We had an absolute blast contributing to this awesome short film. Directed by our good friend Jeff Chan, Code 8 is a proof-of-concept short film taking place in a world where 4% of people have special powers. These “specials” live in poverty and resort to crime, forcing the police to become highly militarized and employ the use of Drones and Robots. We were brought on board the film to create, design and animate all the HUDs for the Drones, Robots and Cop cars. In addition to the HUDs we were also tasked with animating titles throughout the film, including the glitchy end title.

We went through several HUD ideas and layouts, starting with very intricate sleek designs, and ultimately working towards a more subtle, yet more tactical and ominous military design approach. It was important to us that the HUDs felt unified across the different scenes, so that the Drone, Robot and Cop-Car Windshield UI all appeared as though they were designed by the same manufacturer. The other main design and animation goal was to create HUDs that really reacted to the environment: scanning terrain, determine flight path trajectories, examined distance, identified threats etc.

We created various modules that were interchangeable within the overall UI layouts. We created a Drone POV UI layout, a Robot POV UI layout and a Cop-car windshield UI layout. Each of those was comprised of the various modules that were appropriate for the function of the POV. We started with still mockup layouts and designs of each module, and then worked on micro-animations (like clock time, signal strength, navigation gauges, battery/energy gauges etc.). Once those were done we animated the shot specific elements such as face & object trackers, waveform monitors & warning signals.

Early in the process we pitched some different UI layout and designs. This one was not selected to be used, but we really liked the way it turned out. This approach was a bit more futuristic and elegant, but ultimately felt to slick for the world the movie takes place in.

CREDITS

HUD & Titles Design and Animation by reactiv

Creative Director: Alon Isocianu
Animators: Jacob Doforno, Gavenesh Patel, Scott Mulligan & Alon Isocianu
Producers: Anna Junger & Alex Nursall

Film Credits:

Director: Jeff Chan
Writers: Jeff Chan & Chris Paré
Producers: Jeff Chan, Tommy Dingwall, Chris Par
Executive Producers: Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell, Geoff McLean
Co-Producers: Art Chong, Billie Aleman
Director of Photography: Alex Disenhof
Production Designer: Brandon Mendez
Editor: Skinner @ MTG
Visual Effects: Playfight VFX
Color: Wade Odlum @ Alter Ego