Ghost in the Shell: Futuristic technology created by Territory Studio

cityscape.jpg © Paramount Picture

If in a new blockbuster you see futuristic mission controls, or user interfaces that do not yet exist, they are likely made by London-based Territory Studio. Territory Studio creates designs, which combine science, near-future technologies, and science fiction. The studio has produced hundreds of screens, which you may have seen in The Martian, or Ex Machina. Territory Studio’s film credits also include on-set screen graphics for Prometheus, Zero Dark Thirty, Guardians of the Galaxy, Jupiter Ascending, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Recently, the artists at Territory Studio finished a new project: Ghost in the Shell. Moving Picture Company constructed the majority of the visual effects in the film, but Territory’s team crafted design concepts of the film’s most iconic technology, including the ‘HoloGlobe’, which informed MPC’s VFX treatment of the same.

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Territory also worked closely with MPC to augment their assets, and they created a suite of ’holograms’, ‘solid’ holographic 3D advertising, signage, logos, product elements, and building treatments that bring the film’s unique cityscapes to life, both at skyline and street level. In addition, the studio created UI designs for ‘screen’ based data, animations for the clinical labs areas, and collated information for reception and medical screens. All in all, the studio delivered 175 final assets for the ambitious project, which MPC put into concept art, the trailer, shots, and VFX shots.

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In contrast with Territory’s usual methods, there were no flat screens in this film. Instead, the director and VFX Supervisor wanted their concepts to reach beyond, into the 3rd dimension. Territory worked closely with VFX Supervisors Guillaume Rocheron and John Dykstra, who came on board at a later stage in post work.

‘The concept work was very exciting for the team, because of the chance to shape the film’s visual direction, which involved some complex design and development of “products” that don’t yet exist’, said creative lead Peter Eszenyi. He and Andrew Popplestone, Creative Director, examined how humans and cyborgs might engage with technology in a world where computer screens (of any form) are obsolete: ‘This was incredibly challenging and liberating at the same time. You don’t always realise how bound we are to the concept of screen-based user interfaces, so a brief that not only avoids flat screens, but even straight lines that may suggest a screen, really made us think about potential interactions in which gestures, voice, and thoughts manipulated data fields and streams’, Creative Director Andrew Popplestone explained.

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Territory’s team created a vast number of 3D assets: from logos and brand marks, to people and fish. Some of those in the cityscape were smaller street-level assets (rough and pixelated to suggest low budget brands), whilst others were giant, high-resolution and photorealistic, in order to reflect viewers’ expectations of high-end brands. Territory’s work extended to digital building wrappers, which were to again stand out as key brands in this cityscape.

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‘This has been an exciting project to be a part of’, said Executive Creative Director, David Sheldon-Hicks, ‘and we feel that it affirms our ability to consistently deliver large complex projects that marry Territory’s craft-led motion design approach with VFX capability.’

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