Marti Romances, creative director and co -founder of Territory Studio SFcreated conceptions “oriented towards future” for everything, from GM concept car to user interfaces in video games.
The Romance studio, which is the territory of the Bureau of San Francisco, based in London, worked on films such as Avengers: Endgame, ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, The Martian and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Territory Studio has also created futuristic conceptions that have appeared in video games Like Forza Motorsport 6, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Cyberpunk 2077 and Marvel’s Avengers. The territory has also worked on brands, events and facilities. I am happy to note that the novels will be a speaker of our Gamesbeat Summit 2025 Event, which takes place from May 19 to May 20 in Los Angeles this spring.
What is cool is that designers and novels create the future by conceiving something that is not real, only to draw the imagination of someone who will create something real in the future. This is part of my favorite creative cycle, where Science fiction inspires games and technologywho in turn inspires science fiction. This is how we obtain creations like the territory designed Amazfit penis Smartwatch, which is like a Star Trek tool that measures heart rate, calories, steps, air pressure and more.
“These brands do not want to be late because we build the foundations to be ready to have a minimum viable product or a prototype ready for their consumers to test when this technology looks more like everyone,” said Romances.
Creative origins
To do this work, novels must draw a range of influences, disciplines and perspectives to create their experiences. It led Fast Company to name one of the “”100 most creative people in businessIn 2019. Instead of looking at the function first, the territory thinks of what could be visually attractive, novels told Fast Company.
The novels launched the San Francisco office in the territory nine years ago. And he grew up to add offices to Los Angeles and Vancouver.
“The most important part for us was to diversify what we can do and help other industries. At the beginning, we indexed much of our work with Hollywood too much, “said Romances in our interview. “And what we do with all these directors and films is to create technology that does not exist. And we have noticed a complete circle in the past eight years, and perhaps that close to Silicon Valley, we have triggered many digital products that become real products. And it’s very exciting because for us, because we have been imagining the future for so long. And now we are finally helping to produce these real innovative solutions. »»
One of the “real” creations of the territory appeared on stage at CES 2021, where the CEO of GM Mary Barra showed a fully electric Cadillac car with an electronic dashboard designed partly by Territory Studio SF. He had lighting and colors that corresponded to the driver’s mood and personality.
“Recently, we started working a lot with Aerospace, which is also very exciting. Since we did The MartianI always wanted to do the real thing, ”said Romances.
From Hollywood to games and more
And Microsoft’s game studio, Turn10, based in Seattle, put the territory on board to create forza Motorsport 5 and Forza Motorsport 6. Territory helped design aesthetic language and movement concepts for the game user interface. It incorporates holographic elements.
“At the macro level, I would say that most of what we were doing with visual effects in these films – as everyone remembers all the holograms that we have made for Avengers or these head displays that appear in front of the faces or even the ready player – are real,” said Romances. “All of these conceptions possibly informed the need for augmented reality or a mixed reality. We started years even with the Microsoft Hololens and how we carried out medical projects with visualization. »»
Later, in work with Magic Leap, the territory worked on AR glasses that pushed the concept further and made it more practical. Magic Leap did not do it, but the ideas of his conceptions inspired designs that came later. Now, these technologies, which can become visual aid for surgeons, are used in operating rooms.
For the film by Denis Villeneuve, Dune: the second part, which was nominated for the best film this year, the territory designed things like a lively holographic war console and a weapon reticle created for the Harkennon Mentat (a human computer).
The Harkonnen War Table, with a very detailed 3D holographic projection screen, was a pivot narrative accessory in the situation room that appears in the opening scenes and everywhere. The scenes of this set work to inform the public about the status of the war current between the Fremen and the Harkonnen. Propelled by Mentat Chant Vibrations, the Rabban’s command center presented the movements of its army in real time. This is an example of detail.
“Dune was very dark and very minimalist,” said romances.
Digital twins and intersection of simulation and entertainment
All these conceptions suggest that the interface of the human machine is not over, and perhaps its best days await us. The tools to create powerful 3D mapping systems are there, and it is the Unity and Unreal game engines that are used to make video games. And these tools are used by large companies that design digital twins.
Digital twins are simulated conceptions for factories that are built and perfected in the digital field first, before all money is committed to physically building this factory. These factories are equipped with sensors, then the data is returned to digital twins to improve conceptions. This virtuous cycle helps improve the physical factory in its next design iteration, and it is really the same concept behind the conceptions of the territory over the years.
“For me, this is very powerful because we use real -time technologies that are generally intended to play games,” said Romances. “This is where the territory is located between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, right?” Films and games allow us to dream, to create without having to develop, which is very good because we have opened our minds. We don’t have to wait for technology to be available. And on the other hand, we do more plausible things. »»
Many disturbances can be the result. If hologram technology is perfected and repressed in cost, this will disrupt advertising on display panels in cities.
When asked why he did it, Romances said, “We just like to create, and not recreate. When we started in this company, we realized that many films wanted effects like a car that explodes in the middle of the road. As designers, we wanted to create and we ended up finding this creation niche for these films something that has never been seen, which has never been developed, which does not refer to an existing technology, which tries to define a new reference, on the right, which does not exist, that no one has imagined. “”
He added: “And the best example is what you mentioned with the minority report. There was something in this large multi-plus, with [Tom Cruise] Pinch into the air, and it ends up being in iPad or with the sliding screen. »»
He added: “We think that all the work we continue to do for 14 years for Hollywood influences like new technologies. But we are also and are responsible for creating certain prototypes of these brands which want to have a wider field of vision. We have played in this playground in everything is possible. It is so important.
