The Copenhagen Test follows intelligence agent Alexander Hale as he finds out that his brain has been hacked, allowing hackers access to everything he sees and hears. Stuck between the agency and hackers, he must prove his allegiance and uncover the perpetrators.
As one of two lead Motion Graphics Designers, I was in charge of establishing the visual language for the screen graphics of the Orphanage. I was in charge of designing, animating and creating on-set apps for all of the phones and tablets seen throughout the series.
I worked closely with the showrunner, writers and directors to design motion graphics that helped contribute to the aesthetic and emotional impact of the show, both during production and throughout VFX.
Showrunners: Thomas Brandon, Jennifer Yale
Client: Paramount+
Phone Apps
The Copenhagen Test is positioned to take place "five minutes into the future", which gave me some leeway for how to design the phone apps used. For existing apps like phone calls, I tried to create a modern yet simplistic phone UI/UX that would feel realistic and not distract from the story beats that take place on the phone.
For other apps, like when Alexander hacks a diplomat's phone and the camera app, I leaned into the futuristic angle and created apps that stretch the conventions of what's possible with a smartphone of today, but also felt functional, believable and aided the narrative of the scene.
Texting Apps
In addition to a realistic texting app, the showrunner and writers wanted a special texting app that would be an encrypted disappearing message in order to keep messages as secret and secure as possible between characters.
I conceptualized, designed and built bespoke on-set apps for each scene that required texting. The encrypted disappearing messages posed an interesting challenge to ensure that individual text messages could be cued to appear and disappear as desired by the directors on the day.
Letter Room Projections
For Episode 5, I worked closely with the director,Vincenzo Natali, to get the desired chaotic visual effect he was looking for the projections in this room. This was one of my favourite things to work on for this show!
Orphanage Tablets & Devices
The Orphanage employees are equipped with high tech work-issued devices. Throughout the season, I designed and animated the Orphanage UI for a variety of tablets that were used to track and observe integral plot points. In addition to the tablets, I built a fingerprint scanner used at the Orphanage to access the Upstairs Bullpen.
The Orphanage - Control Room
The Control Room is the central command for observing Alexander using all the resources available to the Orphanage. From here, Moira, Parker and the team can keep track of Alexander's whereabouts on missions throughout the season. I helped design and animate the desktop monitor UI used in this set.
The Orphanage - Upstairs Bullpen
The Upstairs Bullpen is where Alexander's office is located at the Orphanage after his promotion. I designed and animated an assortment of screens for the other Upstairs employees in the office.
