The Mill, a Technicolor Creative Studio, has added Andrew Melchior to its global executive leadership team. Melchior joins The Mill as executive VP and global director of the company’s Brand Experience arm, with a focus on innovative creative solutions for brands and creative agencies.
Melchior is an award-winning creative director, technologist and producer, who is most notably known for his extensive work with Icelandic artist, Björk, for which he was awarded the first-ever Cannes Lions for VR. Melchior is also the chief technical officer for the band Massive Attack and was part of the founding team of spatial computing company, Magic Leap.
Melchior has a rich creative past at the intersection of art and technology. His early career was spent at EMI working with David Bowie developing his digital presence and campaigns across mobile and web, initiating the first partnership between a mobile phone manufacturer and a recording artist, and producing the historic global cinematic simulcast for the launch of the artist’s Reality album. Melchior’s diverse creative background has also involved producing and managing British band Elbow in its nascent years.
Melchior often employs emerging and immersive technologies such as spatial audio, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI) and game engines to explore new ways of engagement between brands, music artists and their audiences.
He joins The Mill’s newly appointed global leadership under president and CEO Josh Mandel. The Mill’s three core creative capabilities, VFX, Creative Production and Brand Experience, are being led by Mark Benson, Angelo Ferrugia and Melchior respectively.
Melchior said, “As a lifelong fan of humanizing our relationship with technology, my work has always sought to galvanize a diverse and extensive network of artists, technology companies, brands, developers, and researchers in order to progress creative innovation in the arts. The Mill and specifically the Experience team has an illustrious reputation for delivering award-winning events and installations, matching my ambition of delivering fresh, pioneering technology agnostic creative work. I relish the opportunity to help the Mill team create their next generation of immersive experiences and to shape and manifest the promise of Internet of Things, machine learning and defining the emergent Metaverse.”
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More