A Look Inside Mills James Studio In Columbus Ohio

Not all Production and Post facilities are in California or New York. In fact most states have very professional facilities that can produce content for you and your company. 

One such facility is Mills James in Columbus Ohio. As one of the largest video and event production companies in the country, Mills James has deep expertise in live and virtual event production, video production, broadcast television, and hospitality audiovisual services. Their clients include Procter & Gamble, Avon, Cardinal Health, Chase, CNN, Scotts Miracle-Gro and McGraw Hill, among many others.

They are creative directors, writers, event producers, cinematographers, designers, streaming engineers, and audiovisual technicians – over 300 associates aligned around a company mission to craft and deliver experiences that deepen human connections and inspire people to care and act.

We spoke with Lou Kestella about their facility and some of their projects and services. Here is his take on Mills James Studio!

Lou Kestella

Our specific services include:

Live and virtual event production

Scenic design

Event staging

Creative direction

Scriptwriting

Studio and field video production

Virtual production using Unreal Engine

Newsfeeds

Postproduction including editorial, motion graphics, visual effects, 3D modeling/animation, and audio post

Social media content production

Talent management

DEEPER DIVE

Our Mills James Experience Group (MJx) produces events for some of the country’s leading brands. Our services include strategic planning, theme development, set design, presentation development, speech coaching and full staging support. We back our creative teams with a deep in-house inventory of video projection, lighting and audio equipment.

Our Streaming Services group helps clients greatly extend the reach of their live and on-demand events by simplifying the technical and bandwidth issues of this medium.

Our Mills James Video And Broadcast Group produces hundreds of projects each year including spots, social media campaigns, broadcast TV programs, event videos, executive communications, training efforts and more. We work across many industries – retail, health care, broadcast news, consumer products, manufacturing, financial services and hospitality – to name a few.

Our Columbus, Ohio Teleproduction Center houses more than an acre of production resources all under one roof, including three soundstages, ten edit suites, eight visual effects suites and three audio studios, along with broadcast engineering and control facilities.

Our Visual Effects Group is experiencing explosive growth as visual engagement increases in importance. We produce everything from quick-turn infographics and 3D digital twins to full blown virtual production using Unreal Engine. Our motion-graphics artists know how to bring their talents to the task of communicating for greater understanding, engagement and emotional resonance.

Our Audio-Visual Hospitality Services Group manages on-site audiovisual services for Fortune 500 corporations, conference centers and hotels. We are the in-house production company for the Columbus Convention Center, among others. We’re known for delivering breakthrough service in this industry by hiring people who combine four qualities rarely found together: passion for the details, expert AV knowledge, proactive mindsets and client-centered personalities. We then back those people with the right equipment and the best service protocols in the business.

Mills James projects have received a number of awards over the years including:

• Regional Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
• Documentaries presented at the Sundance Film Festival 
• Addy Awards from the American Advertising Federation Telly Awards
• Gold Medal and Best of Show Awards from The New York Festivals
• PRISM Awards from the Public Relations Society of America

There are 3 of us that lead the VP effort here at Mills James.

Unreal/vfx artist – Cory Martin

VP Supervisor/Live FX and Unreal Engine Operator – Lou Kestella

Director of Photography – Alberto Viglietta

Below is general synopsis of the 4^th of July spot we shot. 

4^th of July Video

This idea was born out of the need for some social media eye candy for Memorial Day.  Our marketing team approached me about getting some BTS with some American Flag themed content on our LED wall. The problem was we didn’t have any patriotic themed content. So, I decided this would be a great opportunity to show off what we have been working on with using Virtual Production with our LED volume and test out our newest addition to our Virtual Production tool belt, Live FX. My thought was to put together a re-creation of friends and family enjoying one of our best American holidays, the fourth of July. I wanted to follow a group of friends and family from a golden hour cookout to a relaxing evening at the lake with fishing and fireworks.

The Tools

MoSys Camera tracking:

We have been using MoSys for 3-4 years now and the camera tracking has always been seemingly flawless. And, in the times it wasn’t their customer support has been right there every step of the way. They have been the perfect partner as we have cut our teeth in the Virtual Production world.

Unreal Engine:

The version used for the 4^th spot was 5.3 and UE continues to be a huge part of our workflow.

Live FX:

We are very new to the Live FX family, and we are so excited to keep lifting the hood on this incredibly powerful tool. We have been inside of Unreal Engine using the Mosys plugin for compositing, set extensions, AR elements, etc. since we started cracking into Virtual Production. As we continue to integrate Live FX into our workflow it is exciting to see the other things Live FX offers with 2D and 2.5D workflows with green screen and LED Volumes.  We have seen the biggest impact with Live FX’s color grading capabilities, and Image Based Lighting. 

The 4^th spot was very early into our use with Live FX so Image Based lighting was the first code we wanted to crack, and the results speak for themselves. The ability to quickly go from golden hour to the blues of a moonlit night made it immediately clear how important Live FX would be to our virtual production ecosystem.

The ability to match the lighting in the physical space to the virtual environment by simply just changing the time of day in unreal engine was a real game changer for productivity and efficiency. Seeing something that would otherwise be a painful thing to execute in studio such as The fireworks scene was a highlight of the day. To see real time lighting changes reacting to the explosions on the LED volume was an absolute game changer and opened my eyes to so many possibilities. Find out more about Live FX at https://assimilateinc.com/.

Gear:

Arri Alexa Mini

Fujinon Premista 28-100

Arri s60’s for space lights

Arri s30’s for side fill and effect

Arri L7-c for moonlight

Chroma Q Color Force II 72’s for cyc lights bouncing off a 45’ cyc wall

Aperture 600c key light

Astera Titan tubes for fireworks and ambience

Mac Aura’s for fireworks

About The Team

Lou Kestella

Lou has been in the Production industry for 10 years. Before coming on to the staff at Mills James, Lou was an Audio Engineer by trade and freelanced for Mills James for 6 years as well as owning and operating a recording studio based in the Columbus, OH area.

With Lou’s experience in studio management in his tool belt, Lou took on the role Studio Manager at Mills James in the beginning of June 2022. It is there when Lou first started getting experience in the world of Virtual Production and has since taken the reigns of Mills James’ growing Virtual Production needs in March 2024.

Alberto Viglietta

Alberto Viglietta is a seasoned professional with 30 years of experience in film and video production. After spending 25 years as a successful freelancer working on commercials, music videos, and movies, Alberto joined Mills James to further his career.

Now, he is focused on exploring virtual production as an exciting extension of his expertise, continuing to push creative boundaries in the evolving landscape of visual storytelling. 

Cory Martin Bio

As a results-driven 3D Generalist and Art Director based in the greater Columbus area, I have a profound passion for creating enduring design solutions.

With a decade-spanning career, I have successfully led teams and crafted impactful visual narratives across motion graphic design and 3D art direction domains.

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Lou Kestella | Studio Manager | Mills James

3545 Fishinger Blvd. Columbus, OH 43026

PH: (614) 850-2111  Cell: (937) 243-1660