The suspension of disbelief (also known as poetic faith) provides a welcome escape for today’s stressed audiences and these VFX-heavy motion projects deliver that relief in ambitious quantities.

Special shout out to the crew at Electric Theatre Collective (watch the Stash interview here) in London who dominated this category in 2024 by supplying the post and VFX magic for three of these seven projects.

We were honored to publish all of these projects in The Stash Permanent Collection during 2024. They are listed here in reverse chronological order by their issue of publication.
 

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THE WOOLMARK COMPANY “WEAR WOOL, NOT WASTE”
Issue: STASH 168

Sil van der Woerd & Jorik Dozy at Studio Birthplace in Berlin: “‘Wear Wool, Not Waste’ aims to educate consumers on the lifespan of their synthetic clothes. Whether in landfills or manifesting as microplastics, synthetics are omnipresent globally.

“The main challenge of the film was crafting a believable stampede of hollow, synthetic clothes invading a city. Our approach was to combine practical effects with digital enhancements. We used air cannons to launch real synthetic clothes onto the set, then blended those shots with visual effects to create a seamless and lifelike invasion.”
 
 
 

VIRGIN MEDIA “WALRUS WHIZZER”
Issue: STASH 168

Ben Cronin, CD at Untold Studios in London: “This is the TVC for this year’s Virgin Media campaign regarding the speed and consistency of their broadband service. We partnered on the last two Virgin Media projects, “Highland Cow” and “Goat Glider” (Stash 161) and worked with the agency to search for the next brief, creating some visuals of potential animal/vehicle combos.

“They came back with the idea of a walrus on a speedboat, and we could all immediately envision how good this was going to look. From the previous projects, the rules were always very clear: This is a photorealistic animal that never strays into anthropomorphic performance and we let the audience interpret as much as possible.”
 
 
 

RIYADH SEASON “SIX KINGS SLAM”
Issue: STASH 168

Dean Robinson, CG creative director at Electric Theatre Collective in London: “This job for Riyadh Season’s Six Kings Slam tournament was far bigger and broader than anything ETC has ever dealt with before. The film is created almost entirely in post, like a full CG feature or a Marvel film.

“We worked with director Los Pérez to build eight distinct environments with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune and Jannick Sinner each integrated into their bespoke VFX world that mirrors their unique skill set.”
 
 
 

RIYADH SEASON “KNOCKOUT CHAOS: ANTHONY JOSHUA X FRANCIS NGANNOU”
Issue: STASH 166

Alexis Baillia, VFX supervisor at The Mill Paris: “We were approached by director Romain Chassaing to craft a multitude of effects for a two-minute film within a tight timeline of just a few weeks. Having collaborated with Romain before, I was eager to join forces again, as I hold his consistently rich and detailed imagery in high regard.

“The agency afforded us complete artistic freedom, with Romain encouraging us to explore and propose a plethora of ideas. This project proved to be both original and invigorating on multiple fronts, from its visual effects to its destination and the overall quality of its execution.”
 
 
 

AUDIBLE “COSMIC VACUUM”
Issue: STASH 166

Dave Billing, ECD/Partner at Fold7: “Guided by the tagline ‘There’s more to imagine when you listen,’ we explore how Audible immerses us all in extraordinary worlds, changing our mood, perceptions, and views. The campaign brings to life the magic in the meeting point between the wonder of our imaginations and the mundanity of the everyday.

“Working with London VFX house Electric Theatre Collective we created a true reflection of Audible’s enduring legacy of craft, and their commitment to supporting the creative communities across the world. Running across ten markets, spanning TV, digital, social, radio and OOH.”
 
 
 

COCA-COLA “THE HEROES”
Issue: STASH 161

Simon Hill, marketing and creative manager at Electric Theatre Collective in London: “The brief was to bring miniature Marvel heroes to life and seamlessly embed them in the real world of a comic book shop where they try to maneuver a life-sized bottle of Coke. We also had to maintain a unique look for each character based on the medium they originated from in the story – comic book, t-shirt, poster, or collectible statue.

“The teams at ETC, Partizan, and Marvel were all very focused on creating something true to the comic books themselves, rather than the existing cinema or television adaptations. Each character had to not only look like a comic book or statue come to life, but move in a way that evoked the personality of those iconic characters themselves.”
 
 
 

NIKE “WINTER SOLUTIONS”
Issue: STASH 163

Eddie van Rensburg, ECD at Wicked Pixels in Cape Town, South Africa: “The brief was to construct an extremely cold testing facility in the South Pole where outlandish yet logical experiments highlight the ‘More Than Warmth’ benefits of Nike’s winter jackets. Each section of the film had to showcase specific tests for jacket attributes including being warm, breathable, waterproof, and lightweight.

“With our establishing Nike Warmth Centre compound being the center point for our film, we had to ensure every experiment was uniquely placed within our layouts in accordance to the symmetrically inspired compositions as well as conforming to the requested magical realism aesthetic.”
 
 
Watch all the Best of Stash 2024 Collections.