Check out all episodes here.

Fly animation & composite.

Sad doggy and Cuppaccino-Face VFX.

Benjamin Zaugg and his animated friends draw attention to the little things that make up screen entertainment and the way we experience it.

A speculative commercial for a chewy minty fictitious product.

Once upon a time, Brisbane filmmaker, Benjamin Zaugg, thought it would be fun to make a speculative ad for a fictitious brand of chewing gum. 

With the help of a small but talented cast and crew, 2 days worth of fumbling, cappuccino slurping and green-screen antics was ensnared. This was followed by 3 months of 'spare-time-destruction' in the form of editing, matte painting, compositing, musical composition and sound editing.

#7 Days Later was a big idea driven by a small team. Like everyone on the project I wore multiple hats: this page covers the drawing and animation that made up half of Episode 4: "Portrait".

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I was also responsible for all of the shows titles and motion graphics, and... 

...the vfx/post, 2nd Unit and general collaboration.

#7 Days Later was a big idea driven by a small team. Like everyone on the project I wore multiple hats: this page covers vfx/post, 2nd Unit and collaboration.

***

I was also responsible for all of the shows titles and motion graphics, and... 

...the drawing and animation that made up half of Episode 4: "Portrait".

#7 Days Later was a big idea driven by a small team. Like everyone on the project I wore multiple hats: this page covers the shows titles and motion graphics.

***

I was also responsible for all of the shows vfx/post, 2nd Unit and collaboration and... 

...the drawing and animation that made up half of Episode 4: "Portrait".

A psychological puzzle-thriller short film produced as part of the 2011 White Heat initiative at QPIX.

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Winner of Kinetone Award for Best Overall Film in Village Roadshow Studios Queensland New Filmmakers Awards!

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Starring Leon Cain. Written & Directed by Benjamin Zaugg. Produced by David Georgeson.

From concept through to final render I was responsible for developing the show titles for Hoodlum's new drama series Secrets & Lies. I was also tasked with supervising and executing visual effects shots across the six-part series.

Directed by John Pace for Infinity Squared

Motion Graphics by Benjamin Zaugg.

Pixel Art and Animation by Ivan Dixon

Macca's cracks the one million Facebook fan milestone and becomes the largest Australian QSR Facebook community.

To celebrate the occasion, McDonald's has created a video that draws inspiration from, and celebrates, the varying nature of Facebook fan loyalty by highlighting the weird, wonderful and wacky comments that Macca's fans have posted to the page since 2011.

Good mates Tom Williams and chef Ben O'Donoghue, have a 36 hour pit stop in Singapore as they return from a surfing trip. With no itinerary or plans, they set off on a mission to unearth some of Singapore's best kept secrets, try the local cuisine, and take the lead from locals on new experiences.

Santa embraces drone delivery technology - inspired by Amazon Prime Air.

Animation Director

A Robot Superhero must save the world from Eviltron and stop the moon exploding. There’s just one catch, he needs the help of Harold, the most unhelpful, annoying boy in the world...

Teaming up with Daley Pearson & Charlie Aspinwall AKA Ludo Studio, and with funding from Screen Queensland, I co-designed and animated two pilot episodes for Doodlesford, an animated comedy series.

All objects and characters are based of high resolution scans of kids drawings, faithfully capturing every last grain of smudged crayon and paper-fibre.

Cinematographer & Colorist

Leonard is growing paranoid that his friend Reece is 'vague-booking' about him in his Facebook posts...

In collaboration with the comedy team The Sexy Detectives, I shot & graded this comedy short, that picked up Highly Commended at the LA Comedy Festival in 2013.

'Circles'
by The Sexy Detectives
http://www.thesexydetectives.com
VFX and cinematography by Benjamin Zaugg

Animation Director

In early 2013, I was commissioned by GetUp! Australia to create an animated piece to communicate the plight of the more than 40 children in the Manus Island detention centre. The piece was part of the Out of Sights, In Our Minds campaign, which centred on the use of the actual Manus Childrens' drawings. 

These drawings were carefully brought to life with animation while accompanied with the recorded testimony of a Manus Island refugee.

Working alongside the editing and compositing team at Infinity Squared, I animated kaleidoscopes of cats, thumbs and phones for this road-safety-campaign-music-video for Transport for NSW. 

With director Luke Tierney I spliced together multiple eras of footage to create this music video for "Let Me Down Easy", a new hit from the band Sheppard.

For ABC2's The Strange Calls I simultaneously wore 3 separate job-hats: timelapse & 2 Unit camera, Behind-The-Scenes shooter and Visual Effects Supervisor.

Timelapse & 2nd Unit Camera: during the intensive 4 week shoot, I spent several long lonely nights on the moonlit beaches of Coolum (and the car-parks of Sandgate) shooting timelapse transitions which were used between scenes in the series. I also shot various exteriors and pick-ups used throughout the show.

Behind-The-Scenes: shadowing director Daley Pearson and the cast and crew, I planned and filmed seven episodes of behind-the-scenes content.

Visual Effects Supervisor: across the 6 episodes and multi-platform content I was solely responsible for all keying, compositing, matte painting and animation across nearly 200 separate shots. Highlights included animating a zombie-cat, transforming Nick Simpson-Deeks into a Chicken-Man, adding tree bark to Damon Herriman's chest and a good hundred hours of mindless rotoscoping that still haunt my dreams.

I was also responsible for animating the Main Titles for the show as well as managing and placing all show credits.

Finally I was tasked with bringing many the menus on the show's website to life.

A half-eaten box of take-away noodles is brought to life and sets out to create companionship.

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Take-Me-Away was cooked-up in my friend's Brisbane-based kitchen. It was shot over a few weekends with a disgusting assortment of uncooked food, a custom-built marionnette and some very patient friends. This was then followed by a year of editing, motion-tracking and animating in spare-time.

Take-Me-Away was a finalist in the 2011 Queensland New Film Makers Awards in the Animation category.

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Directed & Animated by Benjamin Zaugg

Edited by Brian Stewart

Sound by Ben Miles

"Take-Me-Away" written and Composed by Ben Miles with Vocals sung by Sam Jarousek

Additional Puppeteering & Camera by Dominic Grant & Julian Zaugg

Print Design by Sean Dowling

Special Thanks to Jacinta Xing for supplying her camera!

The Sexy Detectives are a sketch comedy group based in Brisbane, Australia. Their work spans theatre, podcast and screen formats. I have been collaborating with the group since 2011 to produce multiple award winning video sketches, such as Dinner Party, Births,Deaths and Marriages and Status Update .

Please wait. Your future will be with you shortly.

A man hurries through the crowded city streets, on his way to a job interview that starts in five minutes. But when he arrives at the address right on time, he discovers he is unable to leave. To escape, the man must face his past, present and future - sometimes all at once.

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Completed in 2008, I wrote and directed The Room while in my graduate year at the Griffith Film School. It has absolutely no connection, literally, metaphorically or spiritually with the 2003 Tommy Wiseau film of the same title.