We catch up with Oren Yurik to find out about his role at Breeze Animation and how the studio use ftrack to manage their variety of projects.
Can you tell us about your role and responsibilities at Breeze Animation?
I’m the founder and creative director, responsible for the creative teams in the studio, the concepts behind the videos and the visual language of each project.
We’re a leading smart media production studio creating film production for corporate, training and product marketing purposes. We also develop visual content for interactive and mobile platforms.
Oren Yurik
How did you get into the industry?
I’ve been playing with 3D since I was a kid, so in my studies, I focused on good 2D and 3D theory, storytelling, movie scripting and editing. In 2003, I started working for studios as a 3D animator, and later as a compositor. In between, I gained experience with other of aspects in 3D like lightning, shading, and rendering and by 2008 I was able to do a ‘one-man-show’ and produce short 3D animations from storyboarding to the final product by myself.
Today, Breeze Animation holds talents in various fields: art directors, video directors, master-editors, 3D artists, compositors and even developers for our real-time content projects.
What have been the most challenging projects of your career?
The most challenging projects are the ones that the client gives us full creative decisions and permission to act freely. Usually, these are the projects that allow us to push our own boundaries and get the best results. Not too long ago we had this kind of project. It was very hard to convince the client of the concept but eventually they were so satisfied they decided to display it on Nasdaq screens at Times Square during their launch. We were very proud!
On what projects did you start to use ftrack and how has its use evolved?
For a small studio like us it’s very important to keep the production tight and in control, because there are no second chances. The first projects were built just for budget and tracking control in mind, but as ftrack evolved it has given us more and more tools to build the right workflow for each project and manage it (creatively and logistically) in real-time. We also have different pipelines in our studio (i.e. animation, video, and VR production) so ftrack is quite flexible with our pipelines.
How has collaboration using ftrack helped Breeze Animation?
Mainly in two aspects: Firstly, we have two studios in two different geographical locations, but our teams are working on the same projects. ftrack is perfect for keeping all of us synced and hands-on from anywhere – it’s the main tool for project communication.
Secondly, the client review makes it easy for our clients to give their feedback, and for us to group them and transfer them to our artists.
What is your most useful feature of ftrack?
Undoubtedly the studio overview. We’ve asked and been waiting for this tool quite some time. The possibilities it gave us in planning and tracking our studio operation is great!
How has working with ftrack impacted Breeze Animation’s production pipeline?
ftrack made project planning very clear to everyone involved because our project breakdown is reflected in phases and tasks, so everyone is synced to their role and know exactly what to work on and when to begin.
Secondly, sometimes the project just doesn’t go the way you plan, and ftrack helps us forecast problems, make adaptations and creative solutions in the pipeline and meet the deadline in time and on budget.
