The Mill transformed the Canadian landscape, where winter had just barely hit, into a winter wonderland. Mill creative director Adam Grint led the 2D team in adding atmospherics like snow falling and frost on the tops of trees, as well as extending snowy environments into the distant background. This was achieved with multiple 3D passes of snow interaction and fog dynamics. Adam said, "We had beautiful raw footage to work with, courtesy of Si & Ad. It already had a wonderful cinematic quality, just a little nudge here and there was enough to achieve what we needed and maintain the look of it being entirely shot in camera."

Let's not forget about a fully CG reindeer. Lead CG artist Nic Yiallouris explained, "We had to do a full digital takeover of the reindeer for it to leap into the air and fly off into the night. It was re-built from data captured on set and we used our proprietary fur system to match the the live action reindeer fur. The end result is a CG reindeer that seamlessly blended with the live action one, the difference being that he could leap five feet into the air!"

This magical story is sure to warm your heart this holiday season.