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Images and video courtesy of The Mill |
Award-winning London-headquartered post and visual effects house,
The Mill, recently reengineered its facilities to standardize all
of its operations on Discreet gear. The Mill is now realizing the
benefits of an end-to-end Discreet/Autodesk workflow across it's
New York and Soho studios, after placing one of the largest orders
ever for Discreet systems.
Creating Production Efficiencies
For Roy Trosh, The Mill's Head of Technology, Discreet's workflow
enables The Mill to address one of the key changes in the post business
today. "The business model in post is changing. There's less
emphasis on hourly room rates, and more focus on project fees for
jobs. Customers come to the Mill for the overall quality of work
and the knowledge that whatever artist they are working with, they
are in the best hands. So often to get a job done right, components
may need to be handled across facilities."
The complete end-to-end Discreet workflow has yielded numerous
advantages for the Mill. "When working on a difficult shot,
Autodesk® Wire® enables Discreet® Flame® and Discreet® Smoke® guys
working in tandem on a project to look into a Flame library from
Smoke. This increased connectivity and interoperability translates
into efficiencies," Trosh continued.
Evolving with Discreet
Already a long-time Discreet customer, the company's new workflow
is designed for multi-resolution remote collaboration. The upgrades,
as the company retired legacy gear, included one new Smoke system,
19 Flame upgrades to version 8.5, two Inferno® upgrades to version
5.5, three Smoke upgrades to version 6 and two seats of Autodesk®
Backdraft® background media management and I/O software.
In total the company now has 26 Flame systems, three with companion
Smoke licenses. This includes six Flame systems at its New York
facility, 15 at its Soho headquarters, and four installed in London-based
ad agency satellites dubbed Mini Mills.
"The most noticeable benefit of the new versions is their
multi-resolution capabilities," Trosh explained. "Producers
are now shooting in a wide range of different formats and coming
to us to pull together various material into the finished project.
Having a one destination system that can handle SD, 2K, 4K and HD
is of massive importance to us." All of the company's Discreet
systems are now at the same level, meaning they can easily share
information. This is important for The Mill, which often sends projects
back and forth between its facilities in London and New York enabling
around-the-clock productivity.
Maximizing Productivity
The company's New York and London offices are connected via BEAM.TV
- a 45 Mbit dedicated private network that enables collaboration
among artists across the Atlantic.
With this capacity, a director in New York can sit in on sessions
with artists in London, and vice versa. "This happens often
when a director is in London but the film is in New York. We can
route output of a telecine into the U.K. once a director has moved
onto another job so they can supervise the work that way."
One recent project to use the trans-Atlantic connectivity was the
Levis spot, Midsummer's Night Dream. Director Noam Murro, based
in the U.S., was able collaborate on color grading sessions and
visual effects with artists at The Mill's Soho facility.
"We can dial up on one end and see the operator's pen moving
on a machine on the other end in real-time," explained Trosh,
"then complement that with chat, phone or video conference
via PC to coincide with the project feed. It's like one extended
facility, but it's up to us how we parcel out the work."
According to Trosh the benefits of being a "Discreet"
house go beyond improved workflow efficiency, fast turnaround and
easy file sharing, "Discreet gear attracts clientele. There's
an association of excellence with the brand. Discreet systems products
have always been the most creative out there and are perfect for
our breed of client-attend, fast-turnaround, high-profile projects."
The Mill also operates five Mini Mills in and around London connected
back to the main Great Marlborough Street facility with a real-time
uncompressed 601 video link. The Mini Mill was conceived by The
Mill to install a dedicated visual effects artist and Flame suite
(with a companion Smoke license) in the television department of
an advertising agency. A lot of the work at the Mini-Mills tends
to be less complex than what may end up at the main Soho facility
-versioning of spots or simple graphics and effects. It's a practical
solution for The Mill and for their clients. Rather than filling
up real estate at Soho and tying up budget dollars at the flagship
facility, the Mini Mills are installed and operational full-time
at London ad agencies Lowe, BBH, Ogilvy, AMV BBDO and Publicis.
The Mill, the only European company to win a visual effects Oscar
for its work on Gladiator, has won numerous other accolades and
awards for best post-production, animation and visual effects, including
Clio Awards, Design & Art Direction (D&AD) awards and British
Television Advertising Awards, to name a few.
