Quantitative, or “quant,” finance is a data-driven approach to managing investments. Traditional managers rely on their judgement and experience to produce market insights (an effective but limited approach depending on the skill level of the manager), while quants employ mathematical models and AI – creating a more comprehensive picture of the financial landscape than any traditional analyst could envision. By analyzing markets at such a massive scale, we are able to gain big-picture insights with an unprecedented level of accuracy.
WorldQuant is a global asset management firm at the forefront of quant finance. Founded in 2007 by Igor Tulchinsky, their team of more than 1,000 employees worldwide develops and deploys investment strategies across a variety of asset classes in global markets. Quant finance is an exciting and rapidly expanding field, attracting more and more young talent every day. To leverage this pool of aspiring quants, WorldQuant created BRAIN, a free and proprietary simulation platform that allows users to tap into vast datasets and test their ideas in real market scenarios.
WorldQuant BRAIN helps to demystify the world of quant finance, but global markets can still be intimidating – especially for a beginner. Thornberg & Forester were enlisted by WorldQuant to help aspiring quants begin their journey. We partnered with WorldQuant to create an 11-episode video series, Learn2Quant, that explains the fundamentals of quant finance, and showcases how BRAIN can empower future quants to test their ideas by creating alphas: powerful mathematical models that aim to predict the future price movement of various financial instruments.
Please click here to view Learn2Quant.
Learn2Quant is hosted by Nitish Maini, Chief Strategy Officer at WorldQuant. With an impressive career as a quant researcher and portfolio manager before joining WorldQuant’s leadership team, Nitish brings his expertise to guide viewers through this beginner’s series on quantitative finance.
After exploring many options for look and feel, we landed on a seemingly infinite, graphic foundation for the Learn2Quant universe. The foundation is a dimensional extrapolation of a square – the shape of the WorldQuant logo. The universe consists of intricate walls of data that pulse with information, color and light.
Metaphorically, quants harness the information contained in these strands of data to create alphas – which, by design, are represented as colorful, translucent cubes. The data walls feature a utilitarian aesthetic while alphas are more stylized, creating a clear visual distinction between the raw data users take in and the powerful tools they can then create with it.
Once we settled on an overall visual framework, we moved into production planning and logistics. Generating over seventy minutes of content is significant, especially when charged with making clear sense of complex ideas while maximizing production value and brand integrity. We worked with provided scripts and planned a 2-day film shoot to capture Nitish and his dialogue. We subdivided each video into specific shot categories – A and B camera angles, hero 3D moments, BRAIN demos, explanatory icons and graphics, definition cards, opens and closes, title cards and other transitional graphics.
Technical information can often be complex, but it’s our job to make the message clear. Text-based graphics such as title cards, key word definitions, and supers play a key role by clarifying terms and communicating key ideas along our quant journey. We designed these graphics to be clean and direct, leveraging WorldQuant’s hero orange as a vibrant accent color to create clear separation between text and environment.
Alphas are mathematical models that seek to predict the future price movement of various financial instruments. We represent alphas as cubic models that encase data. Data is represented as living organic matter within the cube.
Viewers of the series will also learn that there are different types of alphas. By design, each is differentiated by color and ambient light to showcase diversity and variance. Ultimately, we crafted a dimensional, visual device that is powerful, complex and beautiful.
Learn2Quant is presented with a variety of explainer film techniques – from first-person shots of Nitish describing the landscape of quant finance, to complex 3D flythroughs showcasing a world of data.
The degree of narrative complexity informed which moments would require simple animation and which would require more intensive execution. In addition, by editorially alternating between live action, text, 3D and 2D animation, we were able to build a striking visual, and on-brand, language that would maintain viewer interest.
When we needed to communicate a concept quickly, 2D diagrammatic animation was the ideal method. These shots feature carefully designed charts, graphs and diagrams. We also designed a library of over 100 custom graphic icons that would become major characters in the series. The icons are clean and modern, and are based within a circular framework to easily distinguish them from scene to scene.
All things finance are often visually realized in underwhelming fashion. Conversely, in Learn2Quant, we present global markets as a fantastic, stylized world of animated, information-rich, data and showcase moments in which we’ve simulated demos of WorldQuant BRAIN in action. These scenes allow aspiring quants to literally see how BRAIN can take their ideas and mold them into powerful predictive models.
We partnered with Joel Pickard of Joel Pickard Music for Picture to compose a rich body of music and sound design for the Learn2Quant series. Joel was tasked with the challenge to score music that would sound big and aspirational, have a nod to tech, and feel warm and apprtoachable.
Joel states, “As composer and sound designer, my role was to create an immersive musical and sonic landscape that enhanced the visual and technological narrative of the WorldQuant story. This required me to compose musical segments that underscored dialogue and visual narratives, as well as to develop a toolkit of sounds that brought the visual data structures to life.
Musically, I composed a suite of short themes that varied from bold and heroic to subtle and ambient. The opening and closing themes needed to have a strong, modern sound, which I achieved using brass instruments and low drums, combined with rhythmic and pulsating textures from analog synthesizers and computer-generated sounds. This approach effectively conveyed the energy and momentum of WorldQuant’s work. I also created ambient musical beds to support dialogue and more complex visual scenes.
The sound design toolkit consisted of hundreds of individual sounds created to animate the graphics of data sets, charts, on-screen motion and text cards.
Stylistically, my objective was to develop a cohesive palette of sounds and musical gestures that shared a unified texture and quality, making it seem as if they all originated from the same world. The overall sound was intended to be bold, uncluttered, and modern while still retaining warmth and approachability.
To create this music and sound, I utilized a variety of tools, including Moog analog synthesizers, computer sample manipulation, field recordings of natural textures and Foley recordings of individual sounds.
For instance, to find sounds that represented both on-screen ticking motion and a cascading graphic, I started by recording a long string of dominoes and a handheld kitchen egg beater. These sounds served as source material, which I then manipulated and enhanced in the computer. The final sounds became unrecognizable yet maintained an organic motion and quality that fit seamlessly within the overall story.”
Special thanks to our friends at WorldQuant for partnering with T&F to design and produce this amazing film series. This work marks our longest form body of content to date.
And thank you to the incredible team at Thornberg & Forester for your steadfast drive, determination and commitment to making this series remarkable.