Top Talent Join the CG Department at The Mill Los Angeles

2015 was a time of remarkable work for the CG department at The Mill in Los Angeles. High profile projects included Google Spotlight Stories – Help, Coca-Cola – Torch Bear, and the Game of War campaign. In response to this, Heads of 3D John Leonti and Robert Sethi have grown the award-winning team, adding a combined 75 years of industry experience to the department.

Erik Zimmermann, VFX Lead Artist, specializes in effects look development and creative direction. After writing his thesis on “using bleeding edge visual effects techniques in conceptual fine art photography,” Erik kicked off a career taking him to Digital Domain, Rhythm and Hues and DreamWorks. He worked on projects such as 'Tron: Legacy',  ‘Speed Racer’ and ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. Erik is also a commercial portrait and lifestyle photographer on the side, and dabbles in sculpture and installation art.

Rigging Department Supervisor Sean Comer started out in medical illustration but swiftly moved into the less squeamish world of Computer Science. Throughout his career Sean has contributed and developed tools and work-flows for creature articulation and simulation, from an anatomical perspective.  Sean developed the tissue system for "Richard Parker" the tiger in ‘Life of Pi’ for which he won a VES award. 

Whilst at Industrial Light & Magic, Sean redesigned their muscle and tissue system for the most recent version of Hulk in Marvel's ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. 

Gillian George, VFX Artist, started out her VFX career in-house for Warner Brothers on ‘Speed Racer’ and moved on to work at Digital Domain, MPC, Method Studios, and Image Engine, among others.  She has worked on such films as 'Tron: Legacy', 'Elysium', and Best VFX Oscar-nominated 'Real Steel'. Her matte paintings have been featured in Cinefex magazine and various online publications. 

VFX Artist Jason Monroe started off his career in Kinesiology, before re-training in Computer Science where he went on to work for Nova Logic, Electronic Arts, and Trilogy Studios.‬ From there Jason worked as Video Game Cinematics Lead for six years at Zoic Studios, across video game cinematic projects, feature film, episodic television, and commercials. 

Charles Storniolo, VFX Artist, studied Directing and Cinematography. Charles then attended the Academy of Art where he specialized in Houdini. Shortly after joining Mirada he created an interactive exhibit for IBM; tasked with creating a fluid simulation for display on a 50ft wall. Charles worked on commercials for Nike, AT&T, Disney and music videos for Katy Perry. He was also one of three effects artist ‘Pacific Rim’; a movie heavy on destruction and explosion simulations. 

Robert Sethi, Head of 3D, says, “During the last few months we have had some amazing talent join our CG team. The CG team is stronger than ever and we are super excited heading into Super Bowl and the year ahead. With big jobs continuing to pour in, we are committed to continuing the growth of the CG department with the best talent out there.”

John Leonti, Head of 3D, says, “We are thrilled with the continued expansion of the 3D department especially with such a high caliber of VFX artists. Our exciting new hires mean we are ideally positioned to meet the evermore technical and creative challenges of our industry.”