Monday, January 30, 2012
Question: What have Russell Brand, Coldplay and Jon Stewart got
in common?
Answer: They're amongst the top acts appearing at Amnesty
International's 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' on March 4th!
We're lucky to be part of an inter-agency team alongside Mother,
who are leading the creative for this amazing event. Our very
own animator-designer-director supremo, mcbess, has created the
character design and all the animation for the Ball which also
features in a series of online virals promoting the annual
event.
The comedy/music fest is being held stateside for the first time
ever at New York's Radio City Music Hall as part of the
celebrations for Amnesty's 50th anniversary.
Have a gander at mcbess's films and learn more about The Secret
Policeman's Ball and Amnesty's incredible work at the event's
official Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/secretpoliceman
We can't wait…!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Ready to dance your a** off? Yip Deceiver's
video for the single "Get Strict," from their upcoming album,
Double Feature, premiered today on MTV Hive. Take your cue
from Comedian/Musician Reggie Watts and you'll be popping and
locking, doing the Dougie and booty-dropping all over the dance
floor!
Directed by Ghost + Cow (Brandon LaGanke & John Carlucci),
"Get Strict" offers something for every taste. In addition to the
funky dancers, the video features garishly made-up nuns dancing
through a diner, a woman in a bikini and a bedazzled Stormtrooper
mask, a unicorn running through a forest and Santa Claus and the
Easter Bunny in a death match.
Finished at The MIll NY, Sal Malfitano was the colorist, Brendan
O'Neil was responsible for 2D, Alex Roberts was the designer, and
art support consisted of Dusty Diller, Randy Krueger, Rob Meade and
Jeff Butler. Fans of of Montreal will recognize
Yip Deciever's Davey Pierce & Nicolas Dobbratz.
Get your dance on!:
Yip Deceiver "Get Strict"
Monday, January 23, 2012
Take a peek behind the scenes to see how BAFTA-winning director
Duncan Jones created Virgin's Epic TV ad; following the history of
the Virgin Group - featuring 3D printed Virgin Trains, model
miniatures, special effects and a little bit of VFX love from The
Mill.
Look out for our Lead 2D artist, Barnsley, you can't miss his
shirt!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
It turns out that one of our newest additions to The Mill L.A.'s
family, Gregory Reese, was involved with a rather unusual project
back in The Mill New York office. He was the Colorist for Meaning
of Robots, a short documentary film that chronicles Mike Sullivan,
a man who for the past 10 years has been shooting a stop-motion
porn with hundreds of miniature robots in his cramped studio
apartment in NYC.
Gregory worked alongside director Matt Lenski and Cut n' Run
editor Georgia Dodson. He says, "I've known Georgia for a long time
and it was fun to work with her and Matt on this project. Matt
shared some unusual stories, as you might imagine, about his
experience making the film."
This odd yet fascinating film is being screened at the 2012
Sundance Film Festival.
http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120150/meaning_of_robots
Here is a link to the website and trailer: http://meaningofrobots.com/
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Just stumbled across the artistic genius of Frederick
Pietrella, whose work brings a whole new meaning to the term
'time-based media'!
Take a glance and you'd think you were looking at a sizeable
monochrome photograph, but a closer examination reveals Pietrella's
distinctive, and rather fascinating, technique of using an everyday
rubber date stamp as his apparatus.
Pretty incredible stuff.
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All images © Federico Pietrella
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
At the end of last year, we teamed up with RedBull to launch
their inaugural Canimation
competition to find up and coming animation talent. Mill TV
and Film's Jimmy Farrington headed up the judging panel in the
closely fought CGI category, alongside other industry professionals
from Aardman Animations, 12foot and 4Creative.
The competition may have closed and the winners crowned, but
here's a chance to go behind the scenes of the competition to meet
some of the finalists, hear all about their creative process and
get the low down on everything involved in bringing their entries
to life, as well as hearing from the judges about what they look
for in animation stars of the future.
View the film here: http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Video/Canimation-Behind-the-Scenes-021243147283598
We look forward to welcoming Scott Waddington, who was crowned the
lucky winner of the Student / CGI category for his animation, 'The Featherless Chicken', to
our TV & Film team for a 2 month work placement at our London
studio later this year.
Find out more about the entries and the finalists of Red Bull
Canimation here.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Our friends at Escape Studios have recently launched a new
course called "Visual Effects Animation Professional" and we were
very impressed to see the quality of work coming from its students
already.
Check out Escapee Hyeon Joon Kang's animation piece and the two
breakdown films which brilliantly illustrate how each part of the
VFX pipeline works…
Read more about how he did it on Escape's blog, and
to learn more about Escape's new course, click here.
Monday, January 09, 2012
What a great way to kick off 2012 with news that all three of
The Mill's studios has been nominated for this year's highly
coveted Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards!
The awards - which recognise outstanding visual effects artistry
in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials,
special venues and video games - are widely regarding by the VFX
industry as one of the most prestigious on the calendar. Nominees
were chosen by distinguished panels of VES members from across the
globe.
The Mill London has received three nominations for its work on the
Audi A6 'Hummingbird' spot in the
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Commercial or Video Game
Trailer category, Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast
Program or Commercial category and Outstanding Created Environment
in a Broadcast Program or Commercial category.
The Mill NY has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Visual Effects
in a Live Action Commercial category for Johnnie Walker 'Rock Giant' whilst The Mill
LA received their nomination in the Outstanding Virtual
Cinematography in a Broadcast Program or Commercial for Mattel's
Hot Wheels spot 'Immersion'.
Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society said of
this year's entrants: "The standard of the creative work that is
being considered this year is unbelievably high across all
categories. The judges faced a huge challenge because all of the
work was so far above the norm."
Winners of the 10th Annual VES Awards will be announced at an
exclusive event on Tuesday 7th February at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
and will also air on ReelzChannel.
To view the full list of nominees, click here:
http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/10th-annual-ves-awards-nominees
Friday, January 06, 2012
The Mystery of Claywoman is back!
Originally debuting in 2008, The
Mystery of Claywoman was written
by Michael Cavadias and directed by The Mill NY's
Rob Roth. The piece utilizes live performance and
film and combines the forms of a documentary film screening and a
live lecture. Claywoman, (played by Michael Cavadias) a 500-million
year old enigma who, legend has it, can cure anyone of their
deepest pain. She, along with her canine musical travelling
companion 'Craig' (played by Rob Roth) has traveled the universe
searching for souls to heal and planets to save.
The Mystery of Claywoman begins with a found, unfinished,
severely damaged and restored documentary film that introduces the
theories and mythology surrounding the Claywoman character. This
mockumentary raises questions concerning our need for faith, ritual
and validation through interviews with characters played by such
performers as Alan Cumming, Edgar
Oliver, Amy Poehler, Justin
Bond, Debbie Harry, and Ruth
Maleczech. With irony and wit, this fictional film sets
the stage for the live lecture. Commenting on our 'need for
answers', the lectures explores the scientific and historical
evolution of humanity from the perspective of a
500,000,000-year-old extraterrestrial.
Special guests will introduce each performance including
Ana Matronic (Scissor Sisters), Michael
Musto (Village Voice), Kembra Pfahler
(The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black), John Cameron
Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)and Rachelle
Garniez (Citizens
Band).
The Mystery of Claywoman will have a three-weekend
long run in the Underground Theater of the Abrons Arts Center,
starting January 21st.
Buy your tickets now!
www.abronsartscenter.org.
Friday, January 06, 2012
I constantly find myself blown away by the standard of work that
is produced by folk when they are at University, and the following
film is no exception. Co-directed by one of our 2011 graduates from
ESMA, (Ecole Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques in Montpellier,
Toulouse) Hugo Jackson, and made using a combination of Maya,
Photoshop, After Effects and Eyeon Fusion, ELECTROSHOCK is a prime
example of combining amazing visuals with real heart.
Hugo explains: "We did it in our 3rd and final year of school and
we decided to do a really fun cartoon movie, because we wanted
people to laugh when they watch it, and to be able to identify
themselves with our main character. We decided to do this
particular style of animation and rendering because we were all big
fans of the Sony Pictures movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs,
and we wanted to go in this direction for all the designs and type
of image that we would have at the end."
Congratulations Hugo and team, we look forward to seeing what else
you and all the other ESMA guys come up with!
NEil
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