In an exciting month of achievements and project releases, we were thrilled to see our teams be recognised across some of the most prestigious global awards. This includes Cannes Film Festival, David di Donatello, D&AD and SHOTS The Americas. Projects such as Emilia Pérez, Io Capitano by MPC Paris, and Starfield ‘Wild Imagination’ by The Mill were among those honored for their incredible work. As we prepare for more exciting industry events in June, we look forward to Mikros Animaton’s grand reveal of their Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024 booth and The Mill’s results from Cannes Lions.
Keep reading to find out more about what we’ve been up to in the last month ?
MPC
Following last month’s roundup where we saw four MPC projects nominated at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we are thrilled to announce that Emilia Pérez has been awarded twice! Winning The Jury Prize, awarded by the festival’s jury, was a particularly proud moment for our teams, as it recognized their hard work and dedication to the project.
Check out our MPC teams as they walk down the red carpet for Emilia Perez, while the commentator highlights our incredible visual effects in Audiard’s film Rust and Bone.
To conclude our MPC awards news, last month we also saw Io Capitano win the David di Donatello 69 for Best VFX! The ceremony was presented by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano in the prestigious Cinecittà Studios in Rome, honoring the best Italian films of the year.
This month’s project releases included:
⭐ Atlas
A brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it.
Chiara has grown up under the overpowering shadow of not only her famous mother, but also her long-deceased father Marcello, the iconic star of ‘La Dolce Vita’, ‘Marriage Italian Style’ and ‘8½’. On a whim, she adopts Marcello’s dress and mannerisms; her incredulous mother and friends believe it’s all a lark, but instead find that Chiara is determined not to abandon her new identity, even as a new romance beckons…
⭐ Salem
Djibril, a 14-year-old member of the Grasshoppers gang, leads a dangerous existence in a Marseille slum with his pregnant girlfriend Camilla, a member of the rival Locust gang. When Djibril is manipulated into killing Mahad, a young Locust, war breaks out.
Directed by Joachim Rønning, experience the incredible true story of Trudy Ederle; the first woman to successfully swim the 21-mile-long English Channel.
In an exclusive collaboration with Collider, we revealed the visual effects work behind Halo Season 2 in an exclusive VFX breakdown. Led by MPC VFX Supervisor Kedar Manapragada and VFX Producer Nick Colangelo, MPC’s global team crafted full CG city environments and set extensions, destruction FX simulations for battle scenes, vehicles, crowds and hologram inserts. Take a peek below!
MPC also delighted us with the release of their newest Visualization reel, for Netflix’s Spaceman. Led by the talented Isaac Hingley, the Previs team brought their magic to multiple sequences during the pre-production of the movie. They skillfully choreographed the action between Jakub and Hanus inside the space station. After principle photography wrapped, Postvis Supervisor Herman Lee joined the team to help breath life into the edit and fill out the environments as well as giving Hanus a preliminary performance in order to shape the edit. Herman’s team animated on the Hanus rig provided by our layout department so that our keyframes could travel naturally into the MPC pipeline.
Check out more news from MPC here.
The Mill
D&AD results are in and … The Mill secured 3 Wood Pencils and one Graphite Pencil! We are so proud of our teams for their accomplishments. Check out the projects below ⬇️
✏️ Wood Pencil: Starfield ‘Wild Imagination’ in VFX: Compositing
✏️ Wood Pencil: Starfield ‘Wild Imagination’ in VFX: Computer Generated
✏️ Wood Pencil: Burger King ‘We Give Up’ in VFX: Colour Grading
✏️ Graphite Pencil: ‘Driving While Black’ in Entertainment: Use of AR
The Mill was also awarded at SHOTS The Americas:
? Gold: Ad of the year: VFX, Smirnoff ‘We do Atomic’
? Silver: Music Video of the year, METTE ‘Mama’s Eyes’
In this month’s project releases, we saw featured:
⭐ Michelin ‘On the Road and Beyond’
Michelin‘s new campaign, directed by Henry Scholfield and conceived by BETC, reaffirms the brand’s innovative DNA. Stunning cinematography and 3D effects by The Mill Paris celebrate the movement and the richness of Michelin’s products.
⭐ Michelob ULTRA ‘Lap of Legends’
The first ever real vs. virtual race. See one real driver in a real car take on virtual avatars of six of the greatest drivers to ever race. This amazing project was a collaboration between The Mill, FCB New York and Michelob Ultra.
A captivating array of sparkling beverages in 4 videos directed by Shaun Severi and crafted by Ogilvy. Immerse yourself in the effervescent world of Maison Perrier and experience the excitement alongside The Mill Paris team.
The third installment of this out-of-the-box campaign directed by Daniel Wolfe.
⭐ Knockout Chaos Anthony Joshua x Francis Ngannou – Making of
The Mill Paris unveils the behind-the-scenes of the Knockout Chaos trailer directed by Romain Chassaing! Relive the announcement of the fight between Francis Ngannou and Anthony Joshua and explore all the project details with VFX Supervisor Alexis Baillia, CG Supervisor Marouan El Bekri, and VFX Producer Stéphanie Mollet.
Check out the latest project releases from The Mill here.
Mikros Animation
In May we welcomed the most glitz and glam of all of our projects: Thelma the Unicorn. In case you haven’t caught a glimpse of Thelma’s life just yet, you can watch the newly released feature animation on Netflix and enjoy the story of how a small-town pony turns into a glamorous music star ? The project has been ranked in Netflix’s top 10 films since its release, alongside our MPC project Atlas.
Meet some of the talent behind Thelma in our ‘Behind The Glitter’ series. Meet Maruti Unkal – Team Lead, Surbhi Jauhari – Senior Artist and many more in Mikros Animation’s talent spotlights.
With Annecy International Animation Film Festival just a few days away, our Mikros Animation team is thrilled to return once again from the 9-15th June with conferences, school recruitment sessions, picnic and an extraordinary booth (A.78) at MIFA ? Find out more about what our teams will be up to here, and in the meanwhile, check out our time at Annecy Festival 2023!
Check out more news from the Mikros Animation team here.
Technicolor Games
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has welcomed Technicolor Games VP of Business Development, Eric Williams as a member.
Joining VES as a member means becoming part of a prestigious community, dedicated to advancing the art and science of visual effects. It signifies recognition of my professional achievements and contributions to the industry, providing an opportunity to collaborate with and learn from the most talented and innovative minds in VFX.
Eric Williams
Check out more news about Technicolor Games.
Explore our studios and services to find out more about what we do. For the chance to work on award-winning projects, check out our Jobs at the Technicolor Group.
