When ad agencies find the perfect pitch for their clients, VFX studio The Mill helps turbocharge the message.
Headquartered in London, with three US offices, The Mill is a powerhouse in VFX and post-production. Their specialties include design and digital work for award-winning advertisements. They embrace future technology to help them create stunning work — no matter the subject. The studio’s car commercials might be the most well known of all their work. In fact, the increasing amount of auto spots they produce has led them to create their own amazing CG stand-in.
The Mill Automotive Ads
There is a very good chances viewers will recall some of The Mill’s work in automotive advertising. Nearly every major manufacturer has had a piece produced by The Mill, including big names like Dodge, Lincoln, and Nissan. They also produce ads for luxury models from the likes of Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche.
Perhaps one of the most well known series of automotive spots, The Mill produced several of the Lincoln commercials starring Matthew McConaughey. Working with director Nicholas Winding Refn and ad agency Hudson Rogue, these commercials were so successful they extended from broadcast into print, digital, social, and experiential promotions. It was even parodied by SNL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcGhLcVqxf0
Their automotive catalogue also features several Super Bowl spots. For Super Bowl 50, they worked on two separate campaigns. Working with ad agency Venables, Bell & Partners, The Mill helped create Audi’s Commander campaign.
The Mill did all the VFX work on this piece, focusing on the Apollo spaceship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB8tgVqmKzw
Ad agency RPA used The Mill to help with their Honda Super Bowl ad, A New Truck to Love. Featuring a herd of singing sheep, the spot called for a ton of animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXjiFMtVyI
The Mill has also produced humorous Scion ads with James Franco and Jaleel White with agency Droga5.
Producing Automotive Commercials with Ad Agencies
To create these commercials, The Mill has used a mix of real cars and total CG car replacements. There have been major developments at The Mill as of late. Since so many shoots with real cars relied on scheduling a vehicle (or using a vehicle that would have changes made once production started), The Mill began more advanced use of CG vehicles.
After years of CG car work, it became nearly impossible to tell the difference between a real car and a CG car. Knowing that, The Mill decided to build a custom car designed for CG replacements. Thus, the Blackbird was born.
The Blackbird is the first fully adjustable car rig that creates photorealistic CG automobiles. You can read much more about the development and capabilities of The Mill’s Blackbird in this piece from PremiumBeat.
With an eye on the future, The Mill has dedicated themselves to pushing the boundary to better serve their clients. It’s with that attitude they have built so many tremendous relationships with the biggest ad agencies in the world.
You can see more of The Mill’s amazing work on their website.
Top Image by Umberto Shtanzman