He is straight to work on a few interesting projects we have going on, more on those soon….

Please send examples of work, your C.V., and rates to info@wearemi.com

We decided we needed something a little unusual. And loud. So we obtained the help of Zelig Sound, and set about creating a strange animated journey from our studio to the event venue. The Big Chips have become a big night in the calendar, so it made sense, well at least to us, to populate Manchester with some big things.

The film seemed to do it’s job too – from where we were seating most of the room seemed to be watching, even if only through one eye. We would have had a better view, but ’someone’ stole our seats. Oh no. We’ve mentioned that again haven’t we? No honestly, it’s fine. We’ve forgotten it, no really, these things happen. We won’t mention it again, water under the bridge. Tch.

So here is Leo – THE face of the News of the World’s online World Cup coverage. He’ll be providing opinions, and a dose of fun in his video column. You can even follow him on twitter.

Mi worked on the character with Chris Gooch of Rubber Studios. The project was completed in just over one hard-working week. The animations were all created in Maya, but Leo’s character was created by adding in a healthy dose of what we call ‘a bit of the Winstone’.

The job was great to work on, and we wish Leo, (and of course Eng-Ger-Lund), all the best for the World Cup.

Thankfully at the end of the shot our little hero perfectly kicks a non-existent football a very long way. (The football was then added using Maya and Fusion). The result is hopefully a good bit of fun.

The viral was viewed over 3000 times in it’s first week, which is pretty good going, a big thanks to Push On and @leeborrett for giving the film a nudge in the right direction.

We have recently been working on a project involving 3D holograms which appear onstage next to presenters. Yes, you read that right. Holograms. Real ones, like Star Trek. Tch eh?

Working with a creative agency we have created huge 3D assets which are to be turned into holograms by these people. The technology, according to the Musion website:

“…uses a specially developed foil that reflects images from high definition video projectors, making it possible to produce virtual holographic images of variable sizes and incredible clarity…”

The site features some pretty incredible examples of the holograms in action; the world’s first holographic beat-boxing and holo-DJing is here, and this real time presentation link up is fairly impressive too.

The holograms require the created assets to be pretty big (4K for those of you with a technical bent), which means our render farm had to work pretty hard on this job.

3D! 3D! Everyone say 3D! Last year 3D was everywhere, the launch of Avatar catapulted 3D film back into the mainstream, and now every man and his stereoscopic dog are jumping on the bandwagon. But what exactly is this new 3D? How can you take advantage of it? And more importantly, should you use it at all?

So, Stereoscopic 3D. What the hell is that all about then? Well, the theory is actually pretty simple: we have two eyes (duh), each eye sees a slightly different image, the brain then processes this difference to create depth. Stereoscopic technology simply recreates this.

The first 45 seconds or so of this video explains further. And here is another video explaining how Mr Cameron did it. And here is a whole nine yards explanation from Wikipedia, should you want instant expertise.

The difference with this new 3D technique is that it seems to be here to stay. Sky is not just on the bandwagon, they are driving it , and 3D TVs are becoming widely available. The World Cup is predicted to be the catalyst to the take up of 3D domestically.

But whooooa there. Not everyone is singing the praises of 3D, some still see it as a gimmick, another nerdy fad which doesn’t add anything to the communication – here’s the BBC’s Mark Kermode on Avatar.

Gareth, our technical director is also cautious; “3D, if done right, can be amazing, for me Avatar was brilliant, because it was conceived and filmed as a 3D film. Clash of the Titans on the other hand was crudely rendered out 3D in post – it wasn’t actually really 3D, but it was sold as if it was. If the audience pays the premium, but sees 3D done badly, they are going to be quickly turned off and see stereoscopic as another marketing fad.”

So where does that leave you? Should you be using 3D? Will 3D get you more trade? More views? More sales?

Well Mi opinion is that it depends, as ever, on the creative idea, what you are trying to achieve, and how much of your audience can view your film in 3D. A CGI architectural film, shown at a launch event could greatly benefit from 3D. A TV ad for a bingo website would probably not.

If your pondering the whys and wherefores of 3D for a project give us a call, we’ll give you an honest and helpful appraisal before you jump on the bandwagon.

Mrs Peppercorn’s Magical Reading Room is an ambitious short film being produced in the North West by Black Lake Films. Mi became involved when MD Tony noticed something unusual happening in his village: “I noticed, well, my kids noticed, that from a distance part of the main street through the village seemed to be covered in snow. On closer inspection I noticed the tell-tale trucks and lights of a film crew. A quick Google later found an article on How-Do and everything started to become clear.”

Mi contacted director Mike Le Han and now we are helping out with five effects shots for the production. Collaborating closely with VFX supervisor Ben Haworth, we’re producing set extensions and full CG shots for the film, which is to be shot all on RED, and by the looks of the teaser, is going to be fantastic.

Our film certainly provoked a reaction, which is great. Many of the comments were really positive, (thanks to all for those – really appreciated), and some of the comments, well, let’s just say we’re not getting involved.

On an entirely different topic, yes, entirely different, we’re very proud to give a shameless plug to friend of Mi Nico Tatarowicz. Nico, along with some other comedy writers and performers has produced ‘Happy Finish’ a half hour sketch show for Channel Four’s comedy lab. The show featured this NOT SAFE FOR WORK sketch about Internet Hate, which has got nothing to do with the rest of this post. At all.

Once again, we have to thank a huge amount of people who gave a lot of time to make this happen: our director Mark Jewitt, the gents at Redbutton films, Mark McQueen, Mike Costelloe & crew, Mercedes Crescenti and many others.

The whole thing was shot on Red, and produced entirely in Manchester.  The video is out and about on all the usual channels,  including NMETV.  We hope you like it.