26 January 2011

Animation students to be put through The Mill

Photo opportunity: Visual Effects Lab, Level 6, Matthew Building at 10.30am on Friday, 28th January. Representatives of The Mill will be leading workshop sessions with Masters students.

Representatives from one of the world's most exciting visual effects companies will visit the University of Dundee later this week to meet with some of the UK's top young animators.

The team from The Mill will visit Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), part of the University, on Thursday and Friday to make contact with students from the undergraduate and Masters Animation programmes. They will also be setting a real commercial project for Masters students who will undertake the work with The Mill as part of their studies.

The Mill have worked on TV shows including Skins, Misfits, Primeval, Eastenders, Sherlock, and Doctor Who. They have contributed to high concept adverts for the likes of Nike, Matalan, Mercedes, Volkswagen, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Mini, Canon and Levi’s, and have also worked on music videos for Daft Punk among others.

On Thursday, they will deliver a lecture making all animation students aware of the possibilities for a career with The Mill and of the latest developments within the industry. The next day will see them set the project brief and lead a workshop session with the students who will be working on it.

Dr John McGhee, Programme Director for MSc Animation & Visualisation, said that the students will get a lot out of the visit, and the fact that a company such as The Mill had chosen to visit DJCAD shows how highly regarded its graduates are.

'A number of people from DJCAD have gone down to The Mill in recent years, including Masters students on placement and graduates who have found work with them,' he said.

'They have excelled, and their success has led to an increasing awareness of the quality of the programme here, and the graduates we are producing. The fact they are coming up here shows how the esteem in which they hold Dundee animation students and graduates.

'Creating special effects for a live action project will be a great experience for the students. They will learn a lot about the challenges of working on a commercial job and have the chance to impress representatives of an innovative and exciting company.'

The Mill has its headquarters in London, and offices in Los Angeles and New York. More than 20 years of innovation has cemented the company’s reputation as a recognised global brand for creating seamless visual effects, and leading the way in design, animation, live action content direction, VFX brand accounts, versioning and global adaptations, digital content creation and distribution.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277