“In January 2022, when it became necessary to transition a large part of our teams to remote work, we did so very easily overnight, thanks notably to the solution Reemo." -Frantz Delbecque, Deputy General Manager @ BLUE SPIRIT
Blue Spirit is a French 2D and 3D animation studio composed of 350 people with offices in Paris, Angoulême, and Montreal.
Since 2004, Blue Spirit has been producing and manufacturing animated series and feature films, serving as executive producer and/or service provider for French and international producers, as well as for American majors and platforms with highly ambitious projects from technical and artistic perspectives.
Blue Spirit covers the entire value chain from development to compositing.
How did remote work function at Blue Spirit before Reemo?
At Blue Spirit, aside from a few individuals based in Paris who occasionally worked remotely, we were not prepared at all for large-scale remote work because our organization wasn't set up for it.
During the first lockdown, we had no choice but to provide team members with machines equipped with a file synchronization system.
It's worth noting that a significant portion of our team members in Angoulême and Montreal do not have fiber optic internet, which further complicated this new work setup.
Before Reemo, let's just say we didn't have a remote work solution that allowed for very flexible work.
What was your challenge in early 2021 that led you to try the solution Reemo?
Initially, our goal was to enable remote work for roles that couldn't easily be performed outside the studio due to the equipment required.
I'm thinking particularly of compositing, which requires a lot of image data flow, necessitating the machine to be on the studio network. By using Reemo, we were able to start having these individuals work remotely.
Reemo allows us to be more flexible in our way of working.
How did the deployment of Reemo go across Blue Spirit?
We started with the Paris teams. Besides meeting the obvious need for remote work among our teams, Reemo provided us with an agile solution to provide accessible and easily configurable machines for individuals coming to Blue Spirit for short missions.
Another aspect addressed by Reemo is security. For tests on confidential projects, both machines and images cannot leave the studio. By using Reemo, we could offer an alternative to individuals who, due to geographic or health constraints, could not physically come to the studio.
As the solution worked well, we deployed it in our other studios and for other roles (pre-production, rigging, animation, compositing).
What were the success criteria?
Adherence to schedules and delivery deadlines was our main criterion. The productivity of our teams needed to remain the same whether they were in the studio or remote. Otherwise, there was an obvious economic challenge. The technical aspect with the ease of implementing the solution. Lastly, the responsiveness of your support service.
Blue Spirit Production
Have you observed any changes in your teams' work habits?
Overall, Reemo allows us to be more flexible in our way of working. We are now open to remote work and see a hybrid work model emerging.
The organizational aspect is where I see the most change because our department heads can now work remotely, in peace, to conduct research and think about ongoing projects, for example. Even remotely, they are just as effective if they need access to their studio production machine. This was not the case before the lockdown.
Alice & Lewis — From Blue Spirit Production Studio
What feedback have your teams given after using Reemo?
The solution works well. We've received some feedback about latency due to network configurations or the physical location of the person. Teams are satisfied because they can mix working from home and working in the studio. Wherever they are, collaborators work with their machine, and this flexibility is highly appreciated in terms of usage.
Speaking of usage, do you have any numbers?
As we speak, we have 54 connected users out of 110 equipped with a Reemo account, knowing that Canada is not yet connected but they also use this remote work solution.
There's a time-saving on the IT side. The quick implementation of Reemo avoids configuring machines and sending them one by one to remote locations. Additionally, all our machines remain on-site, simplifying maintenance.
We recently announced at CES the launch of our new offering, Reemo Secure Browsing, a cloud-hosted internet browser. What are your thoughts? What interest does this product have for actors in Creative Industries like Blue Spirit?
Our IT team has indeed started testing this new service. It's interesting for our activity because to collaborate with US studios, we are subject to the Trusted Partner Network (TPN) certification to secure our content.
This certification imposes restrictions, notably prohibiting internet access on workstations. Thus, our collaborators who need to use the internet or communication tools like Teams, or send emails, must have a dual workstation setup.
Your high-performance Secure Browsing solution would enable easy deployment of internet on a workstation while respecting these security measures, providing comfort for artists who require internet. It's therefore a very interesting solution on the production side and equally for IT, thanks to its very easy implementation compared to a dual workstation setup.
And if you were to present Reemo.io to other studios?
In a few words, I would say simple and effective. It's implemented in just 2 clicks.
Thank you, Frantz, for answering our questions.