The Mill The Mill BLACKBIRD® Receives Top 2016 HPA Honor

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) announced the 2016 winner of its Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation will be presented to The Mill BLACKBIRD^®. The BLACKBIRD® is the first fully adjustable car rig that creates photoreal CG cars. The Mill, creators of the BLACKBIRD® , will receive their award at the HPA ceremony to be held November 17^th, 2016 at the 11th at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA.

The HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation was conceived to recognize companies and individuals who have demonstrated excellence, whether in the development of workflow and process to support creative storytelling or in technical innovation. A jury of industry experts selected The Mill BLACKBIRD® during the recent presentation and judging session in Los Angeles.

The development team at The Mill spent three years refining the BLACKBIRD® .  It was designed to address problems faced by the advertising industry when creating content for automobile commercials: car availability, model revisions, limited access to locations, and footage that can quickly become outdated. The Mill BLACKBIRD® is a car rig that can be shot at any time, in any location, without the need to rely on a physical car. The length, width, wheels, and suspension of the rig can be adjusted or swapped to mimic almost any car in development or on the market. Its electric motor can be programmed to simulate various driving experiences.  The BLACKBIRD® packs a camera array and 3D laser scanner to generate a virtual model of the surrounding environment for realistic CG renderings. Beyond its advertising applications, the BLACKBIRD® technology enables many design and creative disciplines to test concepts long before manufacture.

In addition to the Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, the HPA Awards will recognize excellence in 12 craft categories including color grading, editing, sound and visual effects. Other special awards will be presented to Michelle Munson who has been named as recipient of the Charles S. Swartz Award, Herb Dow, 2016 HPA Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, and winners of the Engineering Excellence Award.

Tickets for the 11^th annual HPA Awards are on sale now and can be purchased online at http://www.hpaawards.com.