The Mill L.A. is moving to a new 24,000-square-foot digital studio in Culver City’s Blackwelder Arts District, including a new Telecine division headed by colorist Adam Scott.
The new studio is the West coast arm of Academy Award-winning VFX studio The Mill, also in London and New York.
“The move reflects a huge endorsement over the past four years from agencies, production companies, directors, and edit houses which has driven our business,” comments Ben Hampshire, managing director, The Mill L.A. “We are excited about the move and the opportunity for our talent to grow our creative culture and continue to deliver top-notch work for our clients. And we are fortunate to have in Adam Scott one of the most accomplished and experienced colorists in the business heading up our new Telecine division.
Known for its work on successful and popular advertising campaigns—for instance, Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Old Spice ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’—The Mill L.A. will bring that same standard of excellence to its new Telecine division. With technology such as the newly released Dolby Pro Reference Monitor and the Baselight 4, it offers clients both cutting-edge technology and cost-efficient solutions for VFX and finishing under one roof.
Head of Telecine Adam Scott brings nearly 20 years’ experience grading commercials, promos, TV and film projects, working with many of entertainment and advertising’s top directors. Some recent commercial highlights include the Dante Ariola-directed Super Bowl spot, VW ‘Beetle’; Guy Ritchie’s Dior commercial ‘La Recontre’ starring Jude Law; and Rupert Sanders ‘Even Angels will Fall’ for Axe/Lynx.
“After building a phenomenal team in London, I am looking forward to re-creating that strength and vibrance here in Los Angeles,” says Adam Scott, Head of Telecine, The Mill L.A. “This will also give me the opportunity to continue working with some of the finest directors.”
Already a standout for its character animation work—AMF ‘Caterpillar’ is a recent VES Outstanding Animation winner and the short film Carrot vs. Ninja premiered to rave reviews last month at Flux’s Hammer Museum film series—The Mill L.A. has added more premiere VFX talent to its team. Paul O’Shea joins as VFX supervisor, working recently on Tony Scott’s Unstoppable which was named a semifinalist this year by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science for a Best VFX Oscar.
VFX supervisor/3D lead artist Andrew Proctor also joins after working at both The Mill London and New York. Like O’Shea, Proctor has contributed to a long list of acclaimed work as well as recent favorites’ AT&T ‘Spring’ and Daft Punk ‘Derezzed’. And Sarah Eim joins as a Lead Flame Artist, with Emmy-winning Coca-Cola ‘Heist’ among her credits.
The Mill L.A. team includes 60 full-time staff members, ranging from producers, 3D artists, 2D artists, designers, colorists, and engineers. Its new studio space is complete with color suite, multiple conference rooms, a media reference library, CG work space, and project rooms, a full kitchen, and second-floor sundeck.
Robin Shenfield, group CEO of The Mill, comments: “At the new Blackwelder site, we have designed a studio from the ground up that will be a terrific environment for delivering great work and stand-out service. Our ambition is to work with our clients in an integrated way that suits the requirements of multi-platform, multi-channel media so the ability to include Color into our L.A. operation for the first time is a really exciting development for us. Adam Scott has been an absolute star of the London telecine scene for many years, so we are delighted to see him take up this new role in L.A.”
Adam Scott
Adam Scott is Head of Telecine at The Mill L.A.’s new Telecine division. He recently relocated from London where he was Head of Telecine, The Mill London.
Adam joined The Mill in 1993. By 1995, he was Head of Telecine, leading a team of six colorists. Throughout his career, he’s collaborated with an extensive list of top directors including Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Nicolai Fuglsig, Rupert Sanders, Dante Ariola, Tom Hooper, Tom Carty, Harmony Korine, Fredrik Bond, Frank Budgen, Gerard de Thame, Peter Thwaites and Lance Accord.
Adam’s recent work includes high profile commercials such as Axe/Lynx ‘Even Angels will Fall’, VW ‘Beetle’ for the 2011 Super Bowl, the multi-award-winning Hovis spot ‘Miss Chief’, Guy Ritchie’s Dior commercial ‘La Rencontre’ starring Jude Law and Heineken’s ‘The Entrance’.
With a wide-ranging and highly impressive portfolio of work, Adam has graded many acclaimed commercials including Sony ‘Balls’ and PlayStation ‘Mountain’, a Cannes Gold Lion and Cannes Grand Prix winner, respectively; and Guinness ‘Snails’ and Fonecta ‘Immigrant’, both of which earned him the BTAA Craft Award for Best Colourist. Adam has graded highly acclaimed U.S. work as well, including AT&T ‘Birthday’, Verizon ‘Towers’ and Cadillac ‘Re-ignition’. His experience also extends into drama with credits for Channel 4’s multi-award winning Longford and Elizabeth I, and a BAFTA Craft Award for his work on the BBC drama Daniel Deronda, from Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper.
Adam has extensive experience in film and is equally creative and versatile working with data acquisition material.
Paul O’Shea
Paul O’Shea is VFX Supervisor at The Mill L.A. His pedigree in the field includes some of entertainment and advertising’s most innovative and inspiring works. He just completed VFX Supervision on Walt Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green, directed by Peter Hedges, starring Jennifer Garner and slated for release later this year. Other recent film credits as VFX Supervisor are Tony Scott’s Unstoppable, short-listed this year for a Best VFX Oscar.
In commercials, Paul VFX Supervised the much-lauded ‘Journey’ for Canon, directed by Andrew Douglas and featuring still images uniquely rendered as motion photography. He has also collaborated with Jake Scott on HP ‘Burton’ and Cadbury’s ‘Summer Rain’; Jonathan Glazer on Stella Artois ‘Skating Priests’; PES on Orange Telecom’s ‘Socks’; Daniel Benmayor for Snapple ‘Bubble Wrap World’; Steve Rogers for Renault ‘Shake’; and many other A-list directors such as Christian Loubek, Fredrik Bond, Malcolm Venville, Nacho Gayan and Traktor, to note a few.
Prior to joining The Mill, Paul was a VFX Supervisor at Asylum and MPC. He has worked with an A-Z of agencies, including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA/Chiat/Day, David & Goliath, Fallon, M&C Saatchi and St. Luke’s. His commercial work ranges from brands such as Audi, Nissan, Chevrolet and Vodaphone to Guinness, Coca-Cola, Nike and American Express.
Paul has worked on high-profile music videos as well. He VFX Supervised The Killers’ ‘Bones’, directed by Tim Burton and VES-nominated. He’s also worked with Michel Gondry on Paul McCartney’s ‘Dance Tonight’ and Johnny Depp on Venessa Paradis’ ‘L ‘incendie’.
Paul’s other staff experience includes Discreet Logic, where he traveled the globe demo-ing and teaching Flame. And he got his start in post-production working his way up the ranks at the BBC.
Paul attended London Ravensbourne and University of Surrey’s Kingston Art School, where he studied painting and earned a degree in Fine Art. That foundation enables him to approach his work with a critical rationale, not driven by the technology and tools he is expert in, but rather, an artist’s way of seeing.
Andrew Proctor
Andrew Proctor is a VFX supervisor/3D artist at The Mill L.A. He has spent the past decade with The Mill Group, starting his career in London before moving to New York to help launch that office in 2002, then joining the Los Angeles team this May. Although Andrew’s skillset runs the gamut from compositing to motion graphics to directing content, he is most often called upon for his expertise in lighting and rendering.
His recent projects include AT&T ‘Spring’, featuring exquisitely rendered individual macro flowers and millions of others appearing in country fields and cityscapes; Mercedes-Benz ‘Rising’ and ‘Welcome’ (the latter a Super Bowl spot) for which he created impeccable photoreal cars; and Daft Punk’s ‘Derezzed’ for TRON: Legacy, where he and his team used a Nuke pipeline to composite many of the promo’s shots.
Andrew has worked with agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA/Chiat/Day, RPA, BBDO, Mother NY and United London on brands such as Honda, PlayStation, Acura, AT&T, Dell and SKY HD, to note a few. He counts multi-award-winning Coca-Cola ‘It’s Mine’ and Honda ‘Cog’ among his credits, as well as VES-nominated ‘Rollercoaster’ for Barclaycard which features a commuter rollercoasting through a metropolis to work. Adding directing to his repertoire was a natural progression as well, that evolved his longstanding creative relationships with agencies to developing ideas end to end. He has directed content for Microsoft, U.S. Bank and PureVia, to note a few brands.
Andrew gravitated toward 3D after studying painting (oil on canvas), and adapted that creative expression to the digital format. Self taught, he was recognized early for his talents with a First Boards Award for Animation and a Broadcast Young Talent Award UK, both in 2004. Andrew is a graduate of Nottingham School of Art and Design where he earned a BA in Fine Art.
Sarah Eim
Sarah Eim is a Lead Flame Artist at The Mill L.A. She has worked on an array of high-profile work including Emmy winner Coca-Cola ‘Heist’, Halo 3 ‘The Life’ and Zune’s ‘Academy of Dreams’, with award-winning directors PSYOP, Rupert Sanders and Patrick Daughters, respectively. Her breadth of experience also encompasses VFX Supervision and Shoot Supervision.
Sarah has also worked on brands such as BMW, Audi, Nissan, Allstate (‘Mr. Mayhem’ campaign), Puma, Nike and Adidas, to note a few. She’s been part of teams honored with VES, Emmy, AICP and Clio Awards. And she was a Flame Artist for Polynoid’s acclaimed short film Loom, which took Best in Show at Siggraph’s CAF, Honorary Mention at ARS Electronica and a VES Award for Outstanding VFX/Student Project.
Besides projects with top agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Fallon, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, among others, Sarah has experience in the feature film realm as well, as a Compositor on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End.
Prior to joining The Mill, Sarah was on staff as a Flame Artist at MassMarket/PSYOP and Method Studios. She began her career in VFX at Method as a Flame Assist to multi-award-winning VFX Supervisor and Director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan.
Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA. When she’s not hard at work, she enjoys photography, live concerts and snowboarding.