For ‘Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy’ (dir. Nic Stacey), we used a complex mix of VFX, cel animation, and motion graphics to tell a grand story about the global problem of overconsumption.

This subversive documentary, which was produced by Grain Media for Netflix, exposes the tricks that the world’s most influential brands use to keep us buying. To galvanise viewers around the problem of overconsumption, we crafted visuals that invite them in rather than pushing them away. We wanted our work in the film to be beautiful, bold, and funny, turning the tools of advertising back on the advertisers.

Every visual element we created was part of a cohesive aesthetic, which began with the film’s Siri-like narrator, SASHA. From datamoshing on cheesy stock videos, to hidden messages composited onto billboards, the aesthetic of the film feels directed by SASHA.

Surreal VFX set pieces conjure masses of trash tumbling through cities. We were given data on real waste quantities to aid shot design, and they developed an approach that conveyed that truth while ensuring that the visuals were comprehensible.

Meanwhile, our 2D department was busy creating dazzling cel animation to tell the contributors’ stories. These whistleblowers were going out on a limb in the film and deserved a sympathetic animation style.