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Up in Smoke: Partizan Studios & Casper Balslev Drive Home the Problem of Cars x Cannabis

Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Danish director Casper Balslev and animation director Jack Brown at Partizan Studios highlight the downer consequences of cannabis-impaired driving in two films for the Danish Road Safety Council thru Copenhagen agency Worth Your While.

Jack Brown: “I’ve animated my fair share of stoned characters but usually in quite a stereotypical way. This project really needed to add a sense of dread to these moments, like a bad decision that the viewer can just feel will end badly.

“I’ve animated my fair share of stoned characters but usually in quite a stereotypical way. This project really needed to add a sense of dread to these moments.”

“A big part of that was the facial expressions paired with the slightly sinister music. There are also more subtle hints to the dark side of getting stoned and driving as both films are made with a lot of blur and hazy transitions to try and show the foggy incoherence that getting high can create.

“One of the most challenging parts of this project personally was taking on all of the design myself. Drawing all the characters and backgrounds was a a lot of work, however now that I can look back on the finished films they feel really personal to me.

“The non-challenging part was having two incredible animators (Sean Weston and Hozen Britto) bring these designs to life in such unique ways. Overall this project was for a really good cause and one where the client let me do mostly what I wanted”.

“Hotbox” (above)

“Chase” (below)

Images

Up in Smoke Danish Road Safety Council commercial by Up in Smoke by Partizan Studios | STASH MAGAZINE

Credits

Client: Danish Road Safety Council (Rådet for Sikker Trafik)
VP: Karina Petersen:
Senior Project Manager: Morten Wehner, Lisbeth Sahl
Project Manager: Sally Elvekjær Urquizu

Agency: Worth Your While
Creative Director/Partner: Lukas Lund, Tim Pashen
Design Director/ Partner: Carl Angelo
Creative: Isa Bella Madelena Normark, Frederik Emil Vedersø, Alexander Winge Leisner

Production: new—land
Director: Casper Balslev
EP: Sara Samsøe & Gareth Warland
Producer: Gareth Warland
Production Manager: Julie Seifert

Animation: Partizan Studios
Animation Director: Jack Brown
Producer: Leo Green
Director of Photography: Niels Thastum
Editor: Olivier Bugge Coutté
Colorist: Hannibal Lang

Music: Andréas Pfannenstill

Sound Design: Brian Dyrby