These days a fully digital visual effects facility set up primarily to focus on the spot market doesn’t seem like such a novel idea. But it was back in January 1990 when The Mill opened in London. The company, which has an additional London office at Shepparton Studios, has made a name for itself in both the U.S. and the U.K. with visual effects-based spots.
The Mill works on over 1,500 ads a year. Some of its more high-profile endeavors have included Lincoln-Mercury/Lincoln LS’ "Surprising Journey," directed by Gerard de Thame of bicoastal HSI Productions and Gerard de Thame Films, London, via Young & Rubicam, San Francisco; Lee Jeans’ "Curry," "Super Greg" and "Roy," helmed by Fredrik Bond of Harry Nash, London, out of Fallon, Minneapolis; and Guinness’ "Bet on Black," directed by Frank Budgen of Gorgeous, London, via Abbott Mead Vickers/BBDO. Equally impressive are: adidas’ "Horses," directed by Ringan Ledwidge of Harry Nash via agency 180, Amsterdam; Chrysler/Jeep’s "Sunset," directed by Danny Ruhlmann of bicoastal Piper Productions, through FCB Worldwide, Southfield, Mich.; and Mercedes-Benz USA/C-Class’ "Aaooga," directed by Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander, out of Merkley Newman Harty, New York.
The Mill was the brainchild of James Morris, who is now chairman of the Mill Group, the parent company to The Mill, Mill Film, e-Mill, Mill Models and Mill Motion Control. At the time of The Mill’s opening, Morris had already started Windmill Lane Pictures, Dublin, Ireland—a production, postproduction and editing company that is still in operation. Morris brought in Robin Shenfield as CEO and Pat Joseph as director of production for his then-fledgling company. Prior to The Mill, Shenfield and Joseph worked together at post house Rushes, London, as head of production and visual effects advisor, respectively.
"The idea," explains Shenfield, "was to absolutely target the commercials market. This doesn’t sound like a novel thing now, but ten years ago it was. [That’s] because, generally, visual companies servicing the commercials market were offering corporate work, commercials work, TV titles and music videos pretty much under one roof."
The Mill opened its doors with 30 employees in the midst of a recession, but despite the gloomy economic environment, the firm managed to grow. "I think we caught or helped create a trend at the right time. Technologically the company was very new and innovative because it was an all-digital facility, which was something that hadn’t been done in Europe," notes Shenfield. "The opportunities of doing more things in post were attractive to the agencies that weren’t necessarily getting the best service from other places because those places were trying to do too many types of things for too many different clients."
The Mill now has about 40 artists, with a total of 200 staffers spread across The Mill Group. In ’97, Mill Film was launched in partnership with directors Ridley and Tony Scott, who helm spots in the U.S. through bicoastal RSA USA. Recent credits include Gladiator, helmed by Ridley Scott, John Woo’s Mission Impossible 2, and Babe: Pig in the City, directed by George Miller. Mill Film is currently working on Simon West’s upcoming Tomb Raider. (West is represented for spots by bicoastal/international Propaganda Films.)
While there is a certain overlap between the commercial and feature arms—such as a common technical team—The Mill and Mill Film operate as separate companies. "We didn’t want to take people or resources away from the commercials base of the company," Shenfield explains. "We looked at other businesses around the world and it was apparent that if you are going to concentrate on serving the commercials market, then you couldn’t service movies like Gladiator as a part-time activity."
While features and spots may not share personnel, there is some overlap in the technical department. The time frame and the scale of a feature result in a great deal of proprietary software development, which is then fed back into The Mill. "This is one of the things that the film company has added to The Mill—the breadth," notes Shenfield. "One area where we have done a lot, and which has served both companies, is the ability to take motion control camera moves into CG, and vice versa."
Spot side
Key artists in the commercial operation include senior Flame operators Dave Smith, the mono-monikered Barnsley, Ant Walsham, Jason Watts and Angus Kneale. Senior Henry operators are Paul Marangos and Simon Holden. Fergus McCall, Adam Scott, Matthew Turner, Marcus Timpson and Paul Harrison do telecine work.
Shenfield points out that the artists at The Mill are usually brought into a job during its early stages—a method of working which was institutionalized from the company’s inception. "I think this is a commonplace mode of operation throughout the U.K. now, but in the past clients would start visual effects jobs with no idea of what it was going to cost them," he explains. Shenfield also notes the importance of a spot’s director to the post work. At The Mill, the agency and the director are viewed as kind of co-customer on jobs, and The Mill has relationships with helmers, production company producers and agencies. And unlike in the traditional way of working stateside, the director usually remains involved throughout the entire job.
While there isn’t a formal mentoring program in place at The Mill, each of the Flame/Inferno rooms has a secondary tablet, such as a Flint, a second Flame or a Combustion. This allows a junior person working with a more senior artist to be exposed to the entire spectrum of the process. Additionally, one large suite in The Mill holds a Combustion, a Henry, a Commotion and Photoshop, and is used as a training ground for new artists. "A lot of work that we do is very complex, and it’s led by an artist or a team of artists such as a senior 2-D person and a 3-D artist," says Shenfield. "When we are training a new person, we do try to partner them with a senior person for a period of time on a sequence of jobs. Then we’ll rotate it around so they can be exposed to all the senior talent, so people effectively have an assistant for a period of time."
The mix of skills and talents required to work in visual effects makes it difficult to find new talent, says Shenfield. "You have people who have a great understanding of the technology, and are very lateral in their thinking and in finding solutions to creative problems. And you have people who have great aesthetic sense and have very good client and interpretative skills—so its quite a bundling of skills," he relates. "When you get to the top level, there are only so many people who can operate on [both levels]. I think we are extraordinarily lucky to have people who are very, very good, and a lot of good people who are always coming up through the ranks."
The Mill first started doing work for the U.S. market about five years ago. Shenfield says that a lot of the credit for breaking into the States goes to the company’s relationship with director de Thame. It is estimated that U.S. work accounts for about 15 percent of The Mill’s total business.
For the past three years, The Mill has had a service office in Santa Monica, which is run by Diana Stulic, who provides marketing and support for the Mill Group in the States. This office also facilitates the transfer of material during production via World Comm’s WAM!NET Internet link-up between the London offices and U.S. clients.
Shenfield says that the company has looked into opening a full-fledged facility in the States. "There is certainly an interest and it’s something we are always keen to look at," he says. "We have looked into it in the past. … There have been rumors in the past that The Mill is about to open up [in the States], and I’m loath to start another one. But we do have some interest, because it is such a huge market and has been doing some great work. It has all the ingredients that appeal," he says. If the company were to open a facility, it would most likely be in New York, because it is believed that the opportunities for The Mill are greater in New York.
The Mill is also exploring Internet-based technology, under the guidance of Andy Barmer, who was previously responsible for day-to-day operations of The Mill, and was recently appointed development director of new media. Barmer is leading the development of e-Mill, which is the company’s Internet delivery system for approval of spots. There is also a small team working on MIL, which is the in-house name for Mill Interactive Lab. "The focus of MIL is to explore video-based content on the Web and Interactive TV," explains Shenfield. "Interactive is more talk than action in the U.K., but certainly there are a number of campaigns we have been doing with some major agencies."y
