'Fatbergs' Come to Life in Sydney Water’s Gross-Out Campaign

Cloud-based VFX studio Atmos has provided full post-production services for the latest Sydney Water ‘Save Our Sinks’ awareness campaign via TAG Dentsu. The spot’s humorous approach explores the importance of keeping sinks clean from damaging substances and the phenomenon of "fatbergs" with a distinctive puppeteering style and practical effects-led production.

From previsualisation through to online and final broadcast, Atmos handled every stage of post entirely in-house. Working closely with film director Matt Kamen from the initial briefing, the team at Atmos crafted a playful yet visceral narrative by seamlessly merging practical puppetry, 2D compositing, and CG enhancements.

“This campaign was a unique challenge,” said Andreas Wanda, founder of Atmos.

“Matt brought an unexpected approach -- putting everyday people in unusual situations to deliver an important message. The brief leaned heavily into practical puppeteering, and our role was to ensure everything from the flapping mouths to the oil and debris felt integrated, organic, and believable.”

The spot involved live-action puppet sinks, enhanced through compositing to create lip-sync and expression. The film director’s desire to retain the imperfection and charm of in-camera puppetry required precise retiming and compositing work, ensuring that every mouth movement and environmental element felt cohesive.

One standout moment is the CG sequence inside a pipe, taking viewers on a grimy ride through a fictional fatberg. While this was the only fully CG moment in the spot, Atmos worked to match the aesthetic with the rest of the live-action elements, blending textures, debris, and grunge to maintain a consistent visual language.

Despite the campaign’s comedic undertone, the message remains serious, and the creative execution supports this by making the surreal feel grounded -- a balance only achievable through tight collaboration between production and post.

“In many ways, it was as much work as a full CG spot,” said Wanda.

“The practical elements brought character, but they also needed finessing -- everything from adding grime and dirt to art department props to compositing out rigging and marrying up the lighting for consistency. But the result? It feels raw, tactile, and most importantly, real.”

Director Matt Kamen added, “I loved working with Andreas and the Atmos team on this one. They went above and beyond, and I’m stoked with the result. They made the pipes feel as alive (and as gross) as we all wanted. Huge thanks."

The campaign aims to garner attention for its fresh take on environmental messaging, with the fatberg character proving both revolting and memorable.