STATE STREET & RIDGE PROJECTS

This project was a commercial built around the theme that “things aren’t always what they appear on the surface.” The spot was structured into three distinct environments: an underground ant city, a mission-control setting inhabited by groundhogs, and an opera hall populated by ostriches.

I was responsible for the look development of the creature-specific assets for each segment, working entirely within Unreal Engine , as the final spot was rendered in real time. A key part of the task was adapting familiar, human-designed objects into forms that felt believable and functional for each animal, while still supporting the visual tone of the piece. It was an engaging challenge to balance recognizability with practicality and maintain a consistent style across very different environments.

The ants are first introduced as ordinary insects going about their everyday activity on the surface, collecting food and fruit in a familiar, natural setting. As the camera follows them underground, that expectation is gradually subverted, revealing a fully developed ant civilization beneath the surface. This hidden world features ants outfitted in small construction-style gear and an expansive subterranean city, complete with large-scale infrastructure such as a magnetic bullet train. The contrast between their simple surface behavior and the complexity of their underground society was central to the visual storytelling of the sequence.

Similar to the ants, the groundhogs are initially presented as ordinary, unassuming animals in a familiar setting. Once they retreat underground, however, the scene reveals a fully realized mission control facility hidden beneath the surface. The environment and props were designed to reinforce the control-room aesthetic while being scaled and adapted specifically for groundhog proportions, helping sell the idea that this complex operation was purpose-built for them rather than simply a miniature version of a human space.

In keeping with the overall theme of the spot, the ostrich sequence begins with a familiar visual—an ostrich burying its head underground—before revealing behavior that subverts expectations. I created a set of custom props scaled to the ostriches’ unique body proportions, along with supporting elements such as food items and a meerkat skull, all designed to serve the specific narrative and visual needs of the scene.

This brief required a build of a ridge suitcase all lookdeved and rendered in unreal for the spot. Based with some actual scan data, cleaned up and look developed in engine.