Territory creates a dark and sexy personality for an enigmatic villain, in this original short film by director Saman Kesh.
Read MoreA project that taps into the studio’s passion for compelling narratives and strong graphic styling, HIT TV offered Territory the opportunity to get involved with a dark and edgy story, in which the graphics of a TV show play a central character. Working closely with writer and director,
Saman Kesh, Territory crafted screen graphics and logo animation for this hyperstylised thriller, in which iconic pop culture imagery projects themes of sex, violence, greed and power to create an enigmatic villain.
The team at Territory, lead by David Sheldon-Hicks and designer Ryan Rafferty-Phelan, had considerable creative influence in the pre production stage. Initially the brief was to create graphics for a pirate TV show, but sensing an opportunity to create a really iconic mystery ‘character’, Ryan suggested only showing disembodied lips – making it feel very 80’s pop art, while generating the mouth using motion capture.
When Saman shared his production booklet and vision for the film, it was such a creatively unique premise that I wanted the studio to be part of it.
David Sheldon-Hicks
Excited about the glitchy nature of pirate TV stations, David suggested referencing Max Headroom’s infamous glitches (a mid 1980’s (British) TV show about an AI). In collaboration with Saman, Ryan designed the look and personality of the TV show, and executed various versions that the team would lock together. The result is a sexy dating game style show, in which a woman’s voice presents new targets as love interests, inviting players to win love points. The graphics were on-set on an old TV, for a true analogue feeling.
The production required a shoot for the polaroid related elements. A sequence of stills also show the step-by-step process of creating the stylised lips.
| Creative Director | David Sheldon-Hicks |
| Art Direction & Lead Animation | Ryan Rafferty-Phelan |
| Writer / Director | Saman Kesh |
| Producer | Stephane Elfassi |
| Music Composition | Makeup & Vanity Set |
| Logo Design | Brent Ashe |
