The year is 2117. Artificial intelligence rules; humans live secluded in forests. The spot follows a lonely work-bot who is yearning for human love; as he tries to recreate a ‘traditional’ Christmas scene. The hero explores the uninhabited dystopian city gathering abandoned presents and props, when he finds clues about what happened to the humans.

The artists adapted to the project’s unique challenges, evolving new ways of working to deal with the scale and complexity. Conveying subtle emotion in a robotic character is a tricky art and an animation feat; requiring delicate animation nuances, as well as maintaining the craft and emotional storytelling throughout a four-minute film with over 80 CG shots. To deliver a characterful performance the artists’ main tool was the robot’s eyes. One example of the subtle animation that kept the audience connected was the aperture variation of the robots lens, simulating emotive pupil dilation.