The Smithsonian Institute

NAIL ART CREATOR SERIES

PROJECT BRIEF:

A fellow agency, Crate for Everything, reached out to us when The Smithsonian Institute wanted to create a 9-part micro-documentary series spotlighting Nail Art Creators. The goal was to humanize the creators behind the nail art movement and introduce culturally relevant exhibits at the Smithsonian to a younger, more culturally diverse audience through short-form, emotionally resonant storytelling.

THE CHALLENGE:

This marked one of the first times the Smithsonian leaned into creator-led, culture-forward content. The challenge wasn’t just introducing institutional heritage to a new audience—it was doing it without compromise. We had to distill hour-long interviews into cohesive, 60–90 second episodes—without losing nuance, voice, or cultural authenticity.

OUR APPROACH:

As part of a co-production with Crate for Everything, we developed the series as a cultural handoff: letting each artist tell their story on their terms while subtly weaving in the Smithsonian’s legacy. We focused on three storytelling arcs per creator—origin, process, and impact—ensuring each episode offered something both personal and resonant. We got people to see the Smithsonian through the artists’ lens.

Rather than forcing traditional documentary structure, we leaned into tone, texture, and emotion. This intuitive editorial approach allowed us to pull out narrative threads that felt relatable, human, and cinematic—even within the tight time constraint.

THE EXECUTION

We led the production process from concept to delivery across all nine episodes:

Interview Direction: Two-camera setup with three-point lighting, designed for cinematic intimacy and visual consistency.
B-Roll & Creator Self-Tape: Captured artists engaging with the Smithsonian’s collection, and integrated creator-submitted process footage to build a layered visual narrative.
Narrative Distillation: Transformed 60+ minutes of raw footage per creator into three distinct, high-impact micro-episodes.

The edit process was driven by instinct as much as structure. Instead of approaching the footage with a rigid format, we listened for emotional pivots, unspoken pauses, and tonal shifts—using those cues to find the story within the noise. Each final cut prioritized emotional pacing over exposition, using an organized flow, and subtle callbacks to shape three cohesive narratives from a single longform interview. This method allowed the edits to feel fluid, personal, and purposeful—without ever feeling overproduced.