Director:
Angus Kneale, Ben Smith
Production:
The Mill
Agency:
RP3 Agency
Produced, designed and directed entirely by The Mill, Directors, Angus Kneale and Ben Smith, worked closely with RP3 Agency and Norfolk Southern on the overall storyline and sentiment of the commercial. The directors researched extensively all things rail and freight, and spent time on the ground in Roanoke, Virginia a major hub for Norfolk Southern. In addition, Mill Artists meticulously created extensive storyboards, character design and Pre-Viz prior to the shoot.
"The project really showcases The Mill's expanding creative capabilities. It is a culmination of all the areas of expertise within the company," shares Director, Angus Kneale.
Lead Designer, Tim Haldeen concurs, "It's that milestone project you dream about being a part of".
Since brand name toys were unable to be used, the biggest challenge was creating and designing the Toy cast of characters. Mill Artists let loose their imagination to come up with cool, impressive toys. Every character was designed from scratch and animated to look and feel realistic. Over 40 individual toys and pop-up books were specifically designed for the spot.
"Our cast of characters is a contemporary ensemble of timeless and modern toys that includes robots, action figures, stuffed toys, dumper trucks, cranes, diggers, etc. Between the charm of the character designs, the fun, surprising ways they all collaborate to build a city, and the fact that they all act rather human, each toy, whether it's high or low-tech, has an expression, a personality, and a purpose," explains Kneale.
Also helping to bring to life this epic vision was veteran Director of Photography, Bill Pope, whose extensive VFX knowledge gained on the ground-breakingThe Matrixtrilogy and his expertise in shooting miniatures onTeam America, was invaluable.
"I am incredibly proud of the final result. I think we have created something really special," concludes Kneale.
Tapping into our childhood fascination with trains, 'City of Possibilities,' presents freight shipping and The Mill's capabilities in a new light.
Agency: RP3 Agency
Producer: Donna Schoch-Spana
Creative Director: Jim Lansbury
Creatives: Chris Sheldon
Copywriter: Jim Lansbury
Production: The Mill
Directors: Angus Kneale, Ben Smith
Executive Producer: Ian Bearce
Producer: Nic Barnes
Director of Photography: Bill Pope
Line Producer: Rich Schwab
Art Director: Joe Cooney
Editing: The Mill
Editor: Ryan McKenna
Edit Assist: Alex Trierweiler
VFX: The Mill
VFX Producer: Boo Wong
Shoot Supervisors: Naotaka Minami, Corey Brown
2D Lead Artist: Kyle Cody
3D Lead Artist: Chris Bernier
Animation Lead: Jeff Lopez
Lighting Lead: Tom Bardwell
FX Lead: Joji Tsuruga
2D Artist: Erin Nash
3D Artists: Zang Chen, Alex Cheparev, Maxime Cousseau, Sam Crees, Sean Curran, Justin Diamond, Stanley Ilin, Nicholas Johnnides, Christina Ku, Justin Kurtz, Jeffrey Lee, Paul Liaw, Iván Luque Cuellár, Laurent Makowski, Justin Maynard, Naotaka Minami, Ross Scroble, Navdeep Singh, Hassan Taimur, Olivier Varteressian, Sauce Villa, James Williams, John Wilson, Zhenting Zhou, Dan Bollwerk
Smoke Assistant: Brendan O'Neil