How FileMaker helped Batman fight the Joker

Posted by Justin Hesser on April 22, 2014

If I were to tell you that recent movies like "Skyfall," "Gravity" and "The Dark Knight" were successful because of the special effects that were used on them, you would not be surprised. However, if I told you that FileMaker played a major role in this, that might.

According to a recent article from CBR, London-based Framestore was the company behind the visual effects of these movies and many more. They employ over 600 artists, computer scientists and developers. However, keeping everyone on the same page when you are dealing with single frames of a multi-million dollar movie can be extremely difficult.

This is where FileMaker came into play. According to Alex Jackson, a software developer at the company, on every movie shoot there are piles of data produced including camera shots, lens height and color space. With FileMaker, the company is able to use the rapid development platform to allow staff to initiate and make changes to projects quicker, saving the company thousands of dollars in the process.

"The fact that many film and TV production companies use FileMaker means data shared with and from clients is often in this format, making projects seamless," Jackson said. "The flexibility provided by FileMaker is also vital for us to effectively manage constantly evolving projects and allows hundreds of people from inside and outside our business access to the data."

This means the visual effects artist can access things that are shot that day on a smart device or desktop, make suggestions if a reshooting is needed to improve an effect and those can be put to film almost immediately.

This is just one real world example of how a FileMaker developer can help a company save money and improve operations.