Media

Our media work includes a wide range of character-driven commercials for global brands, built on three years as a Character Technical Director at BUCK in Los Angeles. Projects span campaigns for McDonald’s, Facebook, Verizon, Target, Clif Bar, Oreo, Sherwin-Williams, Cadbury, and Orbit, with a focus on expressive mascots, stylized creatures, and transforming characters. Across these spots, the core strength is creating flexible, animation-friendly rigs and tools that support bold performances and memorable storytelling in fast-paced commercial production.

Seed Matters – Clif Bar Family Foundation

Seed Matters was one of the most playful and technically challenging projects produced at Buck, bringing together many artists and directors around a pair of memorable characters: Mr. and Mrs. Seed. Work on the spot included modeling and rigging both characters, with a particular focus on Mr. Seed’s facial rig. Early voice records were used as inspiration to design a wide range of comedic expressions, while the character’s cylindrical/triangular head shape required custom systems that allowed shapes and joints to slide smoothly along the surface. A rich network of combo blend shapes was also developed to ensure seamless transitions between expressions, resulting in a flexible, performance-ready facial rig.

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Animated chestnut character lying on the ground with a relaxed expression, surrounded by lit candles, an open book, and a glass of wine, in a cozy scene with a background fireplace.
Close-up of a character with exaggerated facial features, crooked teeth with black spots, and a mischievous expression.
Animated character with an egg-shaped head, expression of frustration, holding gymnastic rings, with a background of blurred colorful screens.
Two animated characters on a gym or recreational room floor with colorful screens in the background. One character, shaped like an onion or potato wearing a hat and gym outfit, is smiling and gesturing. The other character, large and blue with a hood
Animated character with an onion head, smiling and holding a bag of dried aged manure, sitting at a kitchen or workshop table with various jars, bottles, and tools in the background.
Animated character with an avocado-shaped head, wearing a red and white polo shirt and a colorful striped cap, standing in front of a door.
An animated character, a human egg with facial features, is holding a lit match in one hand. The character has a calm, slightly mischievous expression and is wearing a red jacket.
Animated character with a round face and a light brown complexion, standing among tall green grass and leaves, wearing a button-up shirt, with a small plant sprout on its head, and a slightly nervous or confused expression.
Animated scene in a cozy library with two characters that have potato-shaped heads; they are talking, one holding a glass of pink drink and the other with a leaf on its head, surrounded by books and wooden furniture.

Happy Meal – McDonald’s

Work on McDonald’s Happy Meal campaign spanned more than a year and covered roughly 20 TV spots aired across the United States and seen by millions of viewers. The focus was on building the rig for Happy, enabling a wide range of playful, exaggerated expressions, as well as rigging secondary characters and modeling and rigging numerous props. The result was a highly flexible setup that supported fast-paced commercial production and energetic character performances.

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Two animated shopping bags with faces, arms, and legs. One is larger, wearing virtual reality goggles and shoes on toy cars, with coins stacked underneath. The smaller bag is excited, with a big smile and fists raised.
Animated characters, a girl with long blonde hair wearing a pink dress, and a girl with dark hair wearing a blue skirt and a purple shirt, surrounded by animated McDonald's Happy Meal boxes with eyes, mouths, arms, and legs, all smiling.
Two animated red shopping bag characters with smiling faces, white gloves, and sneakers, one wearing headphones and glasses, the other sitting on the ground, appear happy and playful.
Animated red gift boxes with faces dancing and celebrating, wearing party hats and surrounded by colorful confetti and banners, with a Hello Kitty figure in the background
Cartoon character with a big red door body, wearing goggles, riding a purple toy car on one foot, with the other foot on a yellow toy car, smiling, giving a thumbs up, and raising an arm.
Animated character in futuristic armor with a robotic drone and a small flying robot nearby.
Three animated characters, including a girl with long black hair and gold accessories, a girl with black and pink hair, and a luggage with a face and arms, standing in front of a purple speaker on a plain white background.
Animated red milk carton character with eyes, arms, and legs standing on top of a tilted bottle of milk, smiling with arms outstretched.
Animated character of a fuzzy black ball with eyes, a wide smile, and long black arms and legs, standing next to a smiling McDonald's happy meal box with arms and legs, both in a neutral space.

Swing – Oreo

Swing is a short Oreo spot that shifts from a mundane commute to a wonder-filled journey where imagination takes over. Work on the project focused on rigging the mother and daughter characters, along with most of the key props, ensuring they could move fluidly between grounded realism and playful, stylized motion that supports the spot’s transition into a more magical world.

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Two animated women, one with glasses and a yellow polka dot jacket, the other with short black hair, looking happily through a large purple ring with a scenic green, yellow, and pink countryside in the background.
Animated woman with short black hair smiling and holding an Oreo cookie on a bus with a scenic landscape visible through the window.
An animated scene of two women sitting on a bus. The girl on the left has short black hair, glasses, and is wearing a yellow jacket and pink skirt, looking at her phone. The woman on the right has shoulder-length black hair, is dressed in a gray blaz
Animated woman holding an Oreo cookie while opening another one, sitting on a bus.
Animated girl with black hair, wearing glasses and a red jacket, looking surprised or amazed at a scenic countryside with rolling green hills and a partly cloudy sky.
Animated scene of two women smiling at each other near a window with a view of a river and colorful landscape.
Animated landscape with rolling green hills, trees in various colors, a river, and a city skyline in the distance. A child appears to be on a purple swing flying through the sky, with large purple ribbons trailing behind.
A colorful animated landscape with rolling hills, a rainbow, blue sky with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet clouds, and a swing hanging from a purple ribbon in the sky.

Safari – Sherwin-Williams

Safari is a Sherwin-Williams spot produced with Buck New York, featuring a stylized animal world brought to life through character animation. Work on the project included rigging the zebra and skinning the leopards, building on rigs originally created by fellow Character TD Tao Ye, to ensure appealing deformation and smooth animation across the spot.

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A digital artwork of a zebra made of layered, striped panels with a sunset in the background.
Two cheetahs resting on tree branches in a natural landscape with green foliage in the background.
Animated paper model of a cheetah in a grassy field with a large tree and distant hills in the background.

Two Best Friends – Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo

Two Best Friends is a Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo spot built around playful, highly flexible characters. All rigs for the project were created specifically for this piece, from the Cadbury and Oreo characters that twist, jump, and dance, to an emoji face that can transform into almost any shape. The emoji mouth required an especially complex setup, capable of opening extremely wide or closing into a small “O” while maintaining volume and appealing deformation throughout.

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A colorful figurine of a woman in a hula skirt playing a ukulele, with a speech bubble showing a laughing emoji. She is standing next to a stack of Oreo cookies, a chocolate bar, and a mini chocolate piece, set against a blurred outdoor background.
Animated scene of two creatively designed ducks with long necks and blue heads swimming in a pond surrounded by lily pads and flowers. In the background, there are stylized trees, grass, and distant city buildings, with two small colorful birds flyin
Sandcastle characters resembling Oreo cookie, popsicle, and two spoons at the beach with the ocean in the background, animated with smiling faces and small speech bubbles.
A chocolate Oreo cookie with a small piece broken off, balanced on a metal railing during sunset with the Sydney Opera House in the background.
A bright orange paper lantern with a face, sitting in a forest setting surrounded by plants and shells, glowing in the dark.
A scene with an Oreo cookie, a piece of chocolate, and two floating emoji characters with different facial expressions in transparent bubbles, set on a surface with grass and leaves.
Two animated smiley face emojis in speech bubbles, a chocolate piece, and an Oreo cookie floating against a purple and pink sunset sky.
Floating emojis above a chocolate Oreo cookie and a small chocolate piece on a kitchen countertop, with a bowl of fruit on the left and a wooden speaker on the right.
Close-up of a soccer player's feet in black and purple shoes and blue and purple striped socks, with a white and black soccer ball between them. Two Snapchat-style emoji bubbles, one with a happy face and the other with a sad face, are floating above

Soft Chew Stories – Orbit White

Soft Chew Stories was one of the final spots produced during a three-year tenure at Buck Los Angeles, and one of the most charming. Work on the project focused on rigging the two main characters, with particular attention given to their eyes, which required a carefully designed setup to support nuanced, appealing expressions throughout the spot.

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Animated character of a smiling square-shaped washcloth with a bow on its head, riding a light blue scooter on a road with a cloud in the background.
Page with blue and pink foam shapes resembling a face with closed eyes and lips
Animated characters resembling marshmallows with faces, riding a blue scooter on a blue background with sky and cloud elements.

Better Matters “Lizard” – Verizon

Better Matters “Lizard” is a stylized spot created for Verizon’s A Better Network campaign. Work on the project centered on building rigs for both the bird and the lizard characters, ensuring they could deliver expressive, readable performances that matched the playful yet polished tone of the commercial.

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Colorful paper craft of a bird flying above a paper model of a lizard on a mountain.
A 3D illustration of a pink gecko sitting on a light blue mountain with a blue bird flying nearby.
Paper craft-style illustration of a bird and a chameleon on a mountain peak, with the bird perched on the chameleon.
A low-poly pink-colored iguana with goggles sitting on top of a light blue rock against a plain white background.