Milli Vanilli

Out to set the record straight, ‘Milli Vanilli’ gives us the untold truth of what really happened to the iconic pop duo in what is considered the greatest con in pop music history. The documentary follows the spectacular rise and fall of the 80’s band from the perspective of those involved.

Blue Spill worked closely for the first time with director Luke Korem on this revealing and compelling documentary, creating a complete gfx package and brand identity for the film. It was important to us, to create a strong aesthetic for the show, drawing on a range of 80’s materials to bring a nostalgic yet energetic aesthetic, representing the fun, high-energy and fast pace lifestyle of pop stars in the eighties and the industry which Milli Vanilli were soon to be swept up in.

Tasked with creating a huge variety of different shots to help tell the story through photographs, album covers, newspaper articles, screen composites as well as a title card and all text elements. We composited real paper and half-tone textures onto vinyl sleeves and magazines to give archival material the feel of being real-world artefacts from the 1980s. We made sure to reflect the tempo of their music by using punchy moves and the use of electric pink and blue lights give shots a fun and vivid atmosphere. Our photographic treatments, sequences and title sting all lean into that 80’s aesthetic, allowing the material to sit within the context of its time.

Upon the release of their lip-syncing secret the film takes a dramatic shift in tone, as Milli Vanilli’s star beings to dim and the documentary takes on much sombre tone; we were conscious that the graphics needed to remain respectful to the storyline by taking on a darker and more serious approach to help guide this narrative shift. Desaturating the previously colourful grade and lights and reducing the speed of the animations to slow down the pace of our graphics helped achieve this.

Blue Spill were proud to deliver over 100 graphic and VFX shots using an ACES workflow in Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Flame.