In Hot Water

In Hot Water, created for WWF and launched at COP29, is a stop-motion film shot entirely on a thermal camera.

The film tackles the invisible crisis of ocean warming, raising awareness and inspiring urgent action against climate change.

How do you visualize something that cannot be seen? How do you convey the "invisible" yet devastating effects of ocean warming? By using a thermal camera, In Hot Water transformed heat into a vivid and tangible visual language.

Each frame required meticulous, frame-by-frame control of temperature, alongside the precise manipulation of 3D-printed replacement stop-motion models. State-of-the-art thermal cameras captured these details, while ovens, heat lamps, heat guns, and freezing sprays were used to achieve exact heat levels. Every stop-motion object in each frame was heated to separate temperatures, to within 0.1°C, creating vivid, layered visuals entirely in-camera. This painstaking process mirrored the fragility and urgency of marine ecosystems, turning the labor-intensive craft into a direct metaphor for the message: "every fraction of a degree matters."

"The process was a race against time: the moment a figure was removed from the oven, its temperature began falling rapidly. Using the thermal camera's sensors to monitor heat levels in real time, the team worked quickly to position and capture each figure before it cooled too much. If the process took too long, the scene had to be reheated and reset. The most challenging frames involved the boy and a fish overlapping, as the two objects required slightly different temperatures to maintain distinct colors. These frames took days to complete, with every detail calibrated for consistency across every consecutive frame of animation."

Launched at COP29, In Hot Water garnered over 8 million organic views within two weeks and was shared by WWF offices worldwide, extending its reach to diverse audiences. Its innovative execution and meticulous craft sparked critical discussions among policymakers, stakeholders, and the public.