Inky Drama for Netflix Marco Polo Titles

Mill+ co-directors Ben Smith and Bryce Wymer hit themes of greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry in the title sequence for the new Netflix original “Marco Polo” written by John Fusco and produced by The Weinstein Group.

“Bryce developed a technique to capture the images being ‘invisibly painted’ using an overhead projector and meticulously hand-painting the images onto a dense paper stock that allowed the water to sit on the surface of the paper.

“Sumi ink (ink formulated for sumi painting and calligraphy) was then dripped onto the invisible water paintings, spreading beautifully throughout the entire image. This was captured through high-speed photography to create an elegant, monotone image, confined to the waters edges.”

Compare and contrast: Here’s a smaller scale ink-in-water treatment from 2011 called “Dirty Water” from hush.fr director/illustrator Clément Beauvais For BDDP Unlimited:

[Watch]

The Mill_Enviivo | STASH MAGAZINE

Mill+ Breaks the Sound Barrier with “My Way”

Director Nils Kloth and the Mill+ crew handled everything including the song writing on this three-minute clip for the B&B industry booking system Eviivo. Mill+ EP Luke Colson: “This is probably the most diverse Mill+ Design project we’ve done. The fact that we wrote the lyrics and composed the song, [Watch]

Ryan Robertson Mill+ | STASH MAGAZINE

EP Ryan Robertson joins Mill+ in Los Angeles.

After six years at Prologue working in film, VFX, broadcast and print, Ryan “Reno” Robertson joins the Los Angeles studio of Mill+ as EP of design. [Watch]

Bif Mill+ Playgrounds Festival 2014 | STASH MAGAZINE

Bif and Mill+ Open Playgrounds Festival 2014

Fabrice Le Nezet and Jules Janaud (aka Mill+ directing collective Bif) launched the Playgrounds Festival 2014 last week with this title sequence reflecting the organizers’ wish “for something experimental, eclectic and artistic.” [Watch]

Andreas Berner Mill+ | STASH MAGAZINE

Andreas Berner Joins Mill+ NY as Creative Director

Former Psyop/MassMarket CD Andreas Berner moves his talents into the creative director role at Mill+ NY. [Watch]

The Mill_Fableists | STASH MAGAZINE

Mill+: The Fableists “Epic Thread”

This vibrant and frenetic animated short from Mill+ thru Brothers and Sisters agency gently reveals the good-for-all corporate values of children’s eco-fashion brand The Fableists. Narrated by UK comedy goddess Jennifer Saunders

Mill+ animation director Ivo Sous: “We gathered as much inspirational material as possible. This was followed by a real hands on approach creating character designs, mood boards, style frames, storyboards and animatics.

“Style frames were drawn up in Photoshop, the character animation was drawn frame by frame in Flash, with other elements being completed in Cinema 4D before the whole piece was composited together in AFX and Premiere.” [Watch]

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