Case Study: Square USA achieves on-time, on-budget CG feature production with Franz Inc.'s Allegro CL and AllegroStore

Phantom by Square USA Inc. keeps their new Computer-Generated Film on time and on budget

Square USA, a subsidiary of Square Co., expanded into feature-length computer-generated film and needed a highly flexible production database to manage assets, shots, people and evolving workflows for their first 100% CG film, Final Fantasy. To meet that challenge they used Franz Inc.'s Allegro CL and AllegroStore as the core of their proprietary Phantom production system so the database could adapt rapidly to changing production requirements.

Franz Inc.'s Allegro CL enabled rapid prototyping (initial version in two months) and AllegroStore's object‑oriented database supported the complex, evolving data model; the full Phantom system was completed in about two years with just two programmers. Phantom now tracks nearly all production assets, shot data and blending statistics, helping Square USA keep the film on time and on budget, and the system is designed to be reused and extended for future productions.

Square USA

Shiro Kawai

Chief Architect System