The Mill (company) explained

Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited
Type:Subsidiary
Trade Name:The Mill
Industry:Visual effects
Founders:Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph
Hq Location:11–14 Windmill Street
London
W1T 2JG
United Kingdom
Num Locations:6 total in the UK, US, Germany, and India
Parent:Technicolor Group

Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited, doing business as The Mill, is a British VFX production company and creative studio headquartered in London, England, with three offices in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago), three others in Europe (Paris, Amsterdam & Berlin) and three in Asia (Shanghai, Seoul and Bangalore). It is owned by Technicolor Group. The Mill produces real-time visual effects, animation, moving images, design, experiential, and digital projects for the advertising, games, and music industries.

In January 2022, Josh Mandel became President of The Mill after having initially joined The Mill's studio in Los Angeles as Managing Director/President in 2019 and becoming Chief Executive Officer in January 2021.

History

Founding

In 1990, Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph opened The Mill in Soho, London. Starting as a visual effects house for the advertising industry, it was the first VFX company in Europe to use exclusively digital methods.[1] [2]

Global operations

2002 saw The Mill open a studio in New York, becoming the first UK visual effects house to do so. The extension of operations to the US was successful, with the company growing to employ over 100 staff by 2009.

The Mill was also launched in Los Angeles in 2007 – the first UK visual effects house to open on the West Coast – and the new venture was highly successful.

In 2013 The Mill opened a new office in Chicago, sharing its premises with editorial house The Whitehouse in the Courthouse Place building.[3]

In 2022 The Mill opened its studio in Seoul, and because of the unity with MPC Advertising, also expanded to open studios in Paris, Amsterdam and Shanghai.

Ownership

In 2011 The Mill was acquired by The Carlyle Group, who then sold it to Barclays Private Equity (later rebranded as Equistone Partners Europe).[4] On 15 September 2015, Technicolor SA acquired The Mill for €259 million from Equistone.[5]

In May 2020, the "Mill Film" section of the company was folded into the visual effects firm MR. X (another division of Technicolor - now known as MPC) in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while The Mill continued as a separate entity.[6]

In January 2022, The Mill united with MPC Advertising to create one global studio network under The Mill brand. As a global studio The Mill made this change to scale up for a creative future, investing in new talent, production capabilities, and immersive technologies.

Current operations

Offerings

The Mill is involved in a range of visual effects and design projects in the commercial, gaming and music industries. The company's supervisors, producers and artists supported all stages of production, from pre-visualisation and conceptual artwork, shoot supervision, 3D, 2D and color grading through to delivery of the finished project.

Expanded offerings

Beam.tv was launched in 2002 as an online digital delivery and content management platform.[7] Beam was originally established as an in-house FTP process to allow clients to review and approve visual-effects work being completed by The Mill in London. AdText.tv launched in 2008 for commercial subtitling.[8]

Mill+ launched in 2013 as a creative studio focusing on motion graphics, design and animation.[9]

BEAM.TV

BEAM.TV
Type:Subsidiary
Predecessors:-->
Successors:-->
Founders:-->
Hq Location City:London, England
Hq Location Country:United Kingdom
Areas Served:-->
Owners:-->
Num Employees:125
Num Employees Year:2011
Parent:The Mill

BEAM.TV is an online digital delivery and content management platform. Beam, still part of the Mill group, was established as an in-house FTP process following the making of the film Gladiator. This simple process enabled director Sir Ridley Scott to immediately review and approve visual effects work being completed by The Mill in London – while he was still shooting in Malta. This required a real-time digital platform with a toolset that would instinctively serve the demands of the filmmaking process.

In 2011 Beam has over 125 people working in London, New York City and Los Angeles.

Beam distributes almost half of all UK television commercials and is the exclusive partner to Unilever for the international distribution of all its television commercials worldwide.

Beam has developed bespoke systems to manage the entry and judging processes for international advertising awards, including Cannes Lions, BTAA (British Arrows) and The ANDY's.

As part of Technicolor Creative Studios, Beam now has locations in Shanghai, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul.

Filmography

Feature films

Television

Music videos

Commercials

Awards

Film and Television
Year Award Category Work Result Notes
Gladiator [10]
2004MTV Video Music AwardsBest Visual Effects"Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram
2006Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who (series 2)[11]
2007British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who[12]
2008British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who ("Voyage of the Damned")[13]
2009British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who ("The Fires of Pompeii")[14] [15]
2009Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who ("The Next Doctor")[16]
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who ("The Fires of Pompeii")[17]
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlin
2010Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsMerlin ("The Last Dragonlord")[18]
2011British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlin [19] [20]
2011British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who
2011MTV Video Music AwardsBest Visual Effects"Don't Turn the Lights On" by Chromeo
2011Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who ("A Christmas Carol")[21]
2012British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsSinbad ("Pilot")[22]
2013British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual Effects & Graphic DesignDoctor Who[23]
2020Emmy AwardsVisual EffectsTales From The LoopNominated

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History - the Mill . 2012-11-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121023155819/http://themill.com/about-us/history.aspx . 23 October 2012 . dmy-all .
  2. http://www.awn.com/articles/mill-europes-first-fully-digital-vfx-house The Mill: Europe's First Fully Digital VFX House
  3. Web site: Goldrich. Robert. The Mill Opens Chicago Studio Under Aegis of Executive Producer Jared Yeater. ShootOnline. 1 March 2013.
  4. News: Barclays Private Equity acquires The Mill, the market leading visual effects company, from The Carlyle Group for £119m. Equistone Partners Europe. 19 April 2011.
  5. News: TECHNICOLOR ACQUIRES VISUAL EFFECTS LEADER IN ADVERTISING THE MILL FOR €259 MILLION. Technicolor SA. 15 September 2015.
  6. Web site: Technicolor Folds Mill Film into Mr. X in Response to COVID-19 Crisis. Mercedes. Milligan. 29 May 2020.
  7. Web site: Beam.tv. www.beam.tv.
  8. Web site: Adtext - Add value, Adtext. www.adtext.tv.
  9. Web site: The Mill | Creating the extraordinary | VFX | Colour | Design | AR | VR | Animation | Experiential | Directors. The Mill.
  10. News: Q&A: Oscar-winning digital trickery. BBC. 6 July 2001.
  11. News: RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2006. Royal Television Society.
  12. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2007. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  13. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2008. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  14. News: Bafta craft awards 2009: full list of winners. The Guardian. 18 May 2009.
  15. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2009. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  16. News: RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2009. Royal Television Society.
  17. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2010. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  18. News: RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2010. Royal Television Society.
  19. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2011. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  20. News: Bafta Craft awards: BBC Wales wins five prizes. BBC. 9 May 2011.
  21. News: RTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2011. Royal Television Society.
  22. News: RTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS FOR CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2012. Royal Television Society.
  23. News: BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2013. British Academy of Film and Television Arts.