article copywritten for Sohonet
Paris-based creative VFX, animation and motion design studio Mathematic has grown from boutique roots into an international powerhouse using an array of Sohonet connectivity services. Recent work has included promos for Ed Sheeran and Lil Nas X, commercials for Apple, Sprite, Adidas and Tag Heuer, Disney+ episodic science-fiction Parallels and feature films such as Vesper (for which Mathematic won a GENIE Award for the Best VFX at the Paris Image Digital Summit 2023) and contributing to Darren Aronofky’s Oscar-winning The Whale and Wes Anderson's Asteroid City. Mathematic’s scope of work includes live venues and concerts including Drake and The Blaze as well as being awarded recently with a Molière award for best visual creation.
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“We don’t focus on one type of VFX, we explore, produce and execute everything
from traditional painted animation to photoreal VFX and motion graphics,” says
Mathematic Flame Artist / VFX Supervisor Clément Germain. “Every job is unique
and to which we bring bespoke creativity.”
Launched in 2006 by Guillaume Marien, the company quickly established a
reputation for artistic design and finishing of commercials and music promos.
In 2016, it established its creative hub in Montréal, Canada, and began to take
on more high-end TV and feature film work. Late last year, Mathematic opened a
new office in Los Angeles, Culver City, which acts as an interface for North
American projects, and as a creative and finishing studio. With 200 full time
staff, Mathematic is a major vendor, providing services including conception,
design, content production and creative consulting. In 2022 alone
Mathematic collectively produced up to 200 projects including 70 commercials,
five feature films, 45 video game cinematic trailers and 20 music videos.
According to
Clément, 85 percent of the company’s work is for projects in the US and the UK,
a growth only possible with fast and seamless connectivity based around
Sohonet.
ClearView Flex
joins the equation
The studio started
to work with Sohonet ClearView Flex for remote review and approval sessions
during the Pandemic. “Agencies and clients used to come and see us for in room
collaboration to deliver the final product but we had to find other tools to
work with as Covid-19 spread,” says Clément. “Sohonet was extremely quick to
deliver us a ClearView Flex unit. We asked for one on a Monday and got it two
days later which was just ahead of lockdown.”
Tapping into
Multiport
Mathematic’s Paris
and Montreal offices were already connected by fibre but to facilitate more
efficient remote file sharing between them and to triangulate with its studio
in LA, the company turned to Sohonet and the reconfigurable network access
service Multiport.
“Point-to-point
connections are fine between two offices but with three or more you have to
think differently,” he says. “We not only wanted to connect our hubs
but also connect with clients and DOPs wherever they are in the world.”
Multiport services are delivered over the Sohonet Media Network and optimized
for media production workflows and security needs. Sohonet’s premier 24×7
support service is included, with access to engineers who understand media and
entertainment and the technical requirements involved.
Clément Germain
Clément explains
that Multiport offered the ability for Mathematic to reconfigure and scale as
needed. Its artists in Montpellier will work remotely on media stored in the
cloud and from workstations hosted in Paris. “We think of Paris and
Montpellier as one hub. Similarly, we wanted to build a global network for
artists and clients to access media wherever they were and to be able to work
on projects with an identically fast and elegant performance as if they were in
the office.”
Multiple other
services are now open to Mathematic enabling it to access ever larger-scale
projects and work directly with a host of prestigious partners.
“First, you can
adjust your bandwidth capacity from one month to another. So, if we have 3G in
Paris we can upgrade to 10G when working on a large feature and we anticipate
more traffic, after which we can scale back down again. Other providers don’t
enable such flexible bandwidth configuration.
“Secondly, we have
access to Sohonet’s Media Network allowing us to directly connect into other
clients also using the network including Disney and Netflix. Several A list
directors also have Sohonet high-speed, uncontended internet into their homes.”
In fact, more than
a thousand companies and over 100,000 storytellers worldwide are connected to
the world’s largest private fiber network for film, TV and advertising. “This
really widens the market for us since we can now tell clients that they can
access Mathematic from everywhere."
Delivering on
security
Mathematic is also
making use of Sohonet FileRunner as a fast secure file transfer service between
its hubs over the Sohonet Media Network.
“We essentially are
one hub between France, Montreal and LA from which all projects are shared,”
Clément says. “We needed strong SLAs so that if there was any problem, we are
guaranteed a rapid and expert response. We also needed to have redundancy on the
line. This is why we went to Sohonet."
Continued Growth
Mathematic is also
continuing to add locations and talent to its award-winning service and will
add a new hub in Montpellier, south of France to offer even more accessibility
to creative partners and to source a growing and diverse team of talents worldwide,
Last month, Mathematic was selected for France 2030. This project initiated by
the French government will allow Mathematic to expand Montpellier hub by 2030.
It is an opportunity to leverage the latest technologies, to bring more visual
effects work to France, as well as build strong relationships with schools by
working with students at an earlier education point.
“Sohonet’s network
will help up to reduce our carbon footprint on this project, connecting all the
facilities to one main data center in France,” notes Clement, “where
we will reuse the heat from the servers to deliver it to public infrastructures
or apartments. “We’ll continue to rely on Sohonet’s technologies to keep
communications secure and consistent as we expand over the next several
years,” adds Clement. “It’s an exciting time of growth for us.
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