Visit to The Mill!
Today we went to London to visit The Mill, one the biggest vfx commercial companies in the world. It was a huge experience since the moment we got in to the moment we went out. They showed us a bit of their work and describe the challenges they went through. Garreth Gaydon and David Hempstead were the two people that showed us around, they were very nice and shared a lot with us. I was very convinced of working in a place like The Mill. The environment is very relaxed and you have the opportunity to work on various projects. For example in the film industry, you would be given a project for 6 months, in the Mill, you could work in 3 projects in 6 months. I also liked that you work with small groups and you can have the opportunity to be seen. The Mill is one of the places I am most intrigued to focus on, and this is because I am more interested in commercials rather than films, at least for right now.
SSE "Maya", is on the mill commercials, and the level of detail on this one is insane. One would simply think they actually use a real orangutan, but the truth is all of it is CG. There is a serie of commercials for SSE that includes the orangutan and in each one of them is very satisfactory see every detail, how the light interact with him and every movement, anyone outside the VFX industry will never believe this is a CG animal.
There is also a debate on whether this one or King Louie on "Jungle Book" is more photorealistic and many people think The Mill's orangutan is more realistic and personally I think the reason for this is because The Mill tried to replicate an actual orangutan, while MPC's King Louie is a enormous orangutan and anyone would know there is no such things as that, but instead of comparing them I like to appreciate the level of reality there is on both.
The Mill is also getting very advance in technology. They introduced the "Black Bird", the first fully adjustable car rig that creates photoreal CG cars. This new technology allows the mill to recreate any car, from Chevrolet, to a Toyota, from 1960's to brand new 2017 Ferrari. Apart from making a huge advancement with this, it also allows them to only travel with the blackbird, instead of using multiple expensive cars.
This experience was definitely one of a kind, and it would be great to at least once in my lifetime be part of The Mill Family.
Here is the The Mill Reel, enjoy it...
