Apple TV: Phantom Parrot

We are very pleased to have worked with director Kate Stonehill and the London based team on Apple TV’s Phantom Parrot. Kate film delves into schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act, exploring the police’s authority to search individuals and their devices at UK borders without explicit suspicion of terrorism.

The documentary exudes an ominous, suffocating, and oppressive atmosphere, which heavily influenced our approach to the visual storytelling. We aimed for a cold, sobering starkness to authentically capture these themes.

Graphics Reel

News Articles

For the news articles, we adopted the perspective of a scrutinising gaze through the cold glare of a computer screen, every element confined within a grid of pixels, with subtle blurs, and barely perceptible screen distortions adding to the pervasive sense of voyeuristic unease.

Our visuals reflect the sensation of being under surveillance, emphasising key words in headlines with a subtle digital noise, thereby echoing the thematic essence of the documentary.

Process – Interface

We designed an interface that conveys how authorities can effortlessly access and extract data from personal devices with just a few clicks. To emphasise the unsettling nature of this capability, we opted for a minimalist, lo-fi aesthetic reminiscent of basic Windows-era programs.

This stripped-down, cold design reinforces the impersonal and mechanical nature of the process, making the act of surveillance feel all the more ominous and dehumanised.

Animation and Motion Design: Past Curfew

Design Director: Allison Brownmoore

Graphics Producer: Lucy Witts

Lead Designer: John Quinn

Animators:   Kevin Smy, Sylvain Doussa