STAR WARS: - THE LAST JEDI

PLAY

Director: Rian Johnson

For Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Rian’s guidance was to continue on from The Force Awakens with a specific role for clear screen-based storytelling - it is all about the narrative, with the graphics moving the story on.

Raddus - Medical bay

Finn, comatose after losing a fight with Ren on the Starkiller Base, awakens and immediately glitches out the life form readings on his medical pod. In Leia's Medical bay the holo-graphics react as her vitals are raised as she whispers Luke's name.

Raddus - A MC85 Star Cruiser

The command bridge located at the bow of the ship features two triptych displays showing tactical battle alerts. The loss of all of the Resistance's bombers is highlighted on a display within the holo-table.

In the ventral area the command chair has control systems allowing its occupant to pilot the entire ship - the hyperspace calculation system is used to plot a course and ram into the Supremacy at light speed.

Resistance Bomber, X-wing and A-wing

From countdowns in the bombers to gyroscopic orbit controls in the nimble A-wing, tactical displays continue to support the storytelling. In the X-wing each display has a specific function: the top one depicts the Tower we are attacking, the middle one shows the status of the X-wing’s engines and the bottom one, which is all glitchy, visualises the spaceship’s damaged targeting system.

The Dreadnought, Supremacy and Finalizer

To expand the vernacular of Star War graphics we looked at a variety of sources for the First Order ships. The Cannon Alignment Targeting System on the Dreadnought is inspired by the grids printed on cutting board mats, on the Supremacy our idea is to take the iconic “hyperspace star streak” and search through it as a three-dimensional space. For the Finalizer the prank-call to Hux through the Comms Station is a love letter to the audio waveform at the beginning of The Andromeda Strain.

Kylo Ren's shuttle and TIE silencer

Inside Kylo Ren's shuttle we get multiple glimpses of the First Order’s assault on what remains of the Resistance on Crait. For the TIE silencer our inspiration is from the artwork of Larry Cuba and his film 'Calculated Movements'. A vibe full of masculine angular abstraction matching the exaggerated aggression of The First Order, this aesthetic is sharp, clean, systematic — the colour palette is all red, grey, black and white.

Canto Bight

A striking contrast to the First Order's stark, militaristic vibes and the ragtag aesthetics of the Resistance. Evoking a different world with an eclectic mix of styles. A subtle nod to funky 80s car dashboards - the graphics are shiny. Slinky. Sumptuous. Purple!