"For this shoot, M5's 10 craftsmen have painstainkingly created tiny reproductions of extreme skier Jonny Moseley, female snowboarder Barrett Christy, snowmobile rider Blair Morgan and motorcycle stuntman "Mad Mike" Jones, each with numerous moving parts, custom-designed outfits and finely detailed faces. M5 also designed snowmobiles, a tiny moose head for a ski lodge and a diminutive bearskin rug. It's all part of an "Aspen Children's Puppet theater" motif from Wieden + Kennedy, New York, for four spots promoting ESPN's X-Games.

     The National campaign depicts humorous run-ins between X-Games athletes and residents of Aspen, Colorado, where the games will take place next month.

     M5 has worked on more than 800 commercials for clients such as Hershey's and Levi Strauss & Co., and has also designed action figures and toys. (...) M5 consists of a gigantic warehouse packed with incomplete puppets, aging movie props and metal beams. Wieden first worked with M5 designers six years ago for the celebrated "Lil Penny" Nike campaign, and the puppet of NBA star Anfernee Hardaway now sits in an upstairs office as a testament to the studio's work.

     "I breathe a sigh of relief when I know it looks right and people are going to dig it, " Hyneman says of the process.