Could you fit a city in a suitcase?

In a stunning new animated short from Jelly London's A+C Studios for the travel management organisation Key Travel, an entire city comes to life inside a suitcase. The work, which was created with design communications agency Stream, aims to represent the brand's primary aim; to simplify travel. It achieves this by condensing a global trip into a suitcase, with all of the complicated travel documents and arrangements simplified and taken care of. It's a wonderful 30-second clip with a hint of quirky, Wes Anderson style whimsy, which will be shared on the brand's home page and social media platforms to explain, in a nutshell, exactly what it is they do.

Key Travel is a unique, charitable organisation that caters to those travelling in order to help less fortunate individuals across the world.

Just a selection of the stop motion spots created by A+C Studios

It was decided early on in the process that stop motion animation was the right choice for the spot, which is why A+C was brought on board, with director Dan Richards having a particular interest in paper engineering. Richards felt it would be a perfect excuse to explore the tactile advantages offered by paper, by using hand crafted, bespoke elements that reflect the unique service Key Travel offers to their clients in the faith, health and education sectors; simplifying complex travel arrangements, which is something they have specialised in for over 30 years.

City in a Suitcase

The film is titled simply, “City in a Suitcase,” and tells the story behind the “Hands on” Key Travel service in a visually stunning, metaphorical manner. Using their expert knowledge of stop motion, the A+C team has created a clip that gets the message across in a charming and immediate way.

Using stop motion tells the story in a simple yet arresting way; Key Travel get people to their desired destination easily and without hassle.

Humanitarian, faith and educational trips are the cornerstones of Key Travel

As for how it was created? The short itself was shot as one continuous piece of animation, with elements like the paper planes shot separately on a blue screen and added in later through composition. The piece was worked on by a small handful (pun intended) of animators who acted as the literal hands of the piece. This method; using live footage during stop motion animation, is called “Pixilation,” with the animation advancing every four frames to give the live hands the choppy impression you expect with stop motion. The choice to shoot it this way, and use this unique style, sets the clip apart from CGI or live action, which are the preferred toolsets of most modern advertisers.

The Making of City in a Suitcase