- Agency: adam&eve\TBWA
- Client: Disney
- Category: Video Design — Short Film
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Project Brief: Create a holiday short film for Disney that rekindles the wonder of Christmas through atmospheric storytelling, carefully layered sound design, and an imaginative invisible horse that helps a young character rediscover holiday magic.
A short film about growing up can hit hard at Christmas, the season when kids first feel too old for the magic. The Invisible Horse follows Jack, a boy who has quietly given up on the holidays until a horse nobody can see gives him a reason to believe again.
Director Dougal Wilson never shows the horse outright, so you read it through everything around it, like an empty saddle hovering over a frosty field with Jack riding on top. The best reveal comes when snow lands on the animal and its shape appears in white powder as Jack reaches out to stroke its nose.
Early scenes lean on silence and small sounds, which makes Jack’s loneliness easy to feel. Once the horse shows up, the score slips in nods to classic Disney music, and that change pulls you right back to being a kid.
Wide shots set Jack in a snowy mountain valley at dusk, with a farmhouse glowing gold under a pink and blue sky. Those warm windows against the cold blue land keep the story cozy, even in its sadder moments.
