Brooklyn boutique design and production company Coed Studios takes on the task of rebranding the state of Connecticut with this manifesto film, a thoroughly modern take on stop-motion animation produced thru CT agency Cronin.

Damijan Saccio, MD/partner at Coed: “Cronin’s request was straightforward (but, as it turned out, not at all simple). Tell the story of the state using only hands. Make it real. Make it authentic. And make it magical.

“As mixed media designers, animators, and filmmakers, we fully identified with the creative and were inspired to challenge ourselves. So we pitched 60 seamless seconds of in-camera animation with no cut points. To pull that off, we would need to make the spot twice. Once as an extremely detailed 3D previz, crafted by Expanse in Oslo, and then on set in Brooklyn, with our good friends at Big Object.
 

“We had the freedom to craft a smooth, seamless set of scenes in 3D and then the ability to recreate that frame by frame to get a fully human, stop-motion aesthetic.”

 
“As we designed the previsualization, we modeled the props in 3D. Those models then went to our fabricators for 3D printing and finishing. This 1:1 connection between the post and practical animation teams allowed this project to be done in record time.

“We had the freedom to craft a smooth, seamless set of scenes in 3D and then the ability to recreate that frame by frame to get a fully human, stop-motion aesthetic. Except for the big crane shot at the end, every frame was captured in-camera.

“Both Expanse and Big Object were incredible collaborators – with us, with each other, and with the client as last-minute requests rolled in at the 11th hour. We couldn’t have accomplished this without both partners working in perfect harmony each step of the way.”
 
 

 
Client: State of Connecticut

Agency: Cronin
Producer: Peter Feldman

Production: Coed Studios
Director: Sam Stephens
Executive Producer: Damijan Saccio
Storyboard Artist: Christopher Mauch

Stop Motion production: Big Object Studio
Animation director: David Bell
Technical director: Joe Scarpulla
Director of photography: Bil Thompson
Lead fabricator: Grant Guilliams
Fabricator: Marta Kaminska
Origami artist: Chris Conrad
Production Coordinator: Keaton Tips
Grip and Electric: Nathan Phingst
Gaffer: Francisco de Deus

VFX/Compositing: Expanse
Producer: Fredrik Fottland
Coordinator: Maria Skau
Previz/animation: Kristoffer Damskau, Sigurd Sørlie
Model/texture/rig: Sigurd Sørlie
Lighter: Eilef Sandnæs, Mehmet Özdemir
Compostor: Sam Stephens, Severin Mathiesen, Mehmet Özdemir

Music: Supreme Music
Sound Mix: Henryboy