BLACK ADAM

CAN YOU SMELL WHAT DARBY IS COOKING!!!!!!!!!! (That’s a Rock reference).

Working alongside Cantina Creative I was fortunate enough to get to create some of the coolest screen and holo gfx/animations of last year (in my humble opinion of course). I was tasked with helping to create gfx for the Hawkcruiser, Flybike, and Cryopod assets.

A high-tech spaceship cockpit in the Hawkcruiser, with a large digital display screen showing scientific graphs, data, and holographic interface elements from DC's Black Adam film.

HAWKCRUISER

For the Hawkcruiser I was mainly tasked with helping to find an animation language. The absolutely gorgeous designs were from Nicolas Lopardo. Super talented stuff from him set me up to make some super fun hyper tech action.

Futuristic display with a large holographic scan from DC's Black Adam film

Flybike

While Nick got to jam on the Hawkcruiser design, I got to take a stab at designing and animating a sick top map for the hover bikes (Flybikes) you see in the film. I love getting to use red when I can in a screen, and this was the perfect candidate. It was so fun to see how I could blend 2D and 3D elements while still keeping a lofi look.

Futuristic spaceship cockpit with a warning on screen indicating "Over Speed," "Eternium Levels Critical," and "Overdrive Unstable." From DC's Black Adam film
A digital display screen inside a spaceship cockpit showing the message 'ENGINE FAILURE' in bold white letters with a red background and red digital graphics, along with various technical data and coordinates. From DC's Black Adam film

Cryopod

The Cryopod was an absolute blast. The shot that it was designed for had this really long camera track (check the trailer above) and eventually rested on the Rock’s face. For the full fill up I thought it would be awesome to have different stops - or checkmarks - that expanded out as the pod reached full containment. This was super exciting for me from a design perspective as well because I really got to lean into a hyper tech sort of vibe - which is the classic FUI love we all enjoy.

Below on the left hand side is my cryopod concept. Right after I did this early version I got pulled off to another project. On the right hand side is an updated cryopod from the rest of the Black Adam team (they killed it right????). Their playing on geo really elevated the design. It was a weird prop too, so finding that language was imoprtant. Below all of that is a sexy shot of the actual pod in an ambient stasis. Aaron Eaton at Cantina found an awesome nervous system/skeleton to plop in there to show it’s ready to take a person in! Creepy but cool!

A digital monitor display showing various data metrics, including fluid level at 63%, vital heart rate, water level calculations, and container lock status, with a sleek dark interface and numerical readouts. From DC's Black Adam film
A high-tech control panel interface with data readouts on containment fluid levels, chamber status, blood pressure, and system diagnostics, featuring various graphs, indicators, and labels. From DC's Black Adam film
A person lying on a medical examination table in a science fiction setting with a holographic cryo chamber., with advanced technology and blue lighting. From DC's Black Adam film

Client Warner Bros. Pictures

Visual Effects Supervisor Aaron Eaton

Visual Effects Producer Sean Cushing

Visual Effects Coordinators Eliet Flores, Heather Nicoll, Jacob Saar

Design \ Animation Nicolas Lopardo, Ramiro Galan, Darby Faccinto, John Flores, Ryan Uhrich

Compositors Zachary Kinney, Brandon Hines, Manthan Bhyani