Uptime
Director

Uptime is a stop-motion and product-focused design collective led by Sam Macon. It began innocently enough, with everyday objects being pushed across the surface of a table. That experiment resulted in the opening title sequence for the documentary feature “Handmade Nation.” Then someone from a certain burrito brand asked, “Hey, can you do this with food?” Sam said, “Yeah, sure.” Which turned out to be totally true. From there, Uptime started animating toys, humans, cars, little paper people, more food, gardening implements, bedroom sets, little wooden owls with rotating heads, cities made out of cardboard, and some more food. Just about anything you can move one frame at a time, which turns out to be just about everything except fire, water, and smoke – also delicate leafy greens. They tend to wilt under the lights. Uptime has now expanded its expertise to include live-action spots featuring food and products. Luckily, spots shot in live-action tend to have shorter shoot days.