In the business we’re in, we’re no stranger to deadlines. And we certainly understand the consequences of missing them.
So, we were the perfect partner when two hour-long episodes of a documentary series titled Jobsite that will air on The History Channel needed custom 3D-animated segments to help tell their stories of ultra-high-stakes deadlines and the people tasked with meeting them.
The programs, premiering back-to-back the evening of December 30, 2009, each take viewers through a complex, real-life race against time.
In Concrete Countdown, contractors have just 90 minutes to get fresh concrete from a plant in Queens to the 60th floor of a building under construction in midtown Manhattan. And if they don’t? The concrete is worthless, and a whole day is lost. Premieres December 30, 2009, 8 pm CST on The History Channel.
In Deadline Delivery, a patient at a New York City hospital is waiting for a lifesaving radioactive drug. The challenge? The drug is in Shanghai. Follow a team of FedEx delivery experts as they battle long distances, complex regulations, and unexpected weather in a high-stakes race against time. Premieres December 30, 2009, 9 pm CST on The History Channel.
To keep the overall theme of deadline pressure consistent through every part of the process, we had pretty stringent timelines ourselves—little time to plan, design and animate each segment, and the overarching need to cram a whole lot of understanding into only 20 seconds of running time.
It was a challenge, but it was also a lot of fun. And of course we’ve learned yet again how the right people can make the nearly-impossible happen on a daily basis.
Be sure to tune in on the 30th. And if you’re interested in the technical details of how we pulled off our part of the process—in record time, natch—click here for the technical blog.
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