A 28-second animated spec ad for Smalls, a cat food brand that makes a broth to pour over kibble. It's my first piece in a stylised, feature-animation look. The idea came from the pouch itself: the broth is "made to entice picky cats", so the film is about a picky cat. A full bowl she won't touch, the broth out of reach on the top shelf, and an owner asleep in the next room.

What I did

I built both characters from scratch and locked them before anything moved: the kitten on an expression sheet with her three faces (determined, scheming, happy), the owner on a full character sheet. Then the product, the brand's own bowl, and two rooms at night lit the same way, so the kitchen and the bedroom feel like one home. The whole story runs in one generation: thirteen shots with hard cuts, no dialogue and no music, only sound. Claws on wood, a chair sliding, a sleepy groan, the broth hitting the kibble.

What I changed

The first idea was an empty bowl. A full bowl she ignores is funnier, and it's exactly the problem the broth solves. The owner lost her makeup and got a messy bun and pyjamas, because nobody looks good at 3 a.m. The packshot moved from the edit into the film itself, as its last shot. And two generations became one, so the characters stay the same from the first frame to the last.

What I learned

In animation, the eyes and the muzzle do the acting, so they need the most description. Build the expressions before the film, not during it. And a line from the brand's own pack makes a better idea than anything I could invent.