The World
The first step in understanding the scope of design needed on this project was understand the world that Adam was escaping. A dystopian future where a corporation named Sorian ruled the domain of time travel and all the benefits that came with that type of power.
All of the the props, technologies and equipment that needed to be designed all came from Sorian, so establishing the Sorian brand and identity was paramount to the overall design process as we wanted all of these assets to have a cohesive design language. The decisions here will permeate into props, jets, screen GFX and architecture.
Sorian
Sorian is the company owned and operated by a lunatic by the name Maya Sorian. It is also the company that owns the technology and the ability to travel through time. Let’s be honest, rigging the game was always in their plans. In terms of branding, Evil-Tesla meets Skynet.. that pretty much it sums up.
The logo is sleek and futuristic that employs the use of a 45 degree chamfer, which is something we continue through many of the design principles of tech, props and architecture in this film.
The trademark S is actually two converging arrows spiralling together to a central point where a divergence or wormhole would exist. It is in this 45 degree divergence we want to house and establish Sorian’s identity.
From this point on, we applied this design anywhere and everywhere we could.
With an ego like Maya Sorian’s we even made an entire building out of this logo.
One of our largest projects to date, The Adam Project is a sci-fi feature film Directed by Shawn Levy, starring
Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, Alex Mallari Jr. and Walker Scobell.
Good ol’ IMDB says:
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future.
Supervixen were tasked with the process of designing many of the props and future technologies that all stemmed from an organization called Sorian. As we collaborated closely with the talented individuals Claude Paré, Erik Nash, and Alessandro Ongaro, our involvement in the creative aspects of The Adam Project expanded significantly, encompassing both pre-production and post-production areas.
The work you are about to see was designed and largely built (digitally) in-house and shared with the other post production studios involved. Companies such as DNEG, Scanline and LolaVFX for whom we have great respect for and are proud to call friends and allies in story telling.
So get comfy, this page will be long as shit!
SV x
THE ADAM PROJECT
Scope of work
Creative Direction | Art Direction | Conceptual Design |
VFX | Title Sequence
Client
21 Laps Entertainment,
A Maximum Effort,
Skydance Media, Netflix
Date
August | 2020
The Project
The First Step
Before we dive into the work we created for this amazing production, here is a small segment from a much larger BTS featurette covering our input with commentary from the Director, Shawn Levy and the Prop-Master, Dean Eilertson.
One of many highlights working with this great team.
The gallery below covers our first initial step of sketching up some concepts. We were asked to look at Soldier design as well as any and all props that came from the age of Sorian (so to speak). All of this is intended on being Sorian Tech, so it should all look like it should speak the same design language.
The Props
Once the prop design was established, we found ourselves facing the opportunity to do what we have been wanting to do for years – uniting the Pre-Production and concept design process with the Post-Production process.
Given our capabilities as a studio that covers both of these territories, we built all props in-house in 3D and to scale. This allowed us help Dean, the prop master translate them into real physical props that have a 1 to 1 level
of accuracy while also sharing these files with the other Post-Production houses across the world to ensure a coherent design and execution process that fit with Shawn's vision for The Adam Project.
The gallery below shows the selected props with various surface finishes and finer details.
The MAG-CYL
This is the MAG-CYL design that was chosen. And no, it’s NOT a Light-Sabre, sheesh!
With the option of either being used as a sword or a bow staff, the MAG-CYL was a weapon that would blast out plasmic energy, kicking the butts of anyone on the receiving end.
Big question, what does MAG-CYL stand for? .. Yeah I dunno … justice?
It's a cool weapon for cool kids. End of story.
Hoverdecks
Whether you are ducking out to grab eggs from the corner store or trying to murder people you once knew in a forest, this all-rounder device will get the job done. Watch out for those trees though. Juz sayin'
The first generation design had a more traditional jet turbine floating in the central housing of the deck.
This was later replaced with plasma a booster… for added razzle dazzle.
After building these assets here in 3D, they were passed on to master prop-maker Dean Eilertson and the great crew at Pantheon Design who crushed it. Solid metal build with internal lighting system and wire supports for the shoot. That's right, they actually did this shit for real! Pic in gallery below.
We are still expecting these in the mail any day now. Morten will have one in "Tuff Stuff" Black.
Danny will have one in the "We Love You, Betty White!" colour palette. Cheers!
Sorian Drone
Another fun fact.. the drone is known as "The Trouble Maker."
What we found out relatively early on, was it would be beneficial if the drone had an OFFLINE mode where
it zipped up into a small and seemingly abstract unit so young Adam had no idea what it was.
It is also available in a variety of colours for your favourite child to enjoy for hours.
Colours include:
- "It’s a bird!" – matte black and green
- "It’s a plane!" – matte black and red &
- "No, ... it’s death" gloss white and red
But what is a drone without the headset controller, eh?
We went through a series of designs for this one.
As always, master prop-maker Dean Eilertson and the fellas at Pantheon Design killed it. Much love!
Sorian FOB Key
The Jet FOB key was a device that required a digital component to it. All we knew going in that it needed a screen to convey critical information and it may or may not need to have holographic capabilities.
DNA sequencing was another big component of this asset. It needed to highlight big Adam’s compromised bio-sync pattern and require a re-sync to young Adam.
Many iterations of this design existed and it was slowly distilled down to show less overall but accurately convey everything needed to move the story forward. A real "less is more" approach.
The Nightfall
Wanna hear something about the Sorian Jet? It is actually called the Nightfall.
We wanted to push an interesting design on this one. Mainly that of articulating wings similar to that of birds.
There are two stages that the Nightfall operates in. X mode (wings forward) and Y mode (wings back).
Having the Nightfall in X mode created an almost pouncing cat quality to the ship’s pose. Shoulders high. Aggression noticeable.
During a chase, the wings rotate into Y mode allowing for maximum speed.
We felt these options gave Shawn and the team greater latitude in storytelling and overall visual interest if needed.
Adam's Jet Cockpit
After we presented our design work for the Nightfall, we were asked to review the cockpit of Adam's time jet.
This would requite a set re-build and a re-shoot, so it was a big deal – of course we jumped at it.
We saw it as a great opportunity to unite the design style between the two jets (as they are both Sorian assets)
as well as be a opportunity to insert a smaller version of our pentagonal Light-Drive design into the jet.
We felt that since the Light-Drive was the source of Sorian's ability to time travel, a smaller 'travel-sized' version should live in the cockpit.
Placing the drive behind Adam's head not only served as a point of visual interest, but it was our little tip of the cap to Doc Brown's Flux Capacitor in the Back To The Future series.
Lower Control Stack
A main component of the cockpit re-design was the lower stack that sits behind the jet’s yoke and with in the housing between the monitors. The reason this was re-designed was to open Adam’s interactivity with the module. As the film cuts to Adam pressing multiple buttons, having them be different each time was important.
Again, this asset was built to scale with all light switches and buttons made to fit pre-existing specifications from known suppliers, making the build as painless as possible as time was of the essence here.
Jet UI Design
So one thing we love doing at Supervixen is making screen graphics. Especially if they hold a place narratively
in the storytelling process.
Below is Adam’s jet UI. Working on this component was amazing. First off, we needed to adhere to the design foundations and identity of the Sorian brand and secondly, we needed each jet to have its own identity within that framework.
Once Adam's UI was established, we moved on to the Nightfall's UI design work. We wanted to create a secondary set of UI designs that had a more villainous look to them, but also remained quintessentially “Sorian” in identity.
To do this, we leaned heavily into the 45 degree angles established in earlier design foundations of the Sorian brand.
As we are designers first – commence heavy breathing.
Sorian HQ Exterior
This was such a fun part of the project. We were asked to jump in on the architectural design for the Sorian Tech HQ. Many ideas came to mind, but ultimately we wanted to focus the attention on a few things.
1. The trademark Sorian S.
An ego the size of Maya Sorian should be reflected in the building that houses her power. So investigating different shapes and structures based of manipulating the S was our first step. We wanted to try and bend this logo like it was time itself being bent by Sorian's technology.
2. The fluidity of time manipulation.
We feel that the space within time travel – the interstice between spaces should be represented. But what does that look like? We will investigate this later on for the end title sequence (spoilers), but we see it as a very fluid and organic material that bends and flows around solid structures. This is represented as the line work that wraps itself around the buildings structure.
3. More below the surface/things aren't always as they appear.
This is the case of Maya Sorian's intentions, just as it is the case with the structure of this building. Knowing there is a laboratory inside and knowing the third act was going to take place as a showdown in that lab, we wanted to add an element of structural danger. Potential flooding and claustrophobia.
Sorian HQ Interior
This brings us to the lab interior.
Guided by the creative direction of Claude Paré and design work of Grant Van Der Slagt, our role was to take the existing design of the Particle Accelerator (2 rings) as well as the central collider and suspended gangway and fuse that with an aesthetic of realism that is akin to something you would find in today's world.
As mentioned earlier, we wanted to bring the entire Particle Accelerator beneath sea level as a means added tension, but we also thought this technology would require large amounts of cooling to remain functional and realistic. This also allowed us to align our creative thinking with Claude’s and fit in the idea of the Cherenkov radiation vibe (eerie blue glow) you seen in the water of so many cool labs. We also wanted to help production pull away from a very cold, futuristic looking lab and bring it closer to a more realistic interpretation of what you would see in a place like the Large Hadron Collider.
Gotta say… we’re pretty fucking happy with it. Everyone involved from Art Department – Claude Paré,
Grant Van Der Slagt along with ScanlineVFX and our guy Alessandro Ongaro crushed it!!
Below is a small excerpt highlighting some of the design process:
The Light-Drive
One of the creative hurdles we came across on this project was the design and execution of the Light-Drive.
The Light-Drive is the device that allows time travel possible. We asked to weigh in on this part of the project.
At the time of briefing, all we knew about the Light-Drive was that it needed to sit within a circular plinth.
The actual light-Drive itself and the housing that supported the drive were a mystery.
With this in mind, we wanted the actual drive to live within a cradle that was housed in this larger plinth.
We wanted the design to be something that would require literally reaching into, as if you were reaching into the mouth of the beast, unlocking and extracting the valuable contents inside.
Moving ahead with this concept, we created the following asset as well as a breakdown for the great crew at Pantheon Design along with master prop-maker Dean Eilertson to do what they do best. We couldn't be happier
with the outcome!!
Oh btw – Kristos broke this shit. You owe us 6 new ones, mate. Do try and be more careful next time.
Sorian Lab UI
One of the final screen components we made for this project was the various screens that ran the particle accelerator at Sorian Tech.
We wanted this to walk that line between realism and entertainment. To do this, we created a series of protocols that would play out with the film's narrative and build the screen content around that.
It was a great project to focus attention on, pulling once again from the design foundations we established when creating Sorian's brand.
And yet another amazing fun fact: The striped warning banners are little Sorian S logos tiled on a 45° degree angle... IKR!
Holographic Auditorium
One of the final projects tasked to us in this film was to design and create a holographic auditorium sequence
that took place in the film's epilogue.
The original concept was to have Adam – now a university professor like his father – giving a lecture on the complexities of space travel. Towards the end of the gallery below, you will see the first draft of set staging, potential shot composing and the play of holographic design with in that space.
The story behind this scene was altered later on to change Adam's role. He is now a test pilot sitting in on a class as part of his mandatory flight training hours... and finding it super-duper interesting, btw.
Holographic design has become a staple in sci-fi films and it is always a fun thing to dive in to.
Main-On-End
We called this idea the Interstice.. and yes, it's like, totally a real word, ok.
Based on the space between destinations, we wanted to focus on what the viewers did not get to see in the film, albeit in an abstract and creative way. Bending fabric, running turbulence and vibrations throw materials and housing all this material that reflects the various sky plates from all times of the day and night lead to what you see below.
We are happy with the abstract nature of the project and how some of the ribbon type patterns we knew we
would get from this process aligns with ribbon patterns we built into the architecture of the Sorian Tech HQ.
It was the last part of this epic project we had the pleasure to be a part of.
Credits
Studio: 21 Laps, A Maximum Effort, Skydance Media, Netflix
Director: Shawn Levy
DOP: Tobias A. Schliessler
Producer: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger,
Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds
Executive Producer: Dan Cohen George Dewey, Jennifer Flackett, Patrick Gooing, Mark Levin, Dan Levine, Josh McLaglen,Mary McLaglen
Co-Producer: Rand Geiger
Associate Producer: Cari Thomas
Editor: Dean Zimmerman, Jonathan Corn
Production Design By: Claude Paré
VFX Supervisor: Alessandro Ongaro
Pre Production: Supervixen
Post Production: Supervixen, Scanline, DNEG, LolaVFX
Creative Direction: Morten Rowley, Daniel Bavell
Conceptual Design: Morten Rowley, Daniel Bavell
Music: Rob Simonsen