—Deployed for stop-motion animated feature ParaNorman, Shotgun proves effective in enhancing collaboration within data-heavy stop-motion pipelines—

Los Angeles, CA (February 8, 2012) - Shotgun Software announced that leading animation studio LAIKA has purchased a site license of Shotgun to manage production and enhance collaboration for stop-motion and VFX work throughout its Portland, Oregon studio. LAIKA implemented the flexible, web-based solution as a central platform for modernizing production management of the data-heavy stop-motion process on its upcoming 3D animated feature ParaNorman, releasing August 17, 2012 from Focus Features.

“The traditional method of sharing information and keeping a stop-motion production rolling involves armies of people with clipboards and a massive hallway of shot boards, printouts and schedules,” said Jeff Stringer, LAIKA’s director of production technology. “We have been using Shotgun to manage visual effects work for a long time, and when we started ParaNorman, we saw an opportunity to use it within the stop-motion pipeline also, to modernize some of the processes we were doing manually.

“The biggest benefit Shotgun gives us is the ability to organize approved artwork and relate it to the shots,” Stringer added. “When we are talking about a particular piece of artwork, everyone is now sure they’re looking at the exact same thing. That was not the case before Shotgun.”

Shotgun is a web-based system that gives all parties involved in a project instant access to critical data, messaging and real-time project progress. Its open API enables studios to use Shotgun as a central platform around which they can quickly build custom tools and bridges to other applications using Python scripting.

“Shotgun is so flexible and easy to customize that we were able to build great tools quickly that let people feed data in automatically and publish easily,” said LAIKA TD Supervisor Rob Blau. “The way Shotgun has branched out across the pipeline throughout ParaNorman showed us that it’s a great solution to help us collaborate much more effectively on stop-motion productions.”

About Shotgun Software
Shotgun Software was founded in 2006 by a group of visual effects professionals to build production tracking and pipeline solutions. The founding members worked together on a major studio animated feature and are developing Shotgun to fill the mounting industry need for a commercially viable system for managing complex projects spread across multiple locations. Shotgun is actively developing the system with more than 300 industry studios including Digital Domain, Double Negative, Reliance, Framestore, Pixomondo, Playstation, Blizzard and Zoic Studios. For more information and an online demonstration visit http://www.shotgunsoftware.com

About LAIKA
LAIKA is an animation company specializing in feature films, commercials and short films. Travis Knight serves as President and CEO of the company, which is owned by Nike co-founder and Chairman Philip H. Knight and located in Portland, Oregon. In LAIKA’s newest film, ParaNorman, a misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead takes on ghosts, zombies and, worst of all, grown-ups, in order to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler from Mr. Butler’s script, ParaNorman will be released in theaters on August 17, 2012 by Focus Features. LAIKA/house is world renowned for its skill in storytelling and character animation in many media, including 2D, CG and Stop Motion. The commercial studio produces commercials, branded entertainment and content for television, film, Internet and mobile venues.

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Contact:
Karen Raz | Raz Public Relations | 310.450.1482 | Karen@razpr.com