Just the facts: The three members of this London-based collective, Oslo-born Kristian Hammerstad and Marc Reisbig (both 26), and Tokyo-born Yu Sato (28), met while attending Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London. "Marc and Yu had already lived together when I moved to London," explains Hammerstad. "Then we did some projects together in school and we found out we liked the same stuff." They've been repped by Passion Pictures since late 2005.

First big break: Shortly after graduating, the trio was commissioned by indie label Lex Records to create a trilogy of videos for self-described "leftfield rock-hop" band Subtle - "F.K.O." ("Fuck Kelly Osbourne"), "The Long Vein of the Law" and "Swanmeat". The darkly surreal work garnered them the Best Music Video nod from the British Animation Awards in 2006.

The fine art of faking it: Hammerstad says SSSR's distinct approach to projects, which can involve tossing 2D, 3D and heavily doctored live-action footage into any given clip, was originally borne out of necessity, rather than a desire to forge a signature style. "We're not really trained in animation or motion graphics, so we were just kind of faking it in the beginning," he laughs. "So if we couldn't make a spaceship in 3D, we'd make it out of cardboard or something."

Best work: SSSR's contribution to the recent Zune Arts multimedia program, which also featured work from Motion Theory and Tokyoplastic, follows a wide-eyed girl walking through a Dickensian cityscape, offering up a chocolate cookie to strangers. And their latest video for Subtle, "The Mercury Craze", ups the ante from their previous trilogy, incorporating stop-motion and twisted typography into the manic mix.

Future plans: "I'd really like us to make a short film," offers Sato. But that might take a while, says Hammerstad, as the SSSR work dynamic involves a healthy degree of back-and-forth. "We tend to disagree on a lot of things."

Other things you absolutely need to know: Hammerstad says Sato is the sharpest dresser of the trio "by far" and Sato agrees. For the record, Yu also gets "best cook" honors from the team.