Is this the first of its kind - what a laugh: Mill Film laughing stock!

[leigh]

LOL!!!

I actually wish they had left it the way it was. I love cheesy movies - imagine, if they always went and redid effects because they were hilarious, we wouldn't have classics like The Evil Dead :D

I must say though, that it's a bit odd to think that The Mill would have produced something so crap. I mean, the last film they did, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, actually had really awesome effects, in my opinion...

[Bliz]

Hmmm... Sounds a bit fishy to me. How did MillFilm get all the way to the rendering stage without a negative word from the movie's visual fx supervisor? Sounds like MF have been used as a scapegoat for lazy project management on the film.

[vfx]

I can't blame you Blizz, I can't understand it either! Perhaps ur right, considering they've now shutdown, it would be great to use them as the fault - no lawsuits there!!! Plus, good publicity for the film I say. Might just not go see it now just to piss off the producers and hail Mill Film. Lol

[Leonard]

What on earth!

Anyway, you can't blame it on Mill Film for the "look" as the entire production process does go through the Director from concept storyboards to animatics, etc.

The film does sound a little dodgy though.

L.

[leigh]

I may be mistaken, but I sometimes get the distinct feeling of animosity between US and European companies.
Perhaps Asylum is only saying this because they felt threatened by what The Mill did, and are now trying to prove that they can do better?

Look at the 2 Harry Potter films, the effects that The Mill did were, for the most part, really excellent, except the films were then somewhat ruined by dodgy compositing from American companies. I am not suggesting that US companies are sub-par, but perhaps they are subtly trying to ruin European/ Non US ilms?

I'm sure that ILM must be a little scared and intimidated by the stuff that Weta are doing...

Anyway, that's just my paranoid little rant for today. :)
I'm probably just full of crap after watching too many X-Files...

No matter what, I for one am certainly looking forward to this film! There is nothing quite like a really dodgy cheesy film to tickle my funny bone! :D

[gmask]

Originally posted by Leigh
LOL!!!

I actually wish they had left it the way it was. I love cheesy movies - imagine, if they always went and redid effects because they were hilarious, we wouldn't have classics like The Evil Dead :D



Wasn't Evil Dead 2 basically a remake of the first that had a real budget?

You also have to consider that the director might not have been communicating well with the creatives when something like this happens.

But we could use some good ole cheesy films with hilarious effects couldn't we ;-)

[leigh]

Yeah, Evil Dead II was basically a remake of the first one, but it was because the first one was banned - most probably because of the scene where the girl is raped by the... uh.... tree in the forest.
A great film, definitely one of my favourites :D

The 80's spawned loads of awesome bad films, but that's because people, I think, were just less picky, and they also weren't so obssessed with getting the best effects and doing everything over the top.

I miss those good ol' days of cheesy films :p

[twilight]

Evil Dead rules!
How about a remake? Mill Film could work on the VFX!!

As for ILM being scared of Weta... for what i've seen on the LOTR DVD extras, it's a bit far from the truth. In one of the interviews PJ talks about some complicated VFX and he says he talked to someone on ILM because they were developing something similar to what he was trying to achieve. They invited PJ to meet them if he went to LA. He went to LA for some other reason and actualy went to ILM where they showed him what they've developed and really helped him out. Now that's a very professional attitude and shows great fairplay. Maybe smaller companies (and smaller people) could learn something from this kind of behavior...

[gmask]

Originally posted by twilight
Now that's a very professional attitude and shows great fairplay. Maybe smaller companies (and smaller people) could learn something from this kind of behavior...

Yeah sure if ILM will make appointments with smaller companies that would be great :thumbsup: :applause: :beer:

[Leonard]

Originally posted by Leigh
I may be mistaken, but I sometimes get the distinct feeling of animosity between US and European companies.
Perhaps Asylum is only saying this because they felt threatened by what The Mill did, and are now trying to prove that they can do better?

Look at the 2 Harry Potter films, the effects that The Mill did were, for the most part, really excellent, except the films were then somewhat ruined by dodgy compositing from American companies. I am not suggesting that US companies are sub-par, but perhaps they are subtly trying to ruin European/ Non US ilms?

I'm sure that ILM must be a little scared and intimidated by the stuff that Weta are doing...

Anyway, that's just my paranoid little rant for today. :)
I'm probably just full of crap after watching too many X-Files...


I don't really see the animosity between the US/UK. Tony Blair is George W. Bush's best friend! :)

Mill Film shut down because it wasn't economically viable to run a feature-film effects studio. Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM have the benefit of consistently having movies running through the pipeline, while other studios such as Mill Film (and in the future, possibly Weta) have to bid for these projects and are geographically disadvantaged.

For example, Imageworks currently has Spider-Man 2, Polar Express, Big Fish (Tim Burton), Haunted Mansion (Rob Minkoff), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle AND a feature-length 3D animation running through the pipeline. Having Sony behind them as a parent company also ensures economic viability.

More or less, I do believe that it comes down to pure economics and the closure of Mill Film is not as dramatic as we'd like to believe.

Leo

[jussing]

Originally posted by twilight
In one of the interviews PJ talks about some complicated VFX and he says he talked to someone on ILM because they were developing something similar to what he was trying to achieve.

It wasn't really a matter of "complicated VFX", but merely the technique of using animatics, but yeah, it does show a more cooperative attitude than lots suspect. :thumbsup:

Also, check out this picture (http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/imageattack/2002/12/imageattack20021217.html) from starwars.com...

Cheers,
- Jonas

[beaker]

Originally posted by Leigh
I may be mistaken, but I sometimes get the distinct feeling of animosity between US and European companies.
Perhaps Asylum is only saying this because they felt threatened by what The Mill did, and are now trying to prove that they can do better?

Look at the 2 Harry Potter films, the effects that The Mill did were, for the most part, really excellent, except the films were then somewhat ruined by dodgy compositing from American companies. I am not suggesting that US companies are sub-par, but perhaps they are subtly trying to ruin European/ Non US ilms?

I'm sure that ILM must be a little scared and intimidated by the stuff that Weta are doing...


Naw, I doubt it, they're all the same artists. All the artists in film move around alot and they all work everywhere. 40% of weta's artists are from the US and 30% are from Western Europe. The visualfx supervisor on the first two LOTR films was from ILM. What goes around comes around. Most of the work in LA and UK these days are per project based. 6 weeks here, 3 months there, 6 months somewhere else. UK people come to LA, LA people goto UK. It's one big circle.

[leigh]

Oh ok :)
Good to hear that all is happy in wonderland :D
It was just a spot of paranoia then after all :)

[Jason S]

Originally posted by Leigh
LOL!!!

I actually wish they had left it the way it was. I love cheesy movies - imagine, if they always went and redid effects because they were hilarious, we wouldn't have classics like The Evil Dead :D

I must say though, that it's a bit odd to think that The Mill would have produced something so crap. I mean, the last film they did, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, actually had really awesome effects, in my opinion...


:shame: Hey I worked on that film and it was all down to the directer and not knowing what he wanted plus no art direction. plus not all the shots went over to the states.. we(millfilm) still did a few shots, just to clear things up some more :D Plus Millfilm closed for more reasons then you know ;)

J

[gmask]

Originally posted by Jason S
:shame: Hey I worked on that film and it was all down to the directer and not knowing what he wanted plus no art direction. plus not all the shots went over to the states.. we(millfilm) still did a few shots, just to clear things up some more :D Plus Millfilm closed for more reasons then you know ;)


That is what I thought.. just out of curiosity were scenes pulled from the Mill because it was closing or because the Director didn't like the results.. the article seemed to imply the latter?

[leigh]

You may have misunderstood what I meant - I am a big fan of The Mills work. I was saying that I find it hard to believe that they would have produced something as bad as Asylum are claiming that they did, when the stuff that I have seen of The Mills is nothing short of excellent. So, I know that the Mill's crew were a bunch of extremely talented artists :)

And, yes, I know of some other reasons why they closed ;)
I know someone who worked there.

[Jason S]

well the director had a good friend at assylum I think he owned it or something.... that was a major factor...so they did some free tests for him, and when the director when back to the states he went into Assylum and sat with the guys and came up with a look for the sins....something we didnt have the opitunity to.

J

[Jason S]

Originally posted by Leigh

And, yes, I know of some other reasons why they closed ;)
I know someone who worked there.


Who ? were they also from South Africa? Im from Joburg btw :D

[leigh]

I kinda know Gabriel White :)

You from Joburg?? :surprised

[Howzat]

So way you two going to share with the rest of us some of the other factors as to why they closed?? After all they have closed now... can't do any harm, can it??

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by Jason S
:shame: Hey I worked on that film and it was all down to the directer and not knowing what he wanted plus no art direction. plus not all the shots went over to the states.. we(millfilm) still did a few shots, just to clear things up some more :D Plus Millfilm closed for more reasons then you know ;)

J

See.......this is why this forum is such fun......9/10 times when someone has something to say about a movie or company someone from said company can and most likely will pop-up and say something......i love it!!!

[Pixelmaestro]

I went to the VFX fesival in San Rafael, CA that had a short session of breakdown shots from Black Hawk down.

They obvioiusly did created some awesome work, nominated and winning some Golden statuettes.

I had dollar figures rolling in my head when they talked about the flexibility Ridley Scott had when filming. I have no idea how they budgeted of made money.

Mr. Scott wanted the freedom of shooting with hand held cameras for that "in the action" experience, and is a extremely visual director drawing and using his own storyboards.

It just sounded like a camera matching, special effects production nightmare. They pulled it off, but I am sure all the extra work that it required ate up resources and money.

This is all speculation on my part......

[vfx]

Just to add to your discussion on Ridley, my uncle (no names sorry) had a part in that shitty (no offence to those who liked it) film 1492 - Conquest Of Paradise and apparently he aint that great a director. He told me that he sits around a lot in his chair watchin everyone else pull their weight and his!! Not what you'd call an active well spirited director! But then he did manage to make some greats like bladerunner and gladiator - If you ask me its down to his team!!

P.s. I just found something else out cool from my uncle last time I saw him. Got somethin to do with Andy Serkis!!

[ggg]

Originally posted by vfx
He told me that he sits around a lot in his chair watchin everyone else pull their weight and his!! Not what you'd call an active well spirited director!
like most in film, most of a directors work and creative efforts is not done at shoot time (student directors do this). sounds like he did what directors do and should do to concentrate on the shots and film overall and likely put a lot of preperation into each shot.
i too am a big bladerunner fan

too bad about themill

[Ronski]

Posted on Darkhorizons (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm) for the January 6th headlines, has some insight to what actualy went on....

The Order (was Sin Eater) - 'Goose' has some more information on the 'dodgy sin FX' report last week:

"Originally Millfilm were to do the sin effects on the movie but after early disappointing tests and the pressure of an originally tight August 2002 deadline the production decided to spread the workload to Asylum. Hence Millfilm were not responsible for the 'calamari' sin look which was awarded to Asylum last June. Therefore Asylum has been working on this sin look for the last six months and none of the current sin effects in the movie were created by Millfilm.
Millfilm only ever produced tests on three shots within one of the three sin sequencies, the death of *******. None of the shots were ever delivered on film only video tape. So if the movie was complete then the effects would have been completed by Asylum. Any sin effects seen on film print were not completed by Millfilm. The production returned to Rome to reshoot sequencies in the movie. I am unsure what is going on but it seems like Millfilm are a convenient excuse"

Interesting eh?

Cheers,
Kieron

[RobertoOrtiz]

I am with Leigh here.
The story was fishy from the beginning. If there one thing that I hate is when a creative individual or company is used "scapegoat" because of the decisions of someone in power.

This seems to be the case here.
Too bad that it seems to happen all the time.

-Roberto

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.