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| Pioneering production company Addiction used Apple technology to power a groundbreaking graphics technique in the latest MJ Cole music video, while also employing a network of seven Xserves to render the huge video and image files — ensuring that the stunning promo was delivered on deadline. 
Addiction is no ordinary production company. On its Web site, it describes itself as “a new type of media company” — namely, one that integrates aspects of agency and production work with print design, animation and post-production.
Its impressive client list reads like a who’s who of the creative world and includes advertising agencies, record labels and television companies; more specifically the likes of Def Jam, Polydor, EMI, MTV and Virgin. The London-based company recently pitched for the promo video for UK garage star MJ Cole’s latest single, “Wonderin’ Why”. Having secured the contract, Addiction turned to Apple to supply the technological clout and to Adobe and LightWave for the 2D and 3D software required to realise their ambitious ideas. “We’ve always used the Mac at Addiction, on the grounds that it is just the best creative tool”, explains Andy Guest, head of graphics at Addiction. In a relatively short space of time, the company has gone from employing one full-time designer working on the Mac, to six. As a result, it recently became obvious to Guest that Addiction’s infrastructure required updating in line with its rapid expansion. 
“Things were getting a bit chaotic”, he explains. “Projects were not being backed up properly because we simply didn’t have the space for such large graphics files”.
Guest researched the problem carefully then called in the services of Reading-based Apple Solutions Experts, Creative Graphics Systems. Chris Luff, Creative Graphics’ video guru, explains: “We supplied seven Xserves to Addiction, linked via a Belkin video switch to a 640GB RAID system. It was the first render farm we had put together but the installation went smoothly and we’ve had very positive feedback from the company”. Guest says: “The system — which only took two days to install — involved a main server with a big drive, and six other Xserves that were used for the rendering”. Not only was the company now able to back up valuable files to the main server every night, but the solution also enabled them to render images for the MJ Cole promo in time for the typically aggressive deadline. Next page: Groundbreaking Imaging |
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