A snowy cabin getaway takes a monstrous turn in Levi’s Let’s Get Fuzzy. Five friends encounter an imposing yeti, but the film steers its creature-feature setup toward an unexpectedly welcoming holiday conclusion. Directors Stevie Gee and Essy May, working with Blinkink, build the encounter around a simple pleasure of stop motion: a character’s surface can be as expressive as its silhouette. [1][2]
A world built for the camera
The production’s reported scale is substantial. A six-person team spent more than 2,000 hours over six and a half weeks constructing the world, including three cabins at different scales and roughly 400 miniature trees. Multiple versions of a location give filmmakers room to move between intimate character staging and a broader sense of place. [1]
Performance was worked out before the painstaking animation began. The directors explored live-action reference with performers, including a specialist monster performer, to find the timing and behavior of the encounter. Animator Andy Biddle also deliberately disturbed hair and clothing between frames, giving those surfaces a lively, shifting texture. [1]
The creature is in the details
The released turnaround and expression artwork show how much of the yeti’s personality rests on a few bold shapes. A large mass of fur frames the face; small changes around the mouth and eyes can shift the creature from intimidating to oddly personable. The production drawings are especially useful beside the finished stills, because they reveal the decisions that survive the journey from design to puppet.
The cabin photographs offer a different view of the same discipline. Walls, furniture, and snowy surroundings must read as a coherent world while also accommodating lighting and the animator’s access. Seen outside the finished shot, these pieces are working film sets as much as miniature illustrations.
Warmth comes from that relationship between design and handling. The film’s furry surfaces, clothing, and compact interiors suit a story in which a frightening encounter can become an invitation. Watch the finished campaign above and the making-of film below, then explore the designs and sets in the slideshow.
Behind the scenes
Making Let’s Get Fuzzy
Images from the production
Campaign stills, designs and set photographs: Levi’s / Blinkink.
