Sohonet Spotlight on: Goldcrest Film’s Richard Barnes

Spanning two sites in the heart of Soho London, and with a third site in New York, Goldcrest Films has maintained its reputation as a leading production, post-production, finance and distribution provider since its conception back in 1977.

Known for combining award winning creative talent with technical expertise for film and broadcast, Goldcrest has been quick to adopt the latest technical innovations to advance the film and television-making process.  They now offer clients a range of services including state-of-the-art Dolby licensed dubbing theatres with DCI compliant projection, ADR and Foley recording, sounds design and editing suites, offline editorial suites, data extraction, film recording and scanning, online editing, 4K and 2K grading in 2D and 3D for theatrical release as well as Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range for streaming services and broadcast TV.

Having been a long-time user of the Sohonet Media Network, Goldcrest were one of Sohonet’s first customers to trial and then fully integrate ClearView HD and ClearView Flex into their workflow. Richard Barnes, Head of IT at Goldcrest Films tells us how his team are utilising Sohonet’s ClearView product suite to tackle the issues surrounding remote collaboration.

Q> Hi Richard, tell us about the challenges you faced before using ClearView?

RB> My team is based globally and we deal with logistical nightmares and extensive travel just in order to have a meeting on a daily basis. If you now add in demanding customers working to ever tighter timelines and creative resources working on multiple projects in disparate locations you can see the challenge in trying to be everywhere all of the time.

For us, finding the right set of collaborative tools that enable us to look after our customers is key; whether they are looking to grade in real-time across continents or needing to quickly and simply check work on an adhoc basis.

Q>So how is Goldcrest using ClearView to tackle these challenges?

RB> We use both Sohonet’s ClearView Flex and ClearView HD here. ClearView Flex enables our directors and producers to review and approve content in real-time and on any device, whether that be a laptop, mobile, iphone and so on, they just need a wifi connection.  Whilst ClearView HD allows our directors and producers to see a grade remotely in real-time at the high-quality we expect and require in order for us to deliver fantastic content.

As a result, using both these products has allowed the team to escape logistical nightmares, by taking advantage of high quality, real-time collaboration, no matter what continent they are in.

Q> How did you work with Sohonet to get this set up?

RB> Sohonet delivered and installed ClearView and then did a final test before the first session was started in order to ensure quality functioning. My team was then given an extensive demonstration of the real-time color grading service. Both ClearView HD and ClearView Flex are very simple to use though you get added peace of mind due to Sohonet’s 24hr support service, which not only benefits our global collaborative partners but gives goldcrest a competitive advantage.

Q> What features of the ClearView Product suite do you like most?

RB> We found that ClearView is a solid, structured and secure service, allowing us to scatter talent amongst teams, providing the ability for real-time review worldwide, while maintaining high standard content security, encrypting the streams through a secure link with a unique session ID.

Q> Why use Sohonet?

RB> We choose Sohonet because their reputation within the M&E sector, combined with their hands on experience allows them to provide connectivity to the majority of our clients and suppliers, making them the right fit for Goldcrest Films.