It's lonely out in Space Territory explains how they used Red Giant tools, C4D and After Effects to create the on-set future tech for Nightflyers.

Nightflyers, the horror science fiction series based on George R.R. Martin's 1980's novella of the same name, told the story of a science team aboard a technologically advanced spaceship with a terrible secret. Developed by Syfy and distributed worldwide on Netflix until it was cancelled in 2019, Nightflyers was acclaimed for its cutting-edge VFX.

Working on-set in Limerick, Ireland, Territory Studio created more than 1,200 motion graphic elements for on-set future tech, including UI and screen content. Primarily relying on a combination of Red Giant tools, Cinema 4D and After Effects, Territory worked closely with episode directors, set decorators and members of the art department.

Sam Keenhan led the Territory creative team working on the project. Here he explains how the studio used many of Red Giant’s tools, combined with C4D and After Effects, for their work on Nightflyers.

We began the process in preproduction, working with the concept art and liaising with the art and set decoration departments to develop the required aesthetic. That work was mostly based in the studio where we established the overall graphics look, and Red Giant tools were an integral part of that design language.

Just before principal photography, our team travelled to Limerick and set up a satellite studio to ensure we had both the on-set mobility and render power available to be as quick on our toes as we could. In Limerick, our process moved from design and feedback loops to a more reactive workflow that could handle last-minute requests and same-day changes.

There were many sets on the spaceship, including medical labs, a hydroponics lab and cargo bays. As always, screen content and graphics needed to support the story. So we designed the UI to perform many tasks in the most efficient ways possible because, often, we only had days, or sometimes hours, to get something done. We built things in a modular fashion so we could make specific elements to support story beats, and then quickly pad them with more generic elements to ensure aesthetic cohesion across all sets and graphics.

I have been at here for nearly six years, both freelance and full time. We primarily use Cinema 4D and After Effects for on-set screen graphics work, though we often add in other programs like ZBrush, Maya, Nuke or Houdini when needed. We try to keep the whole studio working with the same tools and Red Giant is a part of that. I don't ever remember a time when we were not using some part of the Red Giant toolset. It’s really a default part of our toolset now because it fits into our workflow seamlessly.

For Nightflyers we relied heavily on Trapcode Form, Particular, Looks and several tools in the Universe Suite, including Unmult, Heatwave, Glitch and Holomatrix. With the Red Giant Trapcode Suite, it’s the speed that makes it useful, especially for on-set graphics because you can be asked to create assets that are going to be part of a shoot that afternoon, or sometimes even in an hour.

Trapcode Form is an excellent first step, especially for someone like me who predominantly works in After Effects. It allows me to concept ideas and say, ‘Okay, we don’t need to build this part in Cinema 4D. Really, the speed factor of Red Giant plugins, coupled with not having to jump out of After Effects, allows me to bash things out really quickly.

I work with an Apple MacBook Pro laptop when I’m on set using the Red Giant plugins with After Effects. I need that kind of machine because, at the start of the day, I could be using a cockpit as a workstation. Later in the afternoon, I’ll sit on a stool in the corner of a different set. Quite often, we are just on standby in case a graphic in a scene needs some quick changes while they are turning a camera around. And having Red Giant’s plugin set allows me to mock everything up in After Effects, so I can put it in front of a director quickly. There’s a simplicity to having Red Giant plugins running in the After Effects’ viewport. As the graphics appear on the screen, we can hit render without any worries. That’s a life saver on set.

We used Cinema 4D extensively to create assets and manipulate supplied assets from production. We imported models and camera setups into After Effects to be used with the Red Giant plugins for comping or development with particles. The director and art department were fond of LiDAR scans, and were keen to have that look in the graphics. That aesthetic is a point-based representation of 3D objects in space, and Red Giant’s particle-based plugins really helped us achieve that.

We used C4D to create models and break them down into the parts we needed. That way, we could easily export the files using the OBJ format and then use Trapcode Form to create the LiDar look for some of the hero visuals. Like a scene in the ship’s med lab where you see a futuristic scan of the doctor’s lungs as they track the progression of a dangerous infection of spores. We also created a futuristic ultrasound scan for a pregnant character in the show, showing the baby’s heartbeat and vitals.

One of the more unique things on Nightflyers was the “Mother” character who would take over the ship and wreak havoc on it and the crew. Our graphics were one of the core ways that the entity’s effect on the ship was visualized. To show that the entity had taken over, we used Colorista to make targeted color changes to existing graphics, and then we matted the effect on top of what was currently on screen. The visual takeover of the screens supported the presence of this otherwise invisible danger. It was quite a simple approach, but it was effective.

We also used several other techniques to create engaging hero elements within the graphics, such as heat distortion using Red Giant Universe’s Heatwave plugin. Though technically inaccurate, it created a fun stylistic addition that helped to sell the idea of the immense energy employed by the thrusters. We also used plugins like Optical Glow, and Chromatic Aberration to add glitched or weathered looks to the graphics, depending on the surrounding scene decoration or story beats.

Nightflyers was an ever-changing beast, with several directors and the need for different creative directions. Learning how to balance that was quite interesting, but the most interesting thing for me was how we logistically built and delivered the work. This project really highlighted the importance of the symbiosis between infrastructure, process and workflow.

Tailoring our approach to the hardware and software techniques we use has allowed us to create work that is achievable within time constraints, on or off set. It’s something we’ve always been quite good at here at Territory, but we continue to develop and explore new ways of getting our work from our screens to the various film sets we supply. The seamless interactivity between After Effects, C4D and Red Giant, greatly helped us on this project, and we’ve definitely taken those benefits on board on other projects.