About Us

Introduction

Ministry of Illusion is owned and run by a dedicated group of young, talented and focused professionals who strive towards delivering a quality product and providing exceptional service at all times. Established in the Spring of 2000, Ministry of Illusion rapidly became renowned as a top-class, forward thinking visual effects & multimedia company that remains at the forefront of cutting edge technology.

Ministry of Illusion is the brain child of Marios Nicolettis and Gerd Muller. The two began their careers at Videolab and quickly climbed the ranks from being CAR operators to respected visual effects artists. After identifying the industry’s need for a visual effects boutique that offers creative advice and solutions that are born from hands on experience, they decided to fill the gap and provide their clients with this much sought after service. Since its opening , Ministry of Illusion has grown from a 2 man satellite business to a one stop creative haven to handle your every post production need with knowledge, care, originality, style and finesse.

Services

Being a service driven company, Ministry of Illusion, MOI*, provide a boutique for digital effects, online editing, graphics, multimedia and animation. We facilitate and oversee every single aspect of post-production. These services include telecine of 16mm and 35mm neg, grading of film to any format and tape-to-tape grade with Craig Simonetti who is widely regarded as the best colourist in the country. Our audio suites are run by Mickey Perreira and Adam Howard, who facilitated music composition, audio mix, search and stripe. In addition, we offer two in-house Avid offline suites and a fully equipped CAR, providing a complete range of post production services under one roof.

In consideration of the extremely tight deadlines and budgets presented on retail work, we have recently opened up a sub-division called Ministry Express. Though tailor made for high speed, low cost projects, the division still adheres to the superior commercial standards set by Ministry of Illusion.

Digital Visual FX, online editing and animation are our specialty and our artists; Gerd and Marios are respected for being at the forefront of their field. Bringing life & beauty to images and making your impossible concept a reality. Proficient with all “discreet' software, we readily offer their services on our in-house Combustion, Flame, Smoke , Flint and Maya.

We host the latest in animation technology with the use of a Vicon motion capture suite, recently used on Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing and Hulk. The 12 portable cameras, with LCDs pulsating at 10 000 frames per second, capture the live action and export the information to Maya for shading and texturing.

A recent addition is Ministry Film, the first and only facility entirely dedicated to longform projects. The department is fully equipped with a production team, offline suites, animators and compositors to ensure that your television series or feature film is given the unique and undivided attention that it requires. Though Ministry film functions as a separate entity to the commercial division, it still offers the exceptional talent and service that have become synonymous with the Ministry of Illusion brand. A close relationship with Arri (Germany – laser scanning & film printing) and Alun Richards of Cut & Paste (Johannesburg – Music composition and dolby digital) ensures that your feature is finished to the highest international standards, with co-ordination by Ministry Film at no additional cost.

At MOI* we offer the best of both worlds and work on both PC & MAC creating title design, typography, live action, graphics, animation and animatics. As a free service to our clients we offer assistance with storyboarding and shoot supervision. These services can often be invaluable as our highly skilled operators can save productions a substantial amount of time and money by putting their knowledge to work and preventing post production nightmares at shoot script / stage.

Multimedia is another forte meaning that we do Mpeg encoding to whichever specs you require. We also handle scanning and manipulation of static images. MOI* will develop presentations on CDROM and DVD that will leave a lasting impression with your clients. Equipped with interactive menus, video, graphics, images or whatever your creative mind can conjure. We also handle the transfer of video to DVD, from any format.

Achievements

Aside from eight years of top quality work produced, our talented crew has achieved the following…

International Awards

2004 – Best Mini Film – Independents Film Festival USA – And there in the dust

2003 – Silver Cannes Lion Award – Visual Effects for Charity
Childline – Lucy Moonflower

2001 - Vancouver Effects & Animation Festival
Category : Effects created for a Feature Film / TV Series / TV Special
Position : First Prize
Project : Merlin

2000 – Vancouver Effects & Animation Festival
Category : Effects created for a TV series / Pilot / MOW
Position : Second Prize
Project : The Little Unicorn

Local

2000 – Ad of the month November – YFM Magazine
Project : Toyota Tazz

2001 – Ad of the month July – Association of Advertising Agencies
Audi S6 – Sharpei

2001 – Orchid Award – Saturday Star Business Report
Audi Allroad

2003 – Gold Loerie Award –
Shield – Hero

2004 – Merit - Brett Kebble Awards –
And there in the dust

2005 – Human Rights Award – Sithengi
Tau ya Soweto

2005 – Best South African Short Film – Durban Film Festival –
And there in the dust

2005 – Gold and Silver Loerie Award
Exclusive books - Silent movie

2006 – Best Campaign of the year
Vodacom Meerkat

2006 – Best Music Video – YFM
HHP – Miller Dollar

2007 – Bronze Loerie Award
Cell C - Little people

2008 – Bronze Loerie Award
Childine Kings and Kweens Music video – Swatter Kamp

2008- Loerie Award
SAA

 

Conclusion

Ministry of Illusion is an emergent and progressive company that will benefit yours directly. We are always willing to listen and give our assistance wherever possible, be it budgetary or just advice. No job is too big or too small and anything can be achieved with technology, talent and time. MOI* will breathe life into your wildest ideas and show you that impossibility is indeed extinct!

 

Ministry of illusion is the only company in South Africa that offers a dedicated film division, complete with all the latest cutting edge visual effect and animation tools, as well as an extensive pool of talent that are able to make any director's fantastical visions become a reality. Our team of VFX Supervisors, Visual Effects Artists, Animators, Designers, Compositors and Sculptures provide the necessary infrastructure that is required to fulfill in the Film Industry's unique needs. The tried and tested film production pipeline at Ministry of illusion caters for each specialized discipline of film making.

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Our film services include:

· Previz and Conceptualization (Animatics)
· Avid Edit Suites
· Character Design
· Marquettes and Prosthetics
· On-Set VFX Supervision
· 2D Animation (Traditional Animation) in Mirage
· 2D and 3D Title Design
· Compositing in Combustion, Shake, Flame and Smoke
· Sub Titles and Credit Rolls
· 3D Character Animation in and Visual Effects Maya
· Vicon MX13 Optical Motion Capture (Up to 4 characters simultaneously)
· High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) panoramic photography on-set for 3D lighting
· 3D Match-Moving (Live-Action Camera Tracking for 3D and Compositing)
· Photographic Image Based Lighting and Digital Set Recreation
· 3D Crowd Simulation (via Artificial Intelligence)
· 3D Cloth Simulation
· 3D Particles and Dynamics
· 3D Liquid Dynamics

The Ministry Film team worked on the following award winning feature films:

- And There In The Dust (Best Mini Film - 2004 Independents Festival ; Merit Brett Kebble Award 2004 ; Best South African Short Film - Durban International Film Festival 2005)
- Number 10 (by Director Darrel Roodt - Academy Nominated for Yesterday in the category Best Foreign Film)
- Bunny Chow , Winner of Sithengi award for Best actor 2006 and Most promising director 2006
- Tau Ya Soweto (Winner of the Human Rights Award at the Sithengi Film Festival)

2D and 3D Animated Features and Television Series coming soon:

- Amanda's couch
- Moon Baboon

We have assembled a group of talented animators and visual effects artists, that also worked on the following feature films and television series at numerous production and animation studios around the world (Including The Moving Picture Company, The Creature Shop, and The Video Lab).

- Tsotsi - Academy Award "Best Foreign Film" - Golden Globe Nominated (Film - SA)
Artist name: Eddie Addinall
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Visual Effects, Sub Titles & HD Mastering
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Duma (Film - Warner Brothers - USA)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Modeling, Rigging, Skinnig, Animation, Shading & Render Management
Work done at: The Video Lab

- The Sunflower (Film - DuMarc Productions – SA)
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Character Rigging and Setup, Opening Space Fly-through (Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Animation, Particles, Fluids, & Clouds)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Digital Sculpting, Camera Tracking, Animation & Particles
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Mr. Bones (Film – Video Vision – SA)
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: Chopper Rope Match-Moving, Texturing, Lighting, Elephant Trunk Setup & Lighting
Artist name: Eddie Addinall
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Visual Effects
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Mama Jack (Film – Video Vision – SA)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Concept Design of Snake, Digital Snake Modeler, Rigging Skinnig of Snake, Animation, Shading & Render Management
Artist name: Eddie Addinall
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Visual Effect Compositing
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Berserker (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision of Fire and Phyro Effects, Particles elements
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Merlin the Return (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Composited all green smoke shots, created all morphs
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Ghost Character Setup & Rigging, Ghost Texturing, Ghost Lighting, Animation, Dynamics (Soft Body and Particles)
Work done at: The Video Lab

- The Last Last Leprechaun (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic - UK)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: morphs, adding lighting, particles on gold coins
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Character Modeling, Character Setup, Character Animation, Lighting and Texturing
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Animator
Work Breakdown: Prosthetic Make-up Assistant
Work done at: The Video Lab

- The Little Unicorn (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Unicorn glows
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: On-Set VFX Supervision, Modeling, Character Setup & Rigging, Character Animation, Texturing, Lighting, Sparkle Particles & Hair
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Pirates of the plain (New Ernest roductions - USA)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Composited all cloud and smoke shots, Composited the ship, Composited shadows on people
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: 3D Cloud System Setup, Cloud Particles, Texturing & Lighting
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Fairytale (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: Fairy Character Set-Up, Lighting, Texturing, Particles
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Animation
Artist name: Eddie Addinall
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Visual Effect Compositing
Work done at: The Video Lab

- The Fairy King AR (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Assistant Craftsman
Work Breakdown: Prosthetics & Molding
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Beauty and the Beast (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic - UK)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Specialist
Work Breakdown: Built prosthetic beast costume
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Pets (Film - Peakviewing Transatlantic – UK)
Artist name: Gerd Muller
Position at time of project: Quantel Henry Artist
Work Breakdown: Created lightning on people
Work done at: The Video Lab
- I Dreamed of Africa (Film Sony Pictures – USA)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Animal Prosthetic Specialist
Work Breakdown: Lifelike silicon prosthetic snakes, 12 foot painted silicon python and various smaller snakes
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Coastal Murmurs (Film – Portugal)
Work done at: The Video Lab
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: Locust Particle Clouds

- Stander – Newmarket Films – SA)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Artist, Rigged Gun Foam Runner
Work Breakdown: Create multiple prosthetic wounds ranging from stabs ; shotgun to full prosthetic ripped limbs ; Manufacture a prosthetic human back from live cast of actor using Fiberglas backing and foam latex skin to cover blood bags and squibs. To be reapplied to the actor on the day of shooting ; Cast 220 various guns from rigged foams and paint them ; Stunt guns with soft and ridged parts for safety
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Tarzan & Jane – USA)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Artist, Props Artist
Work Breakdown: Prosthetics and Props
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Ernest in Africa (Film – USA)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: changed name takes through out movie, extra clean ups & visual effects
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Sign of the Ape (Film – Rie Ono – Italy)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Specialist
Work Breakdown: 15 full sized ape costumes including four main hero prosthetic characters
Work done at: The creature shop (Magic Monsters)

- Beyond Borders (Film – Mandalay Productions – Canada, Thailand & Namibia)
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Artist
Work Breakdown: On set in Namibia to assist the Neil Corbould team with facial appliances and body prosthetics
Work done at: The Creature Shop (Magic Monsters)

- Operation Bravo Two Zero (Film - Videovision – SA)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: Composited submarine into water, removed people on cruise ship
Work done at: The Video Lab

- Tarzan – The Epic Adventures (TV Series – MGM Studios - USA)
Artist name: Marios Nicolettis
Position at time of project: Flame Artist
Work Breakdown: created all transitional paintings for the book page turns, set extensions, explosions, other visual effects
Artist name: Gerd Muller
Position at time of project: Quantel Henry Artist
Work Breakdown: Digital Lightning painting
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Opening Logo tracked onto book, Arrow and Spear elements
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Prosthetic Artist
Work Breakdown: Creature maintenance, Puppeteer
Work done at: The Video Lab & Prosthetics at The Creature Shop (Magic Monsters)

- Alien Nursery Rhymes (Animated Shorts - SA)
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: Texturing and Lighting of pilot, particles, animation
Artist name: Rob de Villiers
Position at time of project: Senior Animator
Work Breakdown: Episode 2 - Animator, Animatics, Charater Rigging, Compositing & Editing
Work done at: The Video Lab (In-House Animated Short)

- Body Story 2 (TV Series - BBC & Discovery Channel - UK)
Work done at: The Moving Picture Company
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Freelance 3D Animator
Work Breakdown: modeling, animation, particles, texturing, match-moving, texturing & lighting

- Sesame Street (TV Series – SA & USA)
Work done at: The Video Lab
Artist name: Martin Heigan
Position at time of project: Head of 3D
Work Breakdown: Character Setup, Character Animation, Particles, Texturing, Lighting & Animation


Talented individuals in our current film team, worked on projects around the world that won the following International Awards:

Cannes Film Festival
 Category: Animation
Position: Silver
VEAF Award (Vancouver Effects and Animation Festival)
Category: Effects Created for a T.V. Series/Pilot/MOW
Position: 2nd Prize
LEAF Award (London Effects and Animation Festival)
Category: Special Animation Award
Position: 1st Prize
SIBGRAPI Award (Symposium on Computer Graphics and Image Processing)
Category: Presentation at the Brazilian Sibgrapi 2000 Animation Festival
VEAF Award (Vancouver Effects and Animation Festival)
Category: Effects Feature Film / TV Series / TV Special
Position: 1st Prize
VEAF Award (Vancouver Effects and Animation Festival)
Category: Simulation/Education/Training Award
Position: 1st Prize
SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater (Siggraph - Special Interest Group Graphics)
Category: Siggraph Electronic Theater
MEDIARAMA Electronic Theater (Othello Revista Digital, Granada, Spain)
Category: Mediarama Electronic Theater