In the documentary-style short “Mall Stories”, we meet the endearing staff of the fictional food court eatery Atilla the Grilla. The animated film was created by Elizabeth Ito, creator of the Peabody award-winning hit Netflix series City of Ghosts, who drew inspiration for the main characters from real people working at a real Mongolian Grill in Burbank Town Center.

“Mall Stories” was the second project we produced in Unreal with the help of an Epic Megagrant. Utilizing the Unreal Engine, we were able to create a hybrid look similar to City of Ghosts, creating a realistic mall backdrop populated with more highly stylized characters.

For this project, the artisans at Chromosphere created an entire fictional mall called Tropico Hills Mall, complete with its own pretzel shop, unique mall patrons, and low budget advertising. The vibe of the mall was inspired both by real malls in Southern California as well as our artists’ collective memories of what being at a mall felt like in the 80s and 90s.