—TBWA\Media Arts Lab created the stop-motion and live-action film—
By Imogen Watson
Apple is presenting a modern-day take on Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol, with a tale of a woman who offloads her frustration at her hostile boss by imagining unfortunate scenarios befalling him.
Set in London, “Fuzzy feelings” opens with a stop-motion scene on a snow-covered street. An Ebenezer Scrooge-like character knocks over a charity pot, then picks up the money and pockets it for himself. In an example of instant karma, the wind blows his hat away as his trousers drop to the floor to reveal his boxers, before a plough covers him in snow.
With a snap of an iPhone 15 Pro camera, the stop-motion scene emerges in the real world, and the film shows a woman—a modern-day Bob Cratchit—shooting the scene using a Macbook Air. She gets a sudden notification that alerts her of a meeting in five minutes and runs to the office, now late; her boss, who bears a striking resemblance to the man in the stop-motion film, looks at his watch suggestively and shakes his head.
Each time the boss acts in an unfriendly way in the film, be it by closing his door when she approaches or failing to hold the elevator, she retaliates by humiliating him via stop-motion—he electrocutes himself while handling Christmas lights, for example, and is hit by a car carrying a Christmas tree.
One day the boss drops a Christmas present on her desk (a thoughtful homemade stocking) which takes her by surprise. She then sees him eating alone in a restaurant and starts to see him in a new light. Realizing he is lonely, she crafts a happier scene where he is joined by a dog. Finally, when she sees him sitting alone at lunch in the real world, she joins him in the office cafeteria.
The George Harrison song "Isn’t it a Pity," from his 1970 album All Things Must Pass, serves as the musical backdrop to the film.
"Fuzzy feelings" was created by TBWA\Media Arts Lab. It was directed by US director and writer Lucia Aniello, best known for co-creating the Emmy-winning TV Show Hacks, through Hungry Man.
Anna Mantzaris was the stop-motion animator and director through Passion Pictures.
