22 February 2012
UK charity Breast Cancer Care have launched their new campaign,
'The Woman Behind the Cancer', and we are proud to have worked
alongside them, M&C Saatchi and director Julia
Fullerton-Battern to help create a striking online video to
illustrate that behind every breast cancer diagnosis is a real
woman with emotional and practical support needs.
The video makes its debut on Breast Cancer Care's website and Facebook page
today and will air on television later this year. The
campaign is also supported with a series of posters across
England.
Learn more about Breast Cancer Care's great work here: www.breastcancercare.org.uk/thewoman
And find out how we helped bring the video to life here.
20 February 2012
I'm a big fan of my D700 and it has travelled everywhere with me
over the last 3.5 years and it has never failed me. The performance
in low light is amazing, but every so often i found my myself
wanting for the ability to record video and often looked enviously
at my Canon 5D holding friends.
Nikon fans have been waiting a while for their 5D II counter
part, and thankfully that wait is now over with the release of the
D800 (as well as the D4). Obviously the major selling point of this
unit is the video capture - covering practically all the frame
rates you might want at HD resolutions of 1920 and 1280 HD. Its
still making H264 (I had hoped for image seq's) so when it comes to
post etc you will need to stripe TC onto it. However, a bonus is
the audio input and outputs for Linear PCM recording and
monitoring, which might mean no more horrible syncing of audio
tracks recorded on a separate digital recorder. It also provides a
full HDMI port (8 bit, 4:2:2) output which can be used for external
monitoring or the signal sent straight to a separate
recording/capture device.
The D800 records video up to 29mins 59secs and lays claim to
being able to reduce the 'rolling shutter' effect which is so
prominent in many DSLR videos, due to the way its intelligent
sensor reads out movie data so quickly from the (quite frankly
bonkers) 36.3MP CMOS sensor (that's a stills resolution of 7360 x
4912 by the way). All of this combined with the same range of ISO
from the D700 (100-6400) makes it a very tempting piece of the kit
for the hi-end pro-sumer, or second body for the full pro who
likely have their eye on the equally impressive D4 which is nearly
twice the price.
At the end of the day though, Nikon will hope it has entered the
DSLR video market with a bang rather than a whimper and with
footage like the below I expect there will be many people keen to
give it a whirl (me included), but with the Canon having just
released the EOS C300 and the 5D Mark III surely around the corner,
will Nikon find themselves back chasing the pack? Only time will
tell.
For a full breakdown of the D800 v the D4 check out this link.
And the full D800 Nikon PDF is here.
15 February 2012
Giving birth has never been so sweet. Directing team Jordan
Sharon and Keith Hamm, A.K.A. "Cousins," follow up their infamous
Skittles "Newlyweds" viral with Reese's "Love Child." The new viral
features an unexpected twist in the delivery room, or rather,
several unexpected twists. Reese's "Love Child" may well leave you
thinking, "Oh no they di-dn't!"
Oh yes, they did.
And they had some help from The Mill L.A., lead by Adam Carroll in
3D and Nick Tayler in 2D, along with 3D Assists Kyle Moore and Matt
Vogan, and 2D Artists Steve Cokonis, Remedy Huynh, Margolit Steiner
and Patrick Munoz. Matt Longwell animated and Gregory Reese graded
"Love Child." And lest we forget Cousins' line producer Kali Erin
Niemann, DP Eric Robbins and editor Ryan Delk.
While over 14 million views between Vimeo and YouTube for Skittles
"Newlyweds" may sound a little mind boggling, directors Sharon and
Hamm weren't entirely surprised. "We think Skittles is a smash
because it's so unexpected," they say. "It's the kind of thing
someone might joke about, but you'd never ever expect to actually
see it. It's got the OMG factor. We hope Reese's will, too."
Take a look! Reese's "Love Child"
10 February 2012
When we re-created Rome for Gladiator the pinnacle of our work
was undoubtedly The Colosseum. From the painstaking detail
within the architecture to populating it with ancient Romans, we
very much started a trend for large scale recreations of venues
that required populating with thousands of people.
We applied the same thinking and creativity to last year's multi
award winning 'Write the Future' (in fact it was last year's most
awarded commercial). Our technical prowess is unparalleled as
is our library, which includes a large range of international and
domestic stadiums.
With over 11 years experience The Mill team can populate our
stadiums with fully realistic crowds including artificial
intelligence, meaning they can behave and celebrate as any creative
idea dictates.
Our most recent addition of course is the London 2012 Olympic
Stadium, ready and waiting to be filled with an expectant
crowd.
Here's a taste of our work...
/work/the-mill-stadiums-reel.aspx
For more information, please contact:
Rahel Makonnen rahelm@themill.com
08 February 2012
Costume Designer Casey Storm takes a seat in the director's
chair to helm this celebratory short film for lifestyle fashion
brand Geren Ford. Storm, whose credits include Being John
Malkovich, Adaptation and Where the Wild Things
Are, teams up with designer Geren Lockhart to direct a series
of short films inspired by her Spring 2012 collection. Our Mill
L.A. team, creative directed by Phil Crowe and led by 2D Artist
Steve Cokonis with Margolit Steiner assisting, handled numerous FX
the 150-shot short film. Final Cut's Matt Murphy edited.
Cokonis explains the job encompassed adding practically shot
fireworks and smoke for the 4th of July party and
setting a flaming typographic treatment for the end frame logo
type. "Perhaps our most notable efforts are the design and
implementation of a camera flash and still frame photograph effect
that was used to highlight the clothes throughout the video," he
adds.
The Mill's Gregory Reese graded the film, adding a bit more
contrast throughout to give the scenes a touch of fashion
spread-type feel. "We did an overall grade at the end, focusing
especially on enhancing the photographic feel of the camera flash
in the still images throughout the party," Reese says.
Lockhart and Storm seem to be onto something. Together their
aesthetic evokes the mischievous, playful and uninhibited spirit
associated with a particular time in life. Or a funky new Geren
Ford outfit!
06 February 2012
In a fiercely competitive game that saw Eli Manning and the NY
Giants beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the Super Bowl
commercials went mano-a-mano vying for 110 million viewers'
attention. It was hard enough to tear yourself away for another
beer or more wings, let alone a bathroom break. Madonna's halftime
performance with Nicki Minaj, Cee Lo Green and LMFAO made you want
to get up and dance instead.
At $3.5 million for a 30-second spot, the stakes for advertisers
were very high. Our own U.S. teams - Mill NY and Mill LA - were
pleased to contribute to many of the Big Game's commercials,
bringing nothing but their best game.
We collaborated closely with top agencies and directors to create
VFX for returning veterans like Budweiser and Honda, as well as
brands that came of age in the New Millennium like cars.com and
CareerBuilder. We also worked on two NFL spots and created an
evolutionary timeline for
NFL.com via Grey NY, as well as commercials featuring renowned
celebrities like Matthew Broderick, who paid homage to his
breakthrough role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off with RPA's 'Day Off'
for Honda CR-V.
In true Super Bowl tradition, we collaborated again with Grey NY
and Venables Bell & Partners (respectively), on E*Trade
'Fatherhood' featuring the deadpan hilarious E*Trade
baby, and Audi 'Vampire Party' - a nod to the stylish new Audi
S7. Also included in Mill Super Bowl fare, entertaining spots
for Bud Light Platinum, Lexus, Toyota and Shaw.
And with that, we're off to put our feet up and watch Ferris
Bueller...!
Re-live our Super Bowl commercial highlights here: Super Bowl
2012
03 February 2012
Is it a bird..? Is it a plane..? Close…… it's the little
metallic bird we designed for Audi, whom we love! So, we asked the
team behind the Audi 'Hummingbird' spot a few questions
about how this project came about and most importantly, how they
made our little winged friend so likeable.
Q: What was the brief given to you by Audi?
A: They wanted us to design and create a
hummingbird made entirely out of car parts, as if he had actually
been designed by the Audi team itself. The new Audi A6 car is built
on very lightweight technology, so they wanted us to showcase all
of the car's qualities in this agile little bird.
(Rahel Makonnen - Executive Producer, 3D)
Q: What was the main challenge you faced in doing
this?
A: Well, it's very tricky to take something that
exists in real life, but to have him made out of entirely different
textures and materials, while still acting and moving like the real
thing.
(Rahel)
Q: What was the main thing you wanted to
achieve?
A: We really wanted to develop the personality of
the hummingbird; this was the main tool we had to make our bird
believable. He had to be friendly, he had to be cheeky and playful,
he had to be elegant and at the same time he had to project all the
qualities of the Audi car.
(Jorge Montiel - Head of Animation)
Q: What was the main tool you used to achieve
this?
A: The Audi car itself has very elegant and clean
lines, so the design had to be a simple one. This meant that the
bird's movement and body language were the main ways we could
express his character. As an animator, the most challenging part of
this process was working on the animatic, this is where we played
around with the timing and the story, and it's all about the story.
Then, in the final animation, this is where we were able perfect
the hummingbird's body expression. It was very time consuming but
it was that extra 5% where we worked on all the little details of
movement and the quality of our work that made the
difference.
(Jorge)
Q: How important was the compositing work in the
project?
A: We had a large amount of layers to composite
together in order to make the hummingbird and his world believable
and realistic. Not only the bird, background and sky but we also
added lost of atmospheric affects like dust and pollen and most
importantly light, achieving a daytime 'photo-real' look was
central to the hummingbird's
world.
(Hugo Guerra - Joint Head of Nuke)
Q: How big a part did light play in this
world?
A: Huge! We did a lot of research on the lighting; it was
one of the few 'real' elements we could use in this fully CG world.
Our approach was to take a lot of photos taken in bright sun light
and to use them as references for all the little subtle effects
that happen in normal photography; the small chromatic aberrations
of light, the distortion of the lens, and the small little glints
of the sun hitting the metal body of the bird. Also, we really
didn't want it to be a cold and unfeeling environment, so we added
a lot of warmth by introducing warm light effects and lens
flares.
(Tom Bussell - Head of 3D)
Q: Was everyone happy with the result?
A: It's an amazing piece of work to be a part of
and everyone was very happy! It was a joint project with BBH and
director Daniel Barber and we are always very excited to work with
both of them!
(Rahel)
Audi 'Hummingbird' has just been nominated for 3 VES (Visual Effects Society) awards, the results of
which will be announced next Tuesday, February 7th... In the
meantime, you can click here to see him in action!
02 February 2012
The Gunn Report is based on a simple idea: It takes the winners'
lists from the biggest awards across the world and, using this
info, creates its own 'most awarded' league tables for the
advertising industry.
It's always interesting to see the results of such a 'mega' report
and this year we were extremely proud to see that in the
'Most-awarded Film Ads in the World 2011' category, we had worked
on the top four spots!
In 1st and 2nd place (respectively), we collaborated with Wieden +
Kennedy, Amsterdam on both Nike 'Write The
Future' and Heineken 'The Entrance'. Of course
football and beer would probably top any worldwide league table! In
3rd place was Saatchi & Saatchi's T-Mobile 'Welcome Back',
who could forget a 300-strong crowd greeting weary passengers at
Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5? And in 4th place Wieden + Kennedy,
Portland's shirtless comedy for Old Spice 'Questions' and 'Boat' still has us chuckling!
The Gunn Report describes its work as 'In a nutshell, our function
in life is to identify the most awarded new work in the world each
year; to identify who is doing it; and to celebrate both.'
You can take a look at today's Campaign magazine for a run down of
the all the results or visit: http://www.gunnreport.com/
01 February 2012
Colour us happy… we are very pleased to say that the full upgrades
to Mill Colour, our award winning photo grading app for the iPhone,
are now available to download… for free!
Mill Colour 1.2 allows all you budding David Baileys to alter any
image with the precision and subtlety of our professional
Colourists who have worked closely with our Mill Digital team to
develop the app.
The app emulates the primary grading techniques used in one of our
high-end digital suites; so instead of applying and manipulating a
filter to fit an image, Mill Colour 1.2 allows you to adapt and
refine the source image to achieve the look and feel you
want.
The latest updates also include an improved maximum editable
resolution for more recent hardware so users can edit photos taken
on the latest iPhone; an improved pan and zoom facility allowing
for a closer image inspection on screen, enabling pictures to be
refined with even greater precision; and an improved image
processing system to make grading and saving photos even
quicker.
We were also very proud to see that Mill Colour has been recently
been included in the prestigious FWA 'The App and Mobile Case Study Book', which
showcases the 50 best apps of the previous few years.
Click here or search
"Mill Colour" in the app store on iTunes to download Mill Colour
1.2 now!
Stuck for inspiration? Why not check out our professional
Colourists' showreels:
/showreels.aspx
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