Up on the Hotel Roof with BUCK's "Santastrophe" for Airbnb
By Chandler Atton, Editor for The Howler
Nobody ever assumed St. Nick's annual holiday task to be a trivial one, but that's only accounting for his usual housetop chimney-hopping endeavors. Have you ever considered how Santa Claus would fare against a massive, sprawling hotel complex?
That's the question Airbnb posed to BUCK, and their answer was "Santastrophe," a hilarious and imaginative :60 spot which first aired during the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast. A return to the "miniature" style of direction seen in their 2022 work, "Aircover," it's continued to run online and in theaters throughout the month of December.
The Howler got in touch with BUCK's Creative Director, Andy Lyon, for a deeper dive into "Santastrophe" and the creative machinations behind Santa's chaotic misadventures. Check it out!
This isn’t BUCK’s first job with Airbnb – or the first one to feature a miniature world. How did the opportunity first come about?
Andy: We’ve been very grateful to partner and collaborated with Airbnb’s internal creative team for the past two years on a variety of campaign films.
We started with a launch film for “Aircover,” their protection program, where we visualized memorable moments through a miniature, architectural dreamland built entirely by hand while a cast of composited CG characters revel in the joys of a stress-free vacation.
Most recently, we’ve been working on the “Get an Airbnb” campaign, highlighting the perks you can’t find in a hotel. There are seven films and counting all showing off a different feature of staying in an Airbnb. The idea plays out directly in our complex but swift transitions from cramped hotel rooms to uniquely designed Airbnb homes—all based on real Airbnb properties. The animated transitions happen in only a few seconds, but it takes lots of planning, experimentation, and animation craft to make them feel both surprising and effortless. This was Airbnb’s first broadcast campaign and these 30-second animated spots had a big media buy that aired during high-profile events including the OSCARS and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
What motivated BUCK to return to the miniature world featured in the 2022 Airbnb Aircover campaign? What new challenges came from the more character-driven, hotel-based setting?
Andy: Because it's cute AF and Airbnb loves it! But seriously, the original reasoning for going with a miniature style remains unchanged for this new campaign—Airbnb’s are real places, part of the real world that you can touch and feel, and the handcrafted, tactile vibe of a miniature set really helps to communicate that idea.
This piece is a bit of a capstone to the “Get an Airbnb” collaboration that BUCK has had with Airbnb over the last couple years. We’ve leveraged the iconic isometric style that’s synonymous with the campaign, but with even more cinematic world-building. We had to create a hotel that felt big, confusing, and frankly all too familiar, all the while sticking to the scale model miniature vibe of the entire series. The big pay-off was being able to dive into the close-up of the cozy Airbnb living room, lit by the warm glow of tiny Christmas tree lights. It’s the moment we can all sigh in relief with Santa after all that stress.
All in all, we’re really proud of all the detailed designs, nuanced performances, flowing velvet coat swishes, and curly beard jiggles we were able to squeeze into this tight 60 second spot!
Santastrophe debuted on television during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2024, and will continue to play online, on social, and in AMC theaters playing ahead of Wicked and Gladiator 2 through the end of December. This 60 second film was made for 7 international markets in 5 languages.
Santa’s mishaps are always in sync with a catchy holiday jingle; how does working with audio of this nature influence the animation direction?
Andy: The Airbnb creative team came to us with this cleverly written script that was a riff on the Clement Clarke Moore poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, which you might know better as the classic poem that begins with “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”.
The rhythm of the film was dictated by the pace of the poem. We rode its wave and told the jam-packed misadventure of Santa navigating a confusing hotel to deliver a gift to Suzie.
We used a quick-cut editorial style as a narrative device to follow the voiceover. A bit of crafting was needed so each shot is a clear read to the viewer, and gives a bit of insight into Santa’s state of mind. He appears to be on the verge of a “Santastrophe”. The narrative beats and filmmaking style work hand-in-hand to create a sense of overwhelm, in the most delightful way possible.
Is “Santastrophe” entirely animated in 3D, or are there elements of 2D animation as well? Was 2D animation used outside of the project’s concept phases?
Andy: This film is entirely animated in 3D. It’s pretty common for us at BUCK to include some sort of hand-drawn 2D animation as part of the process, to help us bridge the gap between storyboards and 3D animatics. We also used 2D animation to help pre-visualize the flowing Airbnb home transitions at the end of the film, before doing the final in 3D.
This spot, as well as the aforementioned campaign, features meticulously crafted miniatures of real Airbnb homes. How did you decide which locations to choose from, out of literally millions of options?
Andy: There’s always narrative-driven reasons that help us select from options listed on Airbnb, whether it’s a cute Parisian city block or a tropical island getaway. For Santastrophe our goal was to create the most enchanting Christmas cottage to stage Santa’s triumphant return to chimney-sliding.
Once the locations were selected, what was the process for capturing them in their physical state before the animation began?
Andy: All of the homes we feature across this “Get an Airbnb” series are inspired by very real Airbnb properties. The design process consists of pulling tons of Airbnb architectural references everything from cozy coastal cabins to mountain chalets to English country cottages. From there, we do lots of sketches that take the details we love and incorporate them into a layout that works narratively, while also giving the designs their signature chonky miniature look that has made this campaign so distinct.
How long did the project take to complete? Were there any assets carried over from the 2022 campaign, or was everything started from scratch?
Andy: About four months from start to finish.
Everything was created for this spot - and we’re super proud of some of the Easter Eggs it contains! If you look closely at Santa’s coat, you’ll notice the Airbnb’s Bélo logo symbol, stitched in gold thread around the trim.
There’s a girl in the foreground of the hotel lobby with this blink-or-you’ll-miss-it detail: in her activity book she’s doing a maze where Santa is lost, foreshadowing that our Santa later gets very lost in the hotel’s maze of hallways.
There’s one shot where we see a hidden snowflake in the sole of Santa’s boots. The idea of Santa making little snowflake tracks in the snow felt right to us.
In the opening shot of the hotel’s rooftop neon sign, the letters HO in Hotel flicker three times to evoke a “Ho Ho Ho”! Because why not? It was right there, we had to!
Were any real models constructed/utilized? Or was this project done entirely with 3D modeling and animation software? Did you utilize any forms of generative AI in the process of producing these? If so, how?
Andy: Although it looks like miniatures, everything you see is made digitally in 3D. Although we’ve been finding ways to cleverly and responsibly use AI at different stages of production, this one is all hand-crafted, old school! Lots of blood, sweat, and tears in those little pixels.
Credits
Animation - BUCK
Group Creative Director: Joe Mullen
Creative Director: Andy Lyon
Executive Producer: Kirsten Collabolletta
Senior Producer: Fernanda Garcia Lopez
Associate Producer: Laura Garcia Lopez
Storyboard Artist: Ruoyu Wen, Matty Deans, Tucker Klein, Rodney Lambright, Deco Daviola, Khylin Woodrow, Harry Teitelman, Song E Kim
Storyboard Editor: Heather Bartholomae, Lenny Mesina
Art Director: Shannon Rollins
Designer: Ben Nichols, Grace Park, Grace Poole, Joel Plosz, Matteo Berton, Matthew Kam, Mike Ellis, Rodney Lambright, Tuo Kan, Yukyung Lee, Carmel Gatchalian
Concept Artist: Fernando Utreras, Stan Chan, Felipe Hansen, Dae-Han Yi
2D Animator (Cel): Tinghe Yang, Junyi Xiao
Head of 3D / 3D Supervisor: Alex Dingfelder
Technical Director: Jens Lindgren
3D Animation Supervisor: Peter DeSalvo
3D Animation Director: Tyler Lancaster
3D Lead: Joshua Studebaker, Michele Herrera
Modeler: Alfonso Petersen, Ash Samet, Chloe Tu, Danesh Taraporevala, Dave Soto, Eugene Goryachev, Paul Kim, Pedro Conti, Rui Huang, Tina Chao, Michele Herrera, Arvid Volz
Rigging Supervisor: Ernesto Ruiz Velasco
Rigger: Hernan Ares, Juan Carlos Barraza Mendoza, Regina Cicone
3D Animation Editor: Tyler Lancaster
3D Animator: Alvaro Michelena, Cesar Tafoya, Chris Meek, Hillary McCarthy, Ida Zhu, Josh Baum, Tommy Rodricks, May Lee
Lighter: Glenn Suhy, Paul Hargrave, Sarah Chalek, Michele Herrera, Joshua Studebaker, Tina Chao, Rui Huang
Compositor: Brinton Jaecks, Michele Herrera, Joshua Studebaker, Tina Chao, Eugene Goryachev, Sarah Chalek, Rui Huang, Paul Hargrave
FX Artist: Adam Webber
Cloth Simulation Artist: Hernan Ares, Ernesto Ruiz Velasco, Juan Carlos Barraza Mendoza, Regina Cicone
Colorist: Ben Rohel
Editor: David Vendette, Talia Mazzarella, Heather Bartholomae
Color - Roast N Post
Colorist: Sean Wells
Producer: Crystal Villamayor
