The Mill: Nature Sweet

The Mill’s crew tech-scouted in Guadalajara, Mexico, where they enlisted the help of local DP/Photographer Michel Amado Carpio. “Michel took time-lapse photography for us for 22 days which served as reference for our animation,” Smith explains. “We analyzed the results to figure out how the plants actually grew. We also used some of it as background plates for the final composite.”

Although the agency’s animatic was one shot, the pre-vis suggested that cuts and macro photography would yield more beautiful photography. “We did animation blocking using simple geography to ascertain how it could work editorially,” Smith explains.

The Mill’s Flame Artist, Naomi Anderlini, “Bokeh was simulated by layering a combination of live action time-lapse and CG time-lapse processed through varied results of Rack Defocus sparks,” Anderlini explains. “A combination of live-action particles and CG particles were added to the environment, to create a greater sense of this shallow depth of field … we hand-edited the sequences in Flame to create a stop-motion feel, and added flicker … chromatic aberration, lens distortion, live-action flares, and layers of glows, all contributed to the beauty of the final composites, and were handled quite delicately in Flame to achieve the result we’d envisioned.”