NSW Department of Transport – Buckle Up on the Bus

A crash doesn’t stop everything – just the bus.

Transport for NSW needed to land a hard truth: when a bus crashes, anything not strapped in keeps moving – bodies, bags, memories. Seatbelts aren’t a suggestion; they’re survival. The brief was clear – create something sharp, deeply human, and impossible to ignore. A wake-up call for regional passengers to buckle up.

Category:

Government, Public Safety, Behaviour Change

Services

Production
Post-Production
Press

Client

NSW Department of Transport

Agency

Hogarth

Crew

Producer: Hamish Mortland
Creative Director: Jari Kennedy
Art Director: Seyda Yilmaz
Producer: George Stone
Director: John O'Rourke
DP: Reuben Gates
3D: Akira Dawson
Edit: Pat Salter
Grade: Martin Greer

Working in close partnership with Hogarth, we took the brief’s core idea: a personal memento hurtling through a bus crash – and built a cinematic, split-second story around it.

The Process:

We shot the bus interior on set to control light and movement, then rebuilt the entire environment in CGI – from the passing landscape to a photoreal locket, spinning weightlessly through the air. That locket became our emotional core: textured with age, wear, and mystery, symbolising what’s at risk in a moment you can’t take back. It’s not just a safety message – it’s a freeze-frame of consequence.

What We Brought

– Creative development and treatment design
– On-set production with rigged bus lighting and camera design
– Full CGI scene build including bus exterior and digital environment
– 3D asset design and animation (locket and crash physics)
– Post-production: edit, grade, VFX and sound
– Deliverables for broadcast, social, digital and OOH

A Campaign That Clicked
The campaign launched across NSW on TV, radio, online and OOH – with strong regional presence and impact. The line says it all: “In a crash, the bus stops. You don’t.”