For the launch of Oura Health Radar, Swanson Studio partnered with Oura to bring a surreal visual concept to life across still and motion, producing and capturing a series of practical scenes designed to exist almost entirely in camera.
Shot at Swanson Studio in Portland, the project paired extensive physical production and practical effects with simultaneous still and motion capture, minimizing the need for rotoscoping while preserving the tactile quality of Oura’s creative.
The creative called for a flat-black, liminal world populated by a series of surreal scenarios. Swanson’s Production and Capture teams worked across set development, propping, rigging, animal coordination, practical effects, lighting and camera to build each moment physically on set.
Practical setups included a rigged grand piano, working model volcano, live fire, steam and smoke effects, alongside a trained black cat interacting with a phone and a live owl. Each was carefully choreographed to perform in camera across both still and motion.
Tyler Ashlock captured motion while Cameron David Smith photographed stills simultaneously, creating a consistent visual language across formats and a body of work that feels surreal by design while remaining grounded in practical image-making.