Collaborating on TD Bank’s festive campaign for their iconic One Vanderbilt flagship branch in New York was a highly creative, fast-paced month-long project designed to span the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year's. The journey began in the pitch phase under the direction of Adam Mills, where we explored two distinct conceptual directions: a stylized paper-craft aesthetic and an immersive tilt-shift miniature world. The tilt-shift concept was selected, initiating a collaborative pre-production phase between Adam, Maciej, and me. We utilized generative AI tools to rapidly iterate and explore diverse frames, establishing the mood, lighting, and scale of our macro universe before diving into full-scale 3D production.

Once the concept received final approval, the production engine shifted to enclose this bustling holiday environment inside a beautifully rendered snow globe. Maciej took ownership of character design, rigging, and the primary road network, while I spearheaded the environment layout and asset generation. For this phase, I extensively explored AI pipelines for prop-building, leveraging tools like Copilot Labs with great success. Rather than using raw outputs, I meticulously modified, remodeled, and textured these AI-generated assets, tailoring their geometry and materials to perfectly match the strict scale and cozy, miniature aesthetic of the scene.

A key area of my focus was the refinement of the centerpiece, One Vanderbilt architecture. Building upon an initial block-out, I worked on the fine details of the structure, including a detailed reconstruction of the TD Bank branch at the base, an intricate piece of craftsmanship that, despite being softened by the extreme tilt-shift depth of field in the final render, ensured the structural integrity of the asset was absolute. My primary creative ownership culminated in the design and execution of the campaign’s climactic final scene. I drove the environmental layout, lighting, and look development for the snow globe sequence. The final assets were then handed over to the compositing team to be seamlessly delivered across an array of complex screen dimensions to fit the branch's unique display ecosystem.