Case Studies

This global management consulting firm helps companies identify and develop strategies for securing high-value business opportunities. Because of their proven success, they have grown to become the leading business advisor on the world market with offices around the world. As they build a client’s business they are also building complex digital video projects that can include 3 to 4 material source streams. And while current production is within a DV format, they will be switching to an HD format in the near future.

This University is an established, research-intensive tertiary institution located in China. While science and engineering are the core focus, just as important are the other professional schools that have established, or are in the process of establishing, an international reputation. The University needed to outfit their student labs with SAN software that was compatible with OS X.

Doing it all is quite a challenge, and at London’s Hangman Studios not only do they do it all, but they do it all with the best tools available. From creative development to production, to video and audio post-production, Hangman Studios is known for its unique music and film expertise, as well as facilities that are loaded with the technology to make it all happen. In business for the past six years, Hangman Studios quickly created a reputation for itself in the entertainment industry, and now boasts a long and impressive client list. The facilities were designed from the ground up with the forethought and expertise of industry insiders and a deep understanding of the sharpest technologies available today. Using the best tools necessary for pre-production and directing services, shooting, offline and online editing, sound dubbing and mixing, Web graphics, grading and DVD authoring, Hangman Studios creates audio and video pieces for commercials, documentaries, film, websites and DVDs. “Hangman produces and edits TV and Cinema commercials, documentaries, EPKs, Making Ofs, Music Videos and Idents. Hangman provides high-end motion graphics services for title sequences and special effects, professional DVD authoring and encoding for the web. Hangman Studios’ audio facility specializes in post-production, stereo and 5.1 sound design, mixing, monitoring and audiovisual synchronization. Additional audio services include programming, recording, composing and re-mixing.” –James Tonkin, Director “We rely on our SAN one hundred percent for all of our post production work. SANmp is a stable part of our daily workflow and it is an excellent product from a company we respect greatly” “We have considered the options of ‘file-level’ permissions offered by other manufacturers, but we believe that ‘volume-level’ is the only stable way we can allow users to work with full uncompressed 1080 HD. It is far safer to give exclusive access over a drive to an editor capturing or playing out at 100 MBps.” For Hangman, collaboration and teamwork is everything — it’s what sets them apart from their rivals. Within the company and with external clients, Hangman operates on the notion that many heads think more creatively than one, and a close relationship between production teams, and post-production teams is key to their success. Studio Network Solutons’ SANmp became a critical part of the studio’s post-production work as it enabled their computers to concurrently share very large amounts of data over high-speed Fibre and iSCSI Storage Networks. The management software offered Hangman’s post-production artists the ability to more fully collaborate and share huge projects on a Storage Area Network. Their post-production teams are able to capture, record and edit directly onto the storage system and bump up the workflow by eliminating the need to copy files locally. “We rely on our SAN one hundred percent for all of our post production work. SANmp is a stable part of our daily workflow and it is an excellent product from a company we respect greatly.” At Hangman, media is shared and accessed by multiple workstations and Studio Network Solutions’ SANmp is the crucial link for governing user permissions across the different drives. The facilities have a total of three different studios, centered around Apple’s Final Cut Pro, that all run on Macintosh systems and dedicated SANs. Studio 1 is the main offline and online suite with two machines capable of HD and SD. Studio 2 is an audio room for completing sound dubs, sound design and 5.1 mixing on projects, and Studio 3 is a dedicated HD suite for finishing projects and working with clients. All three of the studios run off dedicated SANs and servers with share points so that media is accessible in any room. Often a project may start on one Mac in studio 1, then move to studio 3, then studio 2 for sound work and back to studio 1 for laying off to tape or DVD. Keeping projects and media flexible is the key to workflow so that nothing gets tied down to one particular machine or set-up.