Christian Zollenkopf brought us on to fabricate two complete four-wall sets, each with hard ceilings. Working quickly, we blended rental wall units with custom-built elements to create fully realized environments for a pair of Cash App spots directed by Calmatic.

The first set was designed as a home beauty salon that needed to feel authentic, warm, and well-lived-in. Since the commercial was staged as a continuous one-shot, the set had to perform technically as well as visually: starting with an intimate close-up before pulling back and ultimately revealing a surreal exterior environment. Every wall, ceiling detail, and prop placement was calibrated to support that camera choreography and the illusion of passing seamlessly from inside to outside.

The companion barbershop set followed the same one-shot storytelling structure, but with a new twist. Instead of a door, the camera exited through a custom-engineered oversized storefront window, requiring us to design and build a façade that could both read as a real barbershop front and physically accommodate the camera movement without betraying the illusion.

Both environments were fully constructed and dressed on the Paramount lot in a single day—no small feat given the scale of the builds and the precision needed for the camera path. The compressed schedule demanded tight coordination between fabrication, scenic, set dressing, and camera departments, with each element designed to strike a balance between speed, durability, and visual richness. The result was two immersive, technically ambitious sets that elevated Calmatic’s vision and gave the spots their unique blend of realism and surrealism.