Comic, tragic, or satirical, characters who trigger a meaningful emotional response will always provide the single most reliable way to ensure your narrative, commissioned or personal, resonates with an audience.

These eight films, produced by a stellar lineup of international talent including Oscar winner Patrick Osborne, showcase the extraordinary diversity of styles and techniques driving character-based projects in 2022.

All films were published in The Stash Permanent Collection during 2022 and are listed here in chronological order by the issue of publication.
 
 
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CHIPOTLE “A FUTURE BEGINS” TVC
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Ten years after completing his culture-shifting stop-motion spot “Back to the Start” for Chipotle, Nexus director Johnny Kelly helms a follow-up – renewing and extending the conversation around sustainable farming for a more complex time.

Johnny Kelly: “It’s a rare opportunity to be handed the keys to a stop-motion epic, so I was delighted to be able to get the band back together for a sequel.”
 
 
 

NEXT “BUSINESS INSURANCE DOESN’T HAVE TO SUCK” TVCs
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CD Lucas Brooking and Producer Holly Dyroff at BUCK in Los Angeles: “The client wanted us to help bring to life the latest NEXT brand campaign, and further explore the design language established by Collins and illustrator Casper Wain.

“We were involved from the early stages of the client’s script development and collaborated with the client on storyboards, design, 2D animation, editorial, compositing, final output, and delivery.
 
 
 

BRAWL STARS “RICO IN LOVE” Game Trailer
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The latest in Psyop‘s series of CG trailers for Supercell’s multiplayer online game Brawl Stars finds Super Rare (and not terribly bright) Brawler Rico falling hard for a candy vending machine.
 
 
 

“THIS TAPE DECK IS A TIME MACHINE” Short film teaser
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Nexus director Patrick Osborne, who won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar for “Feast” in 2014, gives us a peek at the future of animation production with this teaser for his new real-time animated series created using Unreal Engine.

A coming-of-age adventure conceived and directed by Osborne, “This Tape Deck is a Time Machine” follows a time-traveling teen who drops into strangers’ lives courtesy of music he plays on a retro cassette player.
 
 
 

FREE FIRE “LUCHA LIBRE AAA” Game Trailer
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Passion Pictures director Mads Broni takes luchadors wrestling action to 11 in this no-holds-barred trailer for Garena’s Free Fire Lucha Libre AAA game.

From the team at Passion Pictures: “The stylized and signature animation technique is elevated with impressive texture and incredible detail using a blend of anime and comic book references to create a unique mix of 2D and 3D frames.”
 
 
 

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT “CRIMSON & WINTER” Game Trailer
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Gustavo Karam, EP at Final Frontier: “Naraka: Bladepoint is a battle royale PC game taking place against the backdrop of the war between two ancient gods, the game tells the story of heroes meeting to compete for the immortal mask.

“Animated in Le Cube‘s signature dynamic style and fluid transitions, the action is reminiscent of anime but choreographed with the moves and sequences distinct to Wuxia-style sword-craft. Wuxia is a term to describe all Chinese Ancient martial arts, as well as Taoism and life forces, such as Qi.”
 
 
 

DOODLES 2 LAUNCH FILM
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The community-driven NFT project Doodles announced their new collection during the NFT.NYC 2022 event with this insanely upbeat film by the design and animation team at Golden Wolf.

Golden Wolf EP Tan Jones: “Having started as a collection of NFT PFPs (profile pictures), the Doodles team is building a global media and entertainment brand, led by their new CEO Julian Holguin, most recently president of Billboard, and newly appointed board member and chief brand officer, Pharrell.
 
 
 

REAL MADRID “L’ODYSEE GRANDEZA ADIDAS” Brand film
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From the team at BOL in Barcelona, Spain: “We teamed up with the MNSTR agency to create a special campaign for the launch of three new Adidas x Real Madrid official jerseys.

“The result is an epic story about confidence, resilience, and fair play coming alive in full anime style. Starting from the synopsis provided by the agency, we developed a script brimming with adventure, magic, action, and football. ”
 
 
Watch all the Best of Stash 2022 Collections.