The Mill Showreel 2010, great shot coherence!

The Mill is one of the largest post-production studios in the world, spread across London (the place to be for VFX right now), New York, and Los Angeles. And as every year when they release their new demo reel, it’s a massive visual slap in the face! So here’s a superb 2010 showreel from this leading studio:

The Mill The Mill
The Mill Showreel 2010

If we put aside the sequences and their individual qualities (technical, artistic, wow-factor — we know they’ve got that mastered!), there are two very interesting things in this showreel:

• The coherence of the shots: I’m sure most of you noticed that the shots flow perfectly from one to the next. I think this is the first demo to use this principle with such class! Of course, for that to work, you need some serious archives… But when you’ve got the resources, it’s really pleasant to watch! There’s a link between each sequence, even when the worlds change radically:

  • The video game character kicks, and it cuts to the actor kicking in the Volkswagen ad;
  • A curtain falls and the sun dazzles a man in the Barclays commercial, and boom, we cut to a little girl dazzled by the sun right after;
  • A close-up on two turntables transitions to a reel-to-reel tape recorder with two spools;
  • Light bulbs moving down a road transition to a music video with similar glowing effects;
  • Etc., etc... We could go on forever — this principle runs almost throughout, and I find it really well thought out!

• The sound: Personally, I find the soundtrack simply awesome. It’s White Lies - Death (beautiful music video). A joyful and catchy rhythm, a nice voice — goodbye to the electro-clash vibe of the 2009 reels, hello to cool and relaxed music for the 2010 versions!
  Of course, this kind of choice works particularly well when you have visually rich shots full of detail.
  For a more modest demo, with some type animations, websites, nice effects but not ultra-polished, an ultra-rhythmic edit set to a 175B bpm track will always flatter your reel — adding little deconstructed effects to rework your animations aesthetically during editing. A bit of cheating, right? :) But hey, everyone does it! Except The Mill... ;)

Another beautiful slap in the face — perfect to kick off the weekend!