UA Stop Motion

Client | Universal Ads by Comcast

Role | Creative Director & Motion Designer

Responsibility | End-to-End Creative Leadership

Overview

As part of Universal Ads' ongoing mission to make television advertising more accessible to small and medium-sized businesses, I led the development of a pair of story-driven commercial campaigns that explored a new creative production approach: combining the charm of traditional stop-motion animation with emerging AI-powered video generation technology.

The campaign included two distinct narrative spots, The Italian Restaurant Chair and The Paper Airplane, both designed to communicate the emotional impact of advertising through simple, universally relatable stories.

From initial concept development and scriptwriting to visual direction, AI workflow design, post-production, and final delivery, I owned the creative vision throughout the entire production lifecycle.

The Italian Restaurant Chair

The first campaign centered around an overlooked chair sitting inside a small Italian restaurant.

Through a simple but emotionally resonant narrative, the spot explored the idea that every business has untapped potential waiting to be discovered.

By personifying an everyday object and placing it at the center of the story, the commercial transformed a practical advertising message into an engaging narrative experience.

The campaign demonstrated how small visual moments and carefully crafted storytelling can create emotional impact without relying on traditional product demonstrations.

The Paper Airplane

The second campaign followed the journey of a paper airplane as it traveled through a series of environments, serving as a metaphor for how advertising helps businesses extend their reach beyond existing customers.

The narrative combined playful visual storytelling with symbolic motion, allowing the airplane's journey to communicate the core value proposition of advertising in an intuitive and memorable way.

The spot reinforced the campaign's broader theme: great stories deserve the opportunity to travel farther.

The Challenge

Universal Ads needed creative work that could stand apart from traditional advertising while demonstrating the brand's belief that every business has a story worth sharing.

The challenge was twofold:

Create emotionally engaging narratives that felt authentic and memorable.
Explore emerging AI production tools without losing the craftsmanship and personality associated with traditional animation.

Rather than treating AI as a shortcut, the opportunity was to use it as a creative accelerator while preserving the intentionality and attention to detail found in classic stop-motion filmmaking.

My Role

As Creative Director, I was responsible for the project from concept through final export.

Key Responsibilities:

Developed original campaign concepts
Wrote and refined narrative scripts
Established creative strategy and storytelling approach
Designed visual language and animation direction
Built AI-assisted production workflows
Directed motion design and editorial decisions
Oversaw sound design and final finishing
Managed stakeholder reviews and creative revisions
Delivered final broadcast-ready assets

Creative Innovation

One of the most exciting aspects of this project was exploring how emerging AI video technology could be used to recreate qualities typically associated with handcrafted animation.

Rather than pursuing photorealism, I intentionally drew inspiration from classic stop-motion films and practical animation techniques.

The creative direction emphasized:

Imperfect movement
Tactile materials
Physical world textures
Handmade storytelling
Character-driven visual moments
Deliberate pacing and charm

Using Veo and other AI-assisted creative workflows, I developed a process that blended generative video capabilities with traditional principles of animation, storyboarding, timing, editing, and motion design.

The result was work that felt both nostalgic and forward-looking, demonstrating how emerging technologies can enhance creative storytelling rather than replace it.

Outcome

The project successfully delivered two fully realized commercial campaigns while establishing a new approach to AI-assisted storytelling within the creative process.

Beyond the work itself, the campaign served as an experiment in creative innovation, proving that emerging generative tools can be integrated into professional production workflows while maintaining strategic thinking, craft, and emotional storytelling at the center of the work.

The result was a collection of films that felt distinctly human despite leveraging cutting-edge technology.