Children's Film Festival

Kids get to do the coolest stuff: recess, shamelessly wearing bright pink backpacks, and now, a film festival. The Northwest Film Forum just finished up hosting the eighth annual Children’s Film Festival, screening over 100 films from 35 countries. Creature has joined the fun by producing five original trailers, designing posters, creating an interactive app, and helping articulate the festival’s honorable mission, “Inspiring joyful neurons.”

The festival went above-and-beyond with special events like a junior film critics workshop for aspiring Eberts, a pancake breakfast movie party, and for the budding Surrealists, a viewing of the Chinese version of Fantasia. Check out the trailers we made below…

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Paint from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Color from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Light from Creature on Vimeo.

Children's Film Festival - NWFF - Levitation from Creature on Vimeo.

Stop-Frame Fantasy

The Northwest Film Forum's Children's Film Festival Seattle is a celebration of a child's capacity for imagination — their amazing ability to break the rules of what things should be to what things could be. These films were created to incite this imagination and love for story and fantasy.

We wanted to view the world through a child’s sense of imagination and transform an everyday object into a symbol of this great festival. We’ll use a symbol ubiquitous with Seattle, and the time of year the festival owns: the umbrella. An umbrella is basic, functional and universal—but to a child it becomes a character, a vehicle, a playmate and muse. Through artful use of umbrella shapes, and playful interpretations of its function, we spun stories and scenes that capture the adventurous, joyful, imaginative spirit of the films themselves.

Creature brought on director Branson Veal at production company Unclebob.tv to craft these stories into a reality. Branson chose to combine live action, stop frame animation, utilizing children and colorful hand painted umbrellas to give each story the magic touch. With a bit of a nod to the French film Amelie, Creature & Unclebob.tv had original music scored for each spot. All of the spots were shot on location in Seattle.

For the festival’s main "Trailer," props, children and umbrellas transform a rainy day into a magical film projection booth and theatre.


In the “Bicycle” spot, imaginative use of umbrellas takes us on a magical journey down a street.


“Chase” has a colorful zebra umbrella being playfully chased around a grassy knoll by a leopard umbrella.


“Spring Love” has two young sweethearts meet in a garden of umbrellas painted like spring flowers, when they hold hands the scene blooms around them and nature comes to life.