The Penultimate Truth
A fictitious adaption of the dystopian and sci-fi novel novel, "The Penultimate Truth," written by Phillip K. Dick. Designed as a title sequence centered around lies and manipulations where motifs of war, mass media, and power are visually reconstructed in everyday scenery to evoke a critique on basic human nature.

Category

Broadcast

Credits

Design | Zohar Pomerantz, Yotam Rapaport

Date

2021

Overview

The novel follows the storyline of World War III, a war that has been raging on for the span of 15 long years. Millions of innocent people were forced to live underground for shelter while those in power remained above ground to fight the war.

However, up on the surface, the outside world is living in a much different reality. Peace coexists and the elite rule over the land, living wealthy lives and working hard to keep up the appearance of a big lie.

TV Screen
Documents
Written Speeches
Explosives/ Weapons
Military maps
Time travel
Jeweler's eye glass
Clock
VillasPlane (flapper")
Robots ("leadies")
Office
Gray Sunlight & Fog
"Eye Spy"Earth & Mars
Machines
Artificial organ
Time
Power
History
Politics
Morals
Similacrum
Light vs. Dark
Truth vs. Lie
Real vs. Fake
"Necessity"
Radioactivity
Technology
War
Innocence
Manipulation
"Hot with radioactivity and dirty with germs. Great combination, he thought." (pg. 9)

"...the OUT door of one room was only the IN door of the next." (pg. 40)

"...the theft of an entire planet from its rightful owners..." (pg. 58)

"...that life on Earth, or in your instance, beneath Earth, is a transition. An episode between a life that came before and an eternal, other-kind-of-life to follow." (pg. 70)

"They've made the world into a great park..." (pg. 120)

"Time... It's as if a force that grips us all in a one-way path of power, a total power on its part, none on ours... (pg. 172)

"...immense factory of the counterfeit..." (pg. 160)

"...the trumpet shall sound and–not the dead–but the deceived shall be raised." (pg. 231)

Visual Motifs

1) Petri dish - zooming in on abstract shapes that morph into images, objects and textures

2) Magic - demonstrate through illusions how the ultimate lie can be constructed

3) Web of lies - lies are "strung together" as strings and threads, and only when the web is cut or dismantled the truth is revealed

4) Check the 'fine print' - a magnifying glass reveals what wasn't noticeable, revealing documents, photos, texts, etc.

From Innocence to Awareness

Our concept required us to continuously sharpen and expand our image bank with more accurate visuals. We had found a video of two children's eyes staring and following the camera, an image that hit us in the gut because it was exactly the kind of visual representation we were looking for - something that represented innocence and lack of control.

The Core of the Story

In a time where fake news is such a widespread topic in our society, we found that media is the best representation of power. We associated the motif of media as a 'funnel' for lies to be spread through. Instead of string, media now took on the form of power, manipulation, and control.

Childhood is a representation of submissiveness, where children are subjected to adults who tell them to do as they're told. By creating stark contrasts between childhood and war, we could depict a power struggle between those in control and those that are controlled by them.

Workflow & Techniques

By using collage techniques, which allow for the combination of different elements, we layered ideas one on top of the other and created visual manipulations that seem to coexist in the same environment. Since all of our work together was done remotely, we found the best method for working on the footage was by building sequence "puzzles" on Miro Boards and visualizing the movements and connections between different scenes.

Personal Notes

Working during a pandemic was not easy, but working during a country-wide lockdown a whole lot more complex. Since both of us weren't living in the same city at the time, we turned to Zoom sessions as our main means of communication and workflow and were pleased with the process.

This was the biggest learning experience we could have asked for as aspiring designers. We developed our own unique work-styles and techniques, improved on our skills, and most importantly, taught us a whole lot about team dynamics - it is definitely a benchmark for future work to come!

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