Seattle Southside

Seattle Southside’s Microadventure Mystery Box campaign turned the region’s hidden gems into a collection of original characters, each inspired by a different local experience and brought to life in a playful campaign.

Building a World by Hand

We wanted the film to feel handmade from the beginning. Each character represented a different Seattle Southside experience, so we designed their miniature world around that personality and adventure. We built the sets practically and filled them with tiny crafted details, right down to the seashells in BTea’s underwater scene. Rather than hiding that these were toys, we embraced the tactile quality of the characters and their environments as part of the visual language.

Bringing the Characters to Life

From there, we layered animation and VFX onto the practical filmmaking so the characters could do things their physical counterparts couldn’t. Bubbles races around a miniature go-kart track and spins into a celebratory doughnut. Glider takes to the sky. Even the comic-inspired character titles were animated differently to reflect each personality. The soundtrack followed the same idea, cleverly weaving the characters’ names into the music so picture, movement, and sound all worked together.

Turning the Spot into a Journey

Starting with the client’s initial look frames, we developed a full animatic to explore how the camera could move through these worlds before building anything. We introduced sweeping camera moves, match cuts and seamless transitions that carry us from one vignette into the next, making the 30-second film feel like a miniature tour through Seattle Southside rather than a collection of separate scenes. The final piece brings practical sets, puppetry, animation, VFX and sound together into one playful mixed-media world.

_{Agency: 123w}

_{Agency Producer: Ryan Scott}

_{Sr. Art Director: Andronicus Wu}

_{Art Director: Jon Dawe}

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_{Production: SSS}

_{Director: Will Murphy}

_{Executive Producer: Hussain Alladin}

_{Executive Creative Producer: Salman Sajun}

_{Producer: Regina Izquierdo} 

_{Director Of Photography: Shae Paterson}

_{1st AC: Mike Manus}

_{Sets and Props by Tree Dragon Inc.}

_{Production Designer & Puppeteer: Kirsten Brass}

_{Fabricator & Set Dresser: Bronte Brazier}

_{Assistant Fabricator: Bronte Brazier}

_{Art Assistant: Rae Corston}

_{Lead Puppeteer: Amelia Blaine}

_{PA: Juliana Mansano}

_{Editor: Matt Richards & Will Murphy}

_{Music & Sound: Vapor}