The Mill is centralizing its workflow on Discreet systems. The company has placed one of the largest orders for Discreet systems to benefit from open connectivity that will maximize creativity and efficiency.
Roy Trosh, technical director at The Mill, said, "This is a major undertaking for the whole Mill group, and it's important that we continue to give our artists, and therefore our clients, the best tools to fuel their creativity. Discreet 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 has reengineered its workflow for multi-resolution working and greater efficiency. This has included improved integration for its 26 existing Discreet systems and the addition of a further Discreet smoke non-linear editing system. All of the company's Discreet systems are now at the same level, meaning they can easily share information as The Mill sends projects back and forth between its bases in London and New York.
"The most noticeable benefit of the new versions is their multi-resolution capabilities," Trosh added. "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 resolution system that can handle SD, 2K, 4K and HD is of massive importance to us."
Discreet's flame system has been an integral part of The Mill since its launch. Trosh also points to the introduction of The Mill's first smoke system 18 months ago: "As we pensioned off our Henry and Avid DS systems, Discreet's smoke really came into its own. It's particularly useful for finishing fast turnaround commercials at our Mini Mills. smoke has become the king of versioning."
As well as purchasing the smoke system, The Mill has ordered 19 flame upgrades to version 8.5, two inferno upgrades to version 5.5, three smoke upgrades to version 6 and two of Discreet's backdraft background rendering systems.
In addition to four flame systems at The Mill New York, there is a flame system in each of the company's four Mini Mills: at London-based advertising agencies Lowe, BBH, Ogilvy and AMV.
Based in Soho, London, The Mill (www.mill.co.uk) specializes in high-end visual effects for commercials, music promos and television. For the past 13 years The Mill has built an impressive client-base of some of the world's best commercials directors, and advertising agencies handling accounts such as Levi's, Pepsi, Guinness, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In May 2002, The Mill opened in Hudson Street, New York.
Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery-across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, Web/interactive and design visualization. Discreet (www.discreet.com) is based in Montreal, Quebec, and is a division of Autodesk Inc, the leading design and digital media creation, management and distribution company.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
