Modernizing Production Workflows at DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation partnered with Amdocs Studios, Amdocs’ experience-led and digital engineering division, to modernize how animated feature films manage digital assets and creative workflows at scale. A single animated film spans four years, involves 12 departments, generates hundreds of thousands of assets, and requires over 1PB of storage and hundreds of thousands of hours of compute. Managing this complexity is not only an infrastructure challenge but also a matter of usability, trust, and scale.

DreamWorks selected Amdocs Studios not just for technical expertise but for a shared belief: tools must serve the creative process. Artists are the heartbeat of animation, and Amdocs brought a team committed to building with them and not just for them.

Challenges

• Modernize and streamline workflows to meet rising demands of high volume, high-quality content.
• Legacy processes and fragmented UIs slowed creative teams.
• Deeply ingrained habits and production methods made technology adoption difficult.

Amdocs Studios Partnered with Dreamworks to Co-Engineer a Modernized, Human-Centric Production Environment

Solution

• DAM Interface: Centralized access to metadata, history,references, and variants across all 12 production stages.
• Design Library System (DLS): Standardized component library to reduce UI fragmentation and accelerate workflow builds.
• Workflow Redesigns: Modeling & CFX completed; Digimatte, Grooming, and Previz underway.
• Partner Access Framework: Secure, searchable platform enabling both internal and external vendor collaboration.

Value Delivered

• Bridged innovation with usability, empowering creative teams with intuitive, advanced tools.
• Positioned DreamWorks to scale production, reduce complexity, and accelerate delivery timelines.
• Reinforced Amdocs’ role as a strategic modernization partner in creative industries.
• Created a scalable model that can extend beyond.
• DreamWorks to broader production ecosystems.

This initiative goes beyond a tool upgrade. It is the foundation for a creative operating system that streamlines access, enhances visibility, and scales production.