In this spot we follow a collection of t-shirts as they journey from place to place looking for a home that’s right for them. We see them journey from the icy tundra, through various inhospitable environments, until eventually they find what they’re looking for: a home in a perfectly organized wardrobe.

The spot was shot in multiple stunning locations in Sweden, Scotland and England and uses a combination of puppetry and CG to tell the tale.

The VFX team completed over 35 VFX shots in three weeks, including the build and animation of the T-shirts and numerous location enhancements. The creation of the t-shirts required specialized techniques and bespoke R&D. The main creative challenge was to get a range of emotional performances out of inanimate objects that have no consistency or form, while at the same time making them look realistic. As well as animation, cloth simulation techniques were used to get the hugely detailed interaction between the t-shirts and the environments.

The T-shirt was given a base body ‘shape’ where the neckline acts as a head and the rest of the shirt falls naturally around it. The cloth texture and movement was based on a cotton T-shirt, with tests determining how the shirts would look when dry or wet, in high winds or snow. The CG team looked at bird and nature documentaries for references of migratory birds and starlings for the wide shots. The 2D team faced the challenge of seamlessly bringing together the different locations and merging the live-action with the CG shirts. The wide shots often contained no reference, which brought the additional challenge of interactions with water and the outside environment.