On Chinese New Year, a family gathers in a snowy cottage for the traditional feast. But the youngest son lingers by the window, gazing at a lonely snowman left out in the cold. “Poor snowman,” he sighs, and goes to the table.

Just then, Ah Fu and Ah Jiao spring from a Coca- Cola bottle! Sparked by the boy’s compassion, they escape the window with the bottle of Coke, and snowy hijinks ensue. But what are they up to?

The boy notices the open window and rushes out, his family close behind, to discover that now, a whole family of snowmen has appeared to keep each other company! The family marvels at this Chinese New Year miracle, reminding them of the holiday’s true meaning- the importance of family. Ah Fu and Ah Jiao watch from afar as the family celebrates their bond with ice- cold glasses of Coca- Cola.

Our challenge was integrating CG characters with live action footage in a way that felt tangible and authentic. The characters needed to feel believable, as if they could exist in the real world. Animation and live action production teams from different countries worked together to plan and prepare shots that would work well with the character animation. This involved 3D printing puppets for live action production to accurately visualize character movement and unify the vision of the entire film crew. Camera and lighting data also had to be collected in order to seamlessly blend the animated characters with real footage.