MNP Enterprise Uses the SmartJog Network to Transfer Rushes to Cape Town

"During the filming of Les Deux Mondes, directed by Daniel Cohen, the production benefited from using SmartJog’s global digital delivery service to receive and screen daily rushes, in record time. During the month of January, the filming relocated to South Africa and the production company, MNP Enterprise, needed a way to view the scenes shot in South Africa, while on the set.

Since the content was sent digitally via SmartJog, it saved several days in the process of watching rushes. With a traditional system, such as sending tapes, the turnaround time would have involved two to three extra days, making it seven days from the time when the images were shot and the time they came back to the shooting location.

"SmartJog provides specialized solutions for all types of delivery needs, and in this situation, time is of the utmost importance," says Nicolas Dussert, Director of Sales for SmartJog. "By using our service, it was possible for Waterfront Studios to receive an hour’s worth of content within one hour."

Everyday, the 35mm negative film was sent to Eclair Laboratories for developing and digitization. "Once the files were compressed, all we had to do was put the elements onto the SmartJog server located at Eclair, and press the SEND button,” explained Philippe Mouton, Technical Video Director with Eclair Laboratories. “This type of transfer is extremely secure, very little supervision needed by us, and a delivery email notification comes an hour later which means that we could move onto other work without any worries."

The digital dailies were simultaneously sent via SmartJog to South Africa and the film's co-producers, Gaumont, and MNP Enterprise. Gaumont received the files in order to view the rushes and check the quality, and MNP kept informed in real time via SmartJog notifications, about when the content would arrive at Waterfront Studios. Then, every afternoon, a Waterfront Studios technician would retrieve the files from the SmartJog server in order to show on a video projector during an evening viewing. The workflow provided an opportunity to verify the process of transferring rushes directly into an Avid editing unit and play-out HD files, compressed into H.264 format.

"Using a USB key provided by SmartJog, needed in order to enter their secure Member Site, I could follow the transfer of rushes sent from the Eclair Laboratories,” says Célia Simonne, MNP's Production and Post-production Coordinator. “I was able to estimate the exact time remaining before the final delivery to the Waterfront Studios. Daily screenings were scheduled for precise times, and thus required on-the-dot punctuality that we were able to achieve, thanks to SmartJog."

Given the enthusiastic response from the production and post-production teams, Waterfront Studios has decided to keep the server on-site. "We were pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the images we received, and the fact that the system is so flexible. The SmartJog network is closed and supervised, which means that exchanges and content are completely secure,“ explained Barry Strick of Waterfront Studios."