countries. Some projects require extensive shot feedback and, with alternate options like email or Dropbox, it was hard to keep track of which notes corresponded with which version of a given sequence -- we completely avoid that using Shotgun.

Rainmaker opted to implement Shotgun's Screening Room rather than continuing to devote resources to developing a proprietary tool to serve the same function. Integrating Shotgun with Tweak Software's RV plug-in for seamless playback, Rainmaker artists and supervisors create playlists and input notes in Screening Room, which are automatically archived in the Shotgun database. To make this process invisible to artists, Rainmaker custom-built Shotgun interfaces for Autodesk Maya and The Foundry's Nuke. A shot opened in either application queries Shotgun then applies data to the scene, bringing everything together. Almost all of Rainmaker's 250+ local employees interact with Shotgun daily -- including the company's president, who logs in to review the latest iterations of project scenes.

Traditionally, the very necessary process of production tracking has been an arduous one for artists -- demanding too much of their time which would be better spent increasing the creative value of a production -- but the launch of Screening Room has them excited about Shotgun. Review sessions are quicker, and notes are straightforward and organized. For the Rainmaker team, interacting with Shotgun has become a natural, seamless process, explained Elford.

Rainmaker actively participates in, and shares best practices with the Shotgun community in an ongoing effort to improve animation pipeline and workflow. I have peers at other companies who I've met through the Shotgun community and we frequently compare notes. It's great because we can talk about how we are working with and developing tools for Shotgun without divulging sensitive project secrets, said Elford.

Looking forward, Rainmaker is exploring other ways to leverage Shotgun, including using the system to manage hardware inventory and making use of the new e-mail friendly Client Review Site to simplify media sharing with partners.

For more information about Rainmaker and its upcoming projects, please visit: http://www.rainmaker.com/

About Shotgun

Shotgun builds secure, scalable production management, review, and asset management software that clears away chaos, presents information visually, and connects people to each other -- in the studio or in the cloud. A standardized toolset for film, TV and game development pipelines built on the industrys best practices, it enables studios and remote collaborators to increase efficiency and reduce risk through transparency. More than 500 creative companies including DreamWorks Animation, Framestore, Illumination Mac Guff, Blizzard, Microsoft, Walt Disney Animation, Double Negative and Ubisoft have adopted Shotguns customizable system and contribute to the ongoing development of its growing ecosystem of applications. For information or to try Shotgun at no cost, visit shotgunsoftware.com.

About Rainmaker Entertainment

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc. is a multifaceted entertainment studio and one of Canadas largest producers of CG animation. In addition to projects Rainmaker has produced with partners and clients including Mattel, The Weinstein Company, Hasbro, Lionsgate and Sony, Rainmaker also develops proprietary projects for both film and television. Originally established as Mainframe Entertainment -- the company responsible for the first ever CGI animation series, ReBoot -- Rainmaker recently returned the iconic industry brand as the banner for its television production division. Over the course of its 15+ years of innovative history, Rainmaker has continued to break new ground in animation, telling engaging stories and creating compelling characters for all media. For more information, visit http://www.rainmaker.com.

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