LucidLink connects collaborators for Oscar-winning glory

About The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Based on Charlie Mackesy’s beloved book, this Apple TV+ animated short was the first production from NoneMore Productions, co-produced with Bad Robot. 

Directed by Mackesy and Peter Baynton, the film brought Mackesy’s distinctive illustrations to life with hand-drawn animation and an all-star voice cast, including Tom Hollander, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne and Jude Coward Nicoll.

Introduction

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is an Apple Original Film based on Charlie Mackesy’s beloved bestseller. The short went on to win an Academy Award, a BAFTA and four Annie Awards. A remarkable debut for NoneMore Productions, the company founded to bring this story to life.

What makes this success even more extraordinary is the way in which the film was made. Over 120 artists and crew members, spread across more than 20 countries, collaborated entirely remotely for 16 months.

Ben Wood, Animation Senior Support Specialist at NoneMore, shared how the crew created a critically acclaimed film under extraordinary circumstances — and how LucidLink was the collaborative backbone that made it possible.

The challenge: creating magic while working apart

When production began in 2021, lockdowns meant the entire creative team was scattered across the globe. Alongside geography, this created more hurdles for the production.

Prohibitive costs

NoneMore needed a way to share massive animation and editing files quickly and reliably, without spending a fortune. Their first idea was to host virtual machines in the cloud. But the price tag was steep: £1500 ($1800) per user, per month.

“Even working with just a skeleton team of lead editor, senior compositors and senior artists, this would have bankrupted the production very quickly,” says Ben.

Scattered data

On top of that, assets were spread across Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint and more, making it difficult to keep track of who had what, and where.

Ben explains, “It was very confusing with all the data scattered across lots of different services with different subscriptions. We had dozens of users working on their own machines in different countries, in different time zones and we needed to crack on with the job quickly. 

“We wanted to find a backbone technology fit for our budget and one that would help us condense all the data into one place under one subscription in a simple design. It was a tall ask.”

The solution: LucidLink as the backbone of production

NoneMore turned to LucidLink. Recommended by Jigsaw24 Media and Mark Ervin, Director of IT at Freuds, LucidLink offered exactly what NoneMore needed: one cloud-based workspace that everyone could access in real time. 

After a quick test run, NoneMore quickly rolled out the platform to 30 users, then 60 and then the entire 120+ remote geo-located production team. 

Onboarding was quick and easy. Ben wrote up a simple install guide and that was it — the team got straight to work from there.

“A major part of going with LucidLink was that it just made sense. The technology allowed seamless collaboration with any number of people with an instant connection and rapid upload and download to solve our big problem.”

The results: zero downtime, zero data loss

Thanks to LucidLink, NoneMore didn’t lose a single file during the entire production, avoiding the technical nightmares that plague even the biggest studios.

Results at a glance

• Zero data loss: automatic backups and instant file recovery

• One shared workspace: everyone working from the same LucidLink filespace

• Fast onboarding: new users productive in minutes

• 120+ remote collaborators: connected and in sync

• Huge cost savings: no need for pricey virtual machines

• No production delays: tech never slowed the team down

“Backups were automatic and guaranteed, “ says Wood. “Snapshots enabled us to know where all our data was at any time. We didn’t lose a single piece of data with LucidLink.”

“We’re a smaller company, and we didn’t have a server room. With LucidLink, you don’t have to worry about loss of files or the failure to backup anymore.”

Connecting a global team

The film’s message of compassion and hope resonated during a time when the world felt far apart. LucidLink helped the production team feel as connected as the characters they were animating.

“When you’re making such a heartfelt, loving film and you need to get that emotion into your character and your art, you don’t want to be distracted by clunky, outdated technology.”

“It really is like a brand new way of working.”

Ready to make remote production effortless?

Bring your team together, protect your creative assets and keep projects moving, wherever your artists are. Book a demo today.