Avenue 5

HBO's Sci-Fi comedy series centered around the most luxurious and technically advanced spaceship on TV required multiple screen graphics to enhance the storytelling for Armando Iannucci's creation.

Working across all 8 episodes of the first season, Territory Studio created graphics complementing the narrative — from high-end and playful to low-tech and low-budget. The storybeats of a Sci-Fi comedy have a different flow to a serious script, making it an interesting and fun challenge. Initially designing graphics fit for purpose, they evolved as the story developed, pushing the aesthetic to be bigger and more flamboyant.

Working closely with Production Designer Simon Bowles and graphic designer Sam Moulsdale, the main output focused on two bridges: an overly beautiful facade bridge — complete with glowing elements — fully visible to passengers, and the real bridge below deck, completely opposing in every way, with dirty floors, dark lighting, clunky robust functionalities, glitches and grunge throughout.

"With the art department we found a great aesthetic that sat right in with the comedic nature of the show. Some areas, like mission control, did need to feel more technical, but still had elements of comedy embedded in them." — Sam Keehan, Senior Motion Designer, Territory Studio

Client: HBO