The Mill (company)


The Mill is a VFX and Creative Content studio headquartered in London, England, with three offices in the United States and one office in India. The Mill produces visual effects, moving image, design and digital projects for the advertising, games and music industries.
On May 2020, Mill Film was folded into MR. X due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

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 an office in Chicago, sharing its premises with editorial house The Whitehouse in the Courthouse Place building.

Ownership

In 2011 The Mill was acquired by The Carlyle Group, who then sold it to Barclays Private Equity. On 15 September 2015, Technicolor SA acquired The Mill for €259 million from Equistone.

Current Operations

Offerings

The Mill was 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 colour 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. 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.
Mill+ launched in 2013 as a creative studio focusing on motion graphics, design and animation.

BEAM.TV

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 and The ANDY’s.

Filmography

Feature Films

Television

“1” idents 2006
BBC TWO curve idents 2018–

Commercials

; Film and Television
YearAwardCategoryWorkResultNotes
2001Academy AwardsBest Visual EffectsGladiator
2004MTV Video Music AwardsBest Visual Effects"Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram
2006Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who
2007British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who
2008British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who
2009British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who
2009Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlin
2010Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsMerlin
2011British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlin
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
2012British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsSinbad
2013British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual Effects & Graphic DesignDoctor Who