Monday, June 20, 2011
After a very wet rest day, spirits were high for tackling Col
d'Izoard when the weather forecast predicted a dry day, although
they were quickly crushed again as it turned out to be one of the
worst so far! This led to immediate clothing dilemmas as
finding the balance between being waterproof whilst not
compromising weight is a constant struggle. So once everyone
had sorted out their attire, they set off for the first climb of
the day - Col du Lautray. However, the crazy rain literally
bucketed down and everyone was soaked within minutes, rendering
even the most carefully chosen waterproof protection useless.
Their first descent was particularly hairy as their brakes were
hopeless in the wet, but they managed to get a tailwind and some
decent speed, everyone hitting the bottom safely for a well-earned
treat - and with that, 50+ sodden Fireflies traipsed into le
McDonalds! Staff weren't entirely sure what hit them as
the guys stuffed their pockets with hamburgers to go and enjoy
eating them at the top of the mountain.
For the next couple of hours, they cycled through cloud and rain
before hitting a freezing patch of weather that drove everyone into
a local coffee shop to put on as many items of warm clothing as
possible before tackling a 30km descent. Halfway down
however, they got stuck behind a huge flock of sheep and were left
waiting for 15 minutes before they could continue their ride. When
they were able to carry on, they flew down the mountain in one of
their fastest descents, passing a huge gorge with only a tiny wall
between them and a 500ft sheer drop! Add that to the constant
rain, wet roads and no brakes, it made for a particularly scary
leg.
Dripping wet, they arrived at Guillestre for lunch, barrelling
into the local pizzeria and soaking the floor with their wringing
wet clothes. The restaurant was cooking pizza at a rate of
knots to feed the hungry team! Unfortunately for Chris, he
was one of the last to order and they had run out of pizza by the
time they reached him, so sadly he had to settle for a lasagne
instead.
Still chewing his final mouthful, Chris and the guys left for
the final leg of the day as the rain continued to fall and headed
straight into what can only be described as an alpine
thunderstorm! Moral wasn't exactly boosted with talk of
horror stories about cyclists getting struck by lightening but in
true Fireflies spirit, they ploughed through. By this point,
Alex had donned every piece of clothing he owned to keep
warm. Despite this, he describes it as his best day
yet. Chris however, found the day more difficult - both
physically and psychologically. He even resorted to wearing
gardening gloves in an attempt to keep dry and warm, but these
turned out to be a bit too big and clunky, and combined with
numbness from the cold, operating the bike became near on
impossible. Plus, they didn't help his tanning!
Nice gloves!
Happily, the weather cleared for the final couple of hours of
the day and they were able to blast through the last few miles,
forming a pellaton, before arriving for the night in Gap to dry
off!
STATS FROM THE DAY:
Top Speeds: Not registered due to lack of brakes!
Climbed: 2,400m
Distance: 153km
If you would like to show your support for the guys with a
donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:
Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten
Saturday, June 18, 2011
As a result of last night's rain storm, the Fireflies didn't get
up to their restaurant in La Grave until 10pm to eat dinner. They
had a great evening chatting away and crowded round the bar area
with a few beers to celebrate the success of the ride so far.
With their rest day finally here they took full advantage of a
chilled morning, starting with the obligatory laundry (pants and
Lycra hanging all over the place!) and grabbing a crepe for
breakfast. The weather in the morning was beautiful -
not a cloud in the sky and the view of the Mountain from their
hotel window was magnificent.
Spirits high they took a stroll around La Grave, fiddled with the
bikes and gave them a good clean in preparation for tomorrow's ride
before taking lunch. Burger, chips and a pint... Living the
dream! While they were eating Bradley Wiggins (the British
professional track and road bicycle racer) zoomed past with Team
Sky, which they all thought was pretty cool and shouted out "Go on
Bradley" as he rode by. Several of the mountains in the 2011
Fireflies ride are covered in this year's Tour de France and just
goes to show how extraordinarily well everyone is doing. The
guys said it's pretty inspiring to be riding in the tracks of these
high-profile international cyclists.
In the afternoon Alex and Chris booked in for a massage to ease
their aches and pains. Their masseuse, Collette, had been
practicing for 20 years and according to the lads had "hands like a
blacksmith"! Alex went in first and was silently screaming in
his head with the pain. When the pair changed over Chris said that
Alex was looking pretty spaced out but also a little sheepish,
which he didn't really understand until he went in and was promptly
asked to strip off! Chris wasn't so quiet once she got started -
laughing hysterically with the agony. He said his thighs were
absolutely killing and she wasn't shy when it came to that area -
joking that he "now realises why he paid 40 Euros more than
Alex!"
Massage over and the rain has started to move in again. They're
all going to meet in restaurant later to have some beers again and
are really looking forward to getting back on the road to take on
Col D'izoard as they move towards the Pyrenees.
*** HOT OFF THE PRESS ***
We can now reveal Chris's 'Tan hand' - what a beauty!
As a result of last night's horizontal rain storm,
the Fireflies didn't get up to their restaurant in La Grave until
10pm to eat dinner. They had a great evening chatting away and
crowded round the bar area with a few beers to celebrate the
success of the ride so far.
With their rest day finally here they took full advantage of a
chilled morning, starting with the obligatory laundry (pants and
Lycra hanging all over the place!) and grabbing a crepe for
breakfast. The weather in the morning was beautiful -
not a cloud in the sky and the view of the Mountain from their
hotel window was magnificent.
Spirits high they took a stroll around La Grave, fiddled with the
bikes and gave them a good clean in preparation for tomorrow's ride
before taking lunch, which consisted of burger, chips with a pint.
Living the dream! While they were eating Bradley Wiggins, the
British professional track and road bicycle racer, zoomed past with
Team Sky which they all thought was pretty cool and shouted out "Go
on Bradley" as he rode by. Several of the mountains in the 2011
Fireflies ride are covered in this year's Tour de France, which
just goes to show how extraordinarily well everyone is doing and
the guys said it's pretty inspiring to be riding in the tracks of
these high-profile international cyclists.
In the afternoon Alex and Chris booked in for a massage to ease
their aches and pains. Their masseuse, Collette, had been
practicing for 20 years and according to the lads had "hands like a
blacksmith"! Alex went in first and was silently screaming in
his head with pain as she worked on his knots. When the pair
changed over Chris said that Alex was looking pretty spaced out but
also slightly sheepish, which he didn't really understand until he
went in and was promptly asked to strip off! Neither were expecting
the nakedness (not from her we're assured!) so were a little taken
aback. Chris wasn't quite so quiet once she got started - laughing
hysterically in agony. He said his thighs were absolutely killing
and she wasn't shy when it came to that area - joking that he "now
realised why he paid 40 Euros more than Alex!"
Massages over and the rain has started to move in again. They're
all going to meet in restaurant later to have some beers again and
are really looking forward to getting back on the road to take on
Col D'izoard as they move towards the Pyrenees.
*** Hot off the press ***
We can now reveal the spectacle that is Chris's tan hand. What a
beauty!
Friday, June 17, 2011
"Get to the top Denis"
Everyone was very excited today, especially Chris whose favourite
mountain Col de l'Iseran was next up. He was so disappointed
last year as this particular mountain got snowed off.
Post-breakfast and with perfect weather everyone was buzzing,
especially with Chris running round like a kid at Christmas
shouting out how amazing it was going to be!
Col de l'Iseran is a challenging climb - the 2nd highest mountain
pass in Europe to be precise at 2770m and it's the highest that
they will get on the ride. So high in fact that as they cycled up
through the snow line they even saw people skiing! Then on
the other side, with chest cam strapped on (footage to follow), the
team belted down so fast that they broke land speed records!
(possibly). Alex hit an impressive 47mph and Chris a whopping
51mph! There were lots of "yahoo's" at the bottom as they
celebrated with a cheeky hot chocolate.
Once down in the valley floor there was a strong head wind so the
team rode a 50mile peloton. For those not down with the cycling
lingo, the a peloton is a formation where they line up behind each
other with the rider at the front taking the head wind and dropping
back for the next cyclist when they get tired, resulting in an
amazing reduction in drag. Magic!
Their next climb, 'Telegraph', was a foothill up to Col du
Galibier, the subsequent mountain. It was scorching and it all got
a bit too much for Chris as his body gave up on him when he
"bonked". A "Bonk" is a catastrophic moment when there's
suddenly nothing left in the tank, legs turn to jelly, vision blurs
and fatigue takes over. So he had a lie down in the shade
with everyone taking good care of him - feeding him as much food
and drink as possible until, in true Firefly spirit, Chris was back
in the saddle!
They gently rolled into their lunch destination - Valloire, but it
was already 3pm - by French standards, a late lunch! As a result
they walked from restaurant to restaurant getting turned away and
they started to really worry that they wouldn't be able to get any
food in but to everyone's relief, they stumbled upon a place that
agreed to feed them. It turned out to be the lunch joint for
another British cycling tour so they exchanged stories on their
adventures and rather superior when they learned that the other
group were only cycling a mere 50km a day! Pah!
After after a bowl of chicken nuggets for Alex and the notorious
fromage et jambon baguette for Chris, they geared up for Galibier
when the heavens opened! It rained and it rained and it rained...
so much so that they couldn't even see the mountain.
Chris had flash backs to last year's snow so layered up with as
many clothes as he could find but within a mile he nearly passed
out as he was so bloody hot! He stripped off but with nowhere
to put the clothes he found himself riding along with trousers
round his neck and socks over his handlebars! Good look
Chris. They pushed on through the cold and wet and by now
everyone was strung out over a 10 mile long stretch. Chris
and a fellow Firefly helped each other up the mountain with
renditions of T'Pau's "China in your Hand" together with a little
bit of Genesis, Status Quo and some Marmot impressions?! It goes a
little something like
this.
Finally the rain stopped and the sun shone so Alex, who was
waterproofed up to the hilt decided to take his soggy trousers
off. Zip down, trousers around the ankles and within seconds
a big black cloud had plonked itself right on top of him and
proceeded to rain from there on in. It couldn't have been
scripted!
It was a slippery ride down with fingers on the brakes the whole
20km. By the end of the evening the weather had turned quite
vicious and people were getting pulled off the mountain when a huge
hail storm and lightening struck. Wet through to the bone
they were totally numb, arriving a La Grave at 8pm - another 11
1/12 hour day. Alex swore that it was "without question
the hardest thing he has ever done!" and "Massively far beyond
anything you could ever imagine until you've participated."
The duo are getting closer by the day, their beds are now only 0.5
inches apart and Chris no longer feels the need to wear a towel
once he gets out of the shower - much to Alex's delight!
Tomorrow is a much deserved rest day.
And don't worry we've asked Chris for his tan hand
update...!
STATS FROM THE DAY:
Top Speeds: Chops - 51 mph; Alex - 47mph
Climbed: 3,250m
Distance: 95miles
If you would like to show your support for the guys with a
donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:
Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten
Friday, June 17, 2011
The D&AD's celebrated another fantastic year for creativity
at their annual awards ceremony held in London last night.
The big commercial winners were our friends from Wieden+Kennedy
Portland who scooped nine awards in total, including two of the
coveted Black Pencils for their Old Spice
'The Man You Could Smell Like' campaign, which our Mill LA
office helped bring to life.
Sister office Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam was another big winner
taking home four Yellow Pencils for Nike's 'Write the
Future' campaign, on which both our London and New York studios
collaborated.
The Mill LA team were also pleased to see their work on the How
to Destroy Angels music promo for 'The Space in
Between' being featured in the D&AD Annual for best Special
Effects.
Huge congratulations to both Wieden+Kennedy's Portland and
Amsterdam teams for two truly epic campaigns, and of course to all
of the other worthy winners.
To view the full list of 2011 D&AD winners, visit:
http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2011/categories
Friday, June 17, 2011
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Lucie
Friar as Gaming Producer.
As Gaming Producer, Lucie will continue to develop relationships
with existing clients as well as driving new creative
partnerships.
Arran Green, our Head of Gaming, said: "We are delighted
to have Lucie join The Mill. Her appointment strengthens The
Mill's Gaming team and Lucie
brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience, having worked
on some of the world's best game trailers and marketing campaigns
during the past few years.
"As Gaming Producer Lucie is the perfect fit to evolve and drive
the team forward and achieve our goals of creating the very best
gaming cinematic content."
Before joining The Mill, Lucie was Client Services Director at
Maverick for two years working on projects like EA Games 'Crisis 2'
and PSP 'Little Big Planet'.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Four mountains in one day. Wow!
The guys departed Talloires at 8:30am and didn't reach their digs
until 8:00pm - that's 11 1/2 hours of serious riding and true
commitment to the cause.
Knackered from the day before the guys geared up, stepped out of
the hotel, turned left and went up. And up. And up! Straight
of the bat they had a nasty climb up Col de Forclaz with the
gradient touching 11%. It was a force to be reckoned with and
took them two hours to reach the top where at 1,527 m (5,010 ft)
they had some spectacular views overlooking Lake Annsey.
Spot the difference!
With three further mountains to climb there was not much time to
waste so the team descended to a 20km flat which gave their legs a
little rest before mountain #2. This mountain seemed small but was
still a tough ride - again touching 11% for 8 km. It was
very, very hot and hard in the 32 degree heat and they're having to
drink gallons of water to rehydrate themselves. I don't know, they
moan when it snows and they moan when it's hot…!
After a spot of lunch at Beaufort they prepared themselves to take
on the beast that is Cormet de Roselend. The pass was first
included in the Tour de France in 1979 and has since featured 9
times... for a reason! At just under 2000 metres at the summit it
is a beautiful and challenging climb with an epic decent off the
back of it. Some of the riders managed to reach mid 40-50mph
and Chris, harnessed up with his go pro camera, managed to capture
some amazing footage which everyone crowded around to watch in
amazement of what they had achieved last night. We can't wait to
see it!
They did it!!
At the bottom of the valleys they had a refreshing cup of tea and
it was 6pm before they even set off for their last climb of the
day, which sent them straight up to Val d'Isère. It took them 2
hours to complete the 25km but it was a beautiful end to the day
with the sun setting over some incredible views and several tunnels
to ride through, which at that time were pitch black - a very
surreal feeling. In true Fireflies tradition, along with a few
others, Chris stayed at the back and saw the slower riders to the
door. Great humanitarian effort Chris - what a hero!
Back at the ranch everyone was feeling very tired, achy and
wobbly. Food is now simply fuel!
Alex, who after two days solid riding, now knows the meaning of
"saddle sore" describing that his "ar*e feels like it's been
ravaged by a rogue bear" and has been given the advise that a raw
steak down the gusset works wonders! Nice.
It was a proper beastly Fireflies day and a bit of a milestone for
all of the virgin riders taking part this year. In Alex's
words it was "monumental but rewarding".
They are dreading the 6am alarm but have a nice descent to look
forward to in the morning and their rest day is in sight!
STATS FROM THE DAY:
Top Speeds: Chris - 48.7mph; Alex - looked down
at 45mph, got scared, and looked straight back at the road! So it
could have be more...
Climbed: 3,690m
Distance: 127km
If you would like to show your support for the guys with a
donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:
Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The Bessies are one of Canada's most
prestigious advertising awards showing off Canada's creative
prowess to the world since 1963. This year, our work on the
SunChips spot 'Removing', was awarded with a Craft Award for
Colourist, with the honours going to Seamus O'Kane. Our
congratulations also go to Jess Hall for picking up a Craft Award
for Cinematography.
The concept for SunChips was brought to life so elegantly by
Gorgeous' Vince Squibb, demonstrating the biodegradable
packaging.
In fact, congratulations all round to Vince Squibb and to
Juniper Park South Africa as it also picked up a Gold TV Single
award!
To see a full list of all the winners visit the http://thebessies.ca/2011/winners.html
Click here to see Vince's beautiful spot...
Thursday, June 16, 2011
We are delighted to present The Mill US Showreel
2011!
We've had another hugely successful year and our reel features a
wide variety of some of the best work from our New York and LA
studios, where we've been lucky enough to collaborate with
incredibly creative and talented directors, agencies and production
companies.
If you happened to catch the 2011 Super Bowl (as we all know the
commercials are the best bit!) you will no doubt recognize several
spots, alongside the now iconic Old Spice campaign with
'Questions', the charming and child-like wonderment of AT&T's
'Birthday', the nostalgic NFL's 'American Family' through to Nike's
mammoth 'Write the Future' - there's something for everyone to
enjoy!
Take a look and let us know your favourites...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
This week marks the eleventh year of the Fireflies charity bike
ride, which will see our Alex Webster and Chris Batten (aka
Chopper) along with over 50 other Fireflies riders cycle 1000KM and
climb 90,000FT across the Grand Alps from Geneva to Cannes all in
aid of Leuka.
There are lots of new faces taking part this year, Alex being one
of them, and he was happily making new friends like it was his
first day at school (bless) when the team gathered in Geneva on
Monday, with, of course the obligatory conversations about
Lycra! They had lunch by the beautiful Lac Leman and spent
the night at the Hilton Evian-les-Bains hotel for that last bit of
luxury before embarking on the Alps. As we all know, Evian is
famous for its crystal clear mineral water which runs freely from
the taps in the hotel, but this obviously slipped Alex and Chris's
mind when they popped to the shop and bought a couple of bottles
of... 'Evian'!
They were both very anxious and excited about the ride ahead but
managed to get their heads down for some sleep, even though Alex
had to try and block out the snore of the Chopper, who was having a
bizarre nightmare in which (to quote Chris), "I had a fight with a
dragon and ended up in a newsagents with Barnes!" Make of that what
you will!
The boys leaving Evian / This years virgin riders (Alex
inc.)
In the morning they ate their way through a hearty breakfast
before leaving the beautiful shores of Lac Leman and hitting the
road. Their first mountain - the Col de Joux Plane is a 1st
category climb (= VERY steep!). So steep in fact that poor Alex
almost left the contents of his stomach on the road, but he dug
deep and pushed through to make it to the summit where everyone
gathered and cheered their fellow Fireflies in. The climb was well
worth it and made for an amazing descent - allowing the fastest
Firefly to hit an impressive 50mph with Chris making 44.7mph and
Alex getting into the low 40's mph too.
Alex taking it all in / Spectacular views / Climbing Col de Joux
Plane
After a rest at the top they embarked on the next leg of their
journey, heading on to the second mountain of the day also a
category 1 - the Col de la Colombiere. Incidentally both mountains
have featured in the Tour de France and the last 5km saw them
battle a brutal 8-9% gradient. This was no mean feat considering
the sweltering 25 degree heat which they said felt more like 29
degrees and had to guzzle gallons of electrolytes - a total
contrast to last year's cold and damp conditions. The sun does
however make for some amusing tan lines which are already coming
along nicely - Chris has promised us a photo of his tan hands
everyday!
The pair settled in Annesy for the night to refuel and enjoy a
very cosy night (their beds were no more than an inch apart! Can we
have a photograph please boys?) ready for Day 2 - and judging by
the route they've been given, it's going to be another tough day.
Everyone at The Mill is behind you so keep that positive mental
attitude guys... you can do it!
STATS FROM THE DAY:
Top speed: 44.7mph
Climbed: 2,750m
Distance: 144/175km
If you would like to show your support for the guys with a
donation, their fundraising pages are as follows:
Alex: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/fireflies2
Chris: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisBatten
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
We are loving this short CG animation film directed by two of
our 3D artists, Guillaume Poitel and Alex Belbari, whilst they were
in their last year of studies at the ESMA School of Arts (Ecole
Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques), France.
Shot in both stereoscopic 3D and 2D, the hilarious film pays
tribute to mythical creatures such as centaurs, nymphs and Olympian
Gods. It has already scooped a clutch of awards and appeared
at a number of festivals including ANIMA and Stuttgart FMX.
Check it out below… and to learn more about the film, including
a special making of, visit the official website:
http://www.mytho-logique.com/
Check out the Mill on: