Putting a child’s experience first

Many adults still remember the heroes of their favorite childhood television shows, from Big Bird and Mister Rogers to Arthur or Thomas the Tank Engine. The best children’s television shows balance education and entertainment to lift kids academically and socially, influencing development far beyond their early school years.

About 12 years ago, a group of creative professionals founded Sinking Ship Entertainment to create family entertainment that offers a unique approach to children’s programming: stories that put a child’s experience first. Sinking Ship’s live-action and animated shows now air in every country in the world and in dozens of languages. Nominated for 58 Emmy awards, Sinking Ship won the 2015 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series for Dino Dan: Trek’s Adventures.

In the competitive entertainment market, Sinking Ship needs programs that appeal not only to critics and audiences, but also to networks’ wallets. “At Sinking Ship, we never sacrifice quality for cost,” says Matt Bishop, Partner, Sinking Ship Entertainment. “We need to embrace top tools, technologies, and workflows to work more efficiently and have more time to devote to creativity.”

Embracing creativity through the cloud

Sinking Ship originally edited shows using Final Cut Pro, but as the direction of the software changed, the company began looking for a new video editing tool. The team wanted a professional solution that would keep up with the latest technologies and allow people to tell stories more efficiently. After considering Avid, Sinking Ship ultimately chose an Adobe post-production workflow based on Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder.

“Adobe is known for its commitment to creativity,” says Bishop. “We were already using Adobe After Effects for visual effects, so we decided to take a closer look at Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder. The integration between the products gives us a much smoother workflow so that we can move quickly and easily between tools.”

Adobe creative software was already used across the company, from Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator in the art department to Adobe InDesign for printed materials. Sinking Ship decided that upgrading to Adobe Creative Cloud for teams would improve license management company-wide. The company purchased licenses for Creative Cloud for teams directly from Adobe.

“No matter what the creative challenge, Adobe has an app to meet it,” says Bishop. “Adobe Creative Cloud for teams offers us advanced creative features and integration at a price that makes us competitive.”

Movie magic on a kid-sized budget

In 2016, Sinking Ship rose to a new challenge by editing its first feature film entirely in Adobe Premiere Pro. The Odd Squad movie contains 300 visual effects shots — a large number for a small budget. Dynamic Link allows editors to switch between Premiere Pro and After Effects effortlessly and adjust shots without pausing the creative workflow to wait for clips to render.

“The Adobe workflows give us the velocity we need to move through shots quickly and reduce production time and cost,” says Bishop. “We’re a small company, and the efficiency gained from Adobe Creative Cloud for teams allows us to compete on a larger scale.”

Next on Sinking Ship’s radar are two television shows that will air on Amazon Prime: Dino Dana, a spinoff of Dino Dan, and Bookaboo, which promotes reading and literacy. Both shows will be edited entirely in Premiere Pro with After Effects used for compositing green screen shots and adding 3D animation.

Focusing on creativity

Sinking Ship’s nearly 125 team members work at five locations across Toronto to create its award-winning shows. By standardizing all creators on Adobe Creative Cloud for teams, Sinking Ship is improving both license management and collaboration across departments.

Previously, managing versions, updates, and software across locations was time consuming. Now, an administrator can assign licenses from a central location. Everyone works on the same version of software, which eliminates incompatibilities that might slow down collaboration among employees.

“Managing licenses and deployment is far easier with Adobe Creative Cloud for teams,” says Bishop. “We have more flexibility to adjust to the needs of each project and experiment with new apps. If someone is on the All Apps plan and wants to explore a new app, such as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, we can provide access without any additional risk or investment.”

The ability to create packages further improves the administrator’s ability to control licenses and streamline deployment. People generally need different software depending on their department and role. Editors need Premiere Pro, Media Encoder, and After Effects, while members of the art department need Photoshop and Illustrator. By creating different packages, the administrator can distribute the correct software with just a few clicks.

“Learning and fun are cornerstones of Sinking Ship, both in our shows and how we work,” says Bishop. “By using Adobe Creative Cloud for teams, we’re spending less time on management and more time being creative. It’s a true game-changer for us.”

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