Magic, nostalgia, joy and togetherness.These are the elements of classic holiday tales from ‘Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer’ to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ They’re also the four qualities we try to imbue into every Holiday ad we create for Montefiore Einstein–an institution that has genuinely operated as a “hospital without walls” since its founding in 1884.

Montefiore Einstein has maintained a three-year holiday tradition of celebrating the holidays with emotional stories told through the eyes of their patients and associates. This year they challenged us to shine a light on the extraordinary and unique efforts they have taken to engage with the community to advance its overall health and wellness.

We needed to create two worlds which are playing out simultaneously and then combine to a crescendo with the miniature world that’s been asleep coming alive.

The solution was to cut back and forth establishing the characters in both the miniature and real worlds, the gradual recovery of the main character, and the relationship with the nurse. The finale had to bring together all the elements that had been playing out in their own individual stories and create a rhythm of storytelling that allowed for a sense of release of joy as the holidays arrive.

The edit required being on set for 6 days, shooting both the elements of the characters in full scale and combining them with the miniature model world which were shot separately. Then building the storylines of patient, and the girl in the miniature world using comps and resizings to build shots from many separate elements.