Many of my friends and colleagues will know that I’ve been providing technical support, workflow design and post production systems administration to Jump Studios here in Calgary. I think it’s been almost eight years now, but then again I’ve been wrong before. The point is, Jump is one of the most technologically advanced post production facilities in Alberta and the skill of Creative Director, Jeff August is second to none. So because I think highly of my friends at Jump and because I’m quoted in the article, I’m sharing it here. Below is the article reproduced for your viewing pleasure.
Jump Studios, NVIDIA Quadro, Adobe and PNY Help Predict the Future of NASCAR’s Top Drivers in Compelling ESPN Teaser
Predicting the future is impossible, but if past performance is any indication, then Jump Studios has an amazingly bright future. Just ask ESPN, which chose the multiple Emmy® Award-winning Canadian-based production company to create a cinematic, enticing, high-profile TV teaser for the NASCAR Sprint Series Chase to the Cup—and to do it with a really fast turnaround.
The Players
Jump Studios (jumpstudios.tv) has earned multiple awards for its energizing, innovative work for major television networks and high-end advertising agencies across North America. Jump Studios uses cutting-edge technology built on Adobe® Creative Cloud™platform and powered by NVIDIA® Quadro® GPUs.
PNY Technologies, Inc. (pny.com/quadro) Offering pre-and post-sales assistance, three-year standard warranty, toll-free professional technical support, and an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, PNY partners and customers experience first-hand why PNY is considered a market leader in the professional graphics industry.
“The NVIDIA Quadro, CUDA, and Adobe technologies work together seamlessly and enable digital artists like us to work at the speed of thought. When we had to make that rather extensive last-minute change in our ‘Last Chance’ teaser, the tools supported our workflow and let us make the rapid changes without sacrificing quality or creative concept. With the NVIDIA and Adobe tools, the creative process is both faster and longer: it’s faster to accomplish tasks in our workflow, but we can take longer in editing, color correcting, and other creative aspects, because now we have more time to play with options and get things just right.” —Jeff August, Partner and Creative Director, Jump Studios
The Challenges
Produce a compelling, high-profile TV teaser for ESPN about the NASCAR Chase to the Cup.
Conceptualize, shoot, edit, design, and finalize the teaser in only two weeks.
Respond to a last-minute change from ESPN: Cut 15 seconds from the 1½-minute piece just one day before the finished teaser was due for delivery to ESPN.
The Solution
Jump built a Gothic-themed set and shot scenes using two digital cameras—a Canon C500 and a Sony F5700—and three formats, including high-speed RED.
They created the TV teaser using Adobe After Effects and PhotoShop; edited in Adobe Premiere; used Adobe SpeedGrade for the color work and finishing; and employed LookLabs’ groundbreaking SpeedLooks pre-set digital video ‘looks’ plug-ins to get consistent final film-grade quality, regardless of what cameras or formats were used for each scene.
All the software tools were driven by NVIDIA Quadro K5000 CUDA-enabled cards.
“From a business standpoint, technology reliability is everything. We can’t afford a moment of downtime, especially with a big deadline looming. Whenever anyone asks me about PNY’s support, I have to plead ignorance: I’ve never needed to talk to them, because all their products have worked flawlessly. Still, it’s nice to know that whether it is pre sales guidance or post-sales support, PNY has our back.” —Brian Vos, Partner and General Manager, Jump Studios
The Results
Jump Studios completed the NASCAR project for ESPN on time and on budget.
The speed and reliability of NVIDIA Quadro enabled Jump to cut 15 seconds from the teaser less than a day before the original deadline.
NVIDIA Quadro K5000 GPUs with their frame buffering capabilities and low latency, delivered the level of immediacy Jump Studios demands in its workflow, which is not possible with existing technology from other vendors.
PNY carries and supports the complete line of NVIDIA Quadro products, allowing Jump Studios to keep its technology up-to-date easily, without taking time and attention away from the creative work.
“Today, what we can do with NVIDIA Quadro-powered Adobe tools in real time far exceeds what was possible just five years ago on high-end studio systems. We have access to the world’s best performance for not much money. And without the multithreaded Quadro GPUs we wouldn’t be able to replicate the performance for any amount of money. As a creative person, I appreciate that these NVIDIA and Adobe tools make me unafraid to try new things.” —Craig Van Horne, Founder and Producer/Senior Editor, Scorched Ice Digital