Studio: mi
Creative and animation studio, Mi, tells Sammy Maine how playing it safe has kept them ahead of the game...
Mi share their rise in the CG industry
Playing it safe is not really a phrase you immediately associate with the creative industry, but for Manchester-based studio, Mi, playing it safe is something that has enabled it to flourish.
Working across games, architecture, brands and TV, managing director Anthony Hartley Denton prides Mi on professionalism, structure and flawless systems. “Mi works on the basis of system over goals and consistency over intensity,” he begins. “It’s suited us better to have a daily philosophical framework from which to operate daily, rather than a distant abstract goal. The speed of evolution of most industries now precludes anyone from making anything more than a ‘best guess’ as to where they will find themselves in 24-36 months.”
Choosing to look no further than six months at a time, Mi’s professionalism is its stand-out trademark that has enabled the studio to work with the likes of Sony and the BBC.
Creating everything from in-game movies to fully interactive online dramas, Anthony asserts that this diversity in their work is the reason the team is still so passionate about what they do, and he encourages artists at Mi to see beyond the technology, and instead focus on the story and being creative. “The briefs are so varied it encourages you to fall out of love quickly with the technologies and simply see them as what they are – tools,” he explains. “Too much commercial work is a victim of the technology which created it; just because they could do something no one stopped to think if they actually should.”
The studio uses industry-standard tools, such as Maya, 3ds Max, Unity and Zbrush as their main 3D tools. All rendering is done in V-ray, with compositing in Photoshop or Nuke and motion graphics in After Effects. “We also have our own render farm managed with Deadline,” says technical director Gareth Thatcher. “Plugging into that is the thing that makes us more efficient.”
The team who come from varied backgrounds in animation, architecture, games and VFX, are like-minded, enjoying a “relaxed work environment, training, competitive pay and pension,” says Gareth. Mi
prides itself in looking after its staff, offering an early finish on Fridays, nights out and paid over time, and there’s also beer o’clock!
Working at Mi doesn’t come without its challenges though; working on the Our World War: Interactive Episode was one of the studio’s most difficult projects to date. What would have been a comfortable six-month project had to be delivered in just three months: “I was spread across most areas of pre- and post-production – some of which were new to me,” Gareth recalls. “Not knowing how many people were going to hit the site was a worry. We had more hits than expected though, over 600,000 across desktop and ios/android devices, but all ran smoothly and no clean-up was required.” Senior 3D artist Chris Cragg adds that keeping pace with the industry and Mi’s peers is also a challenging aspect of their work. “Everybody is constantly evolving and raising the bar – you can’t rest on your laurels or you will quickly be left behind,” he explains. Working at Mi has given Chris the opportunity to create some standout art, with personal highlights including making the front cover for Sony’s Littlebigplanet Vita Marvel edition. “The job was great to work on from a creative and practical stance and seeing the cover on shop shelves was the high point,” he says. “The work is fast paced and challenging, but enjoyable. The staff and the relationships between us make the studio lively and fun.”
“It’s a challenging but ultimately very rewarding time to be in business,” agrees Anthony. “We just want to keep doing exciting work for great clients.” To find out more about Mi and see examples of the studio’s work, visit www.wearemi.com