Can a Lonely Creative Soul Find Connection in Apple's Stop Motion-Infused Holiday Ad?

Combining elements of stop-motion and live-action, Apple has enlisted the filmmaking prowess of Hungry Man’s Lucia Aniello, director of ‘Hacks’, and stop-motion animator and director Anna Mantzaris, who is repped by Passion Pictures, to craft its 2024 holiday film. 

It was created by long-time Apple agency TBWA\Media Arts lab and is entitled ‘Fuzzy Feelings’. It begins with a stop-motion animated scene where we find a felt man walking through wintry streets, beset by a series of unfortunate events. Suddenly, the camera zooms out to reveal the creator of the animated film, a young woman using an iPhone 15 Pro Max to capture her stop motion project, and 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 to edit it. 

Disgruntled office worker by day and stop-motion artist by night, the film switches between the woman’s live-action real world and stop-motion imaginary world, as she uses her extracurricular creative endeavour to process challenges with her boss. 

Check out the spot and a behind the scenes film below.