On November 11th, 2022, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiered in theaters worldwide. Perception worked with Marvel Studios through all stages of production to conceptualize the advanced technology of Wakanda in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Perception is a design and VFX lab that has envisioned technology across many Marvel Studios films, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Thor: Ragnarok. Perception developed, designed and animated almost all of the Wakandan technology seen throughout Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Perception once again teamed up with Geoffrey Baumann and the VFX team in the earliest stages of production. Before the movie was filmed or the script was written, Marvel Studios consulted with Perception to envision the look, function and practicality of Shuri’s evolved Wakandan technology and the newly introduced Talokan technology.
“Black Panther and the world-building of Wakanda has been one of our proudest creative collaborations in Perception’s history,” said Jeremy Lasky, Partner and Co-Founder of Perception. “Like the first film, we were honored to get involved at the earliest stages of pre-production, helping to conceptualize and design technology and a visual language for several key characters and moments in the story. We are proud of the trust director Ryan Coogler has put in us, and are grateful for the special creative chemistry we share with all the visionary minds involved in making this epic piece of cinema.”
Perception conceptualized all technological facets of Shuri’s laboratory, including various user interfaces, smart screens, holograms, maps and her artificial intelligence, Griot. Perception designed the look of Griot, as well as helped develop its personality and sentience. Instead of using Vibranium Sand from the first film, Perception decided to advance the technology even further for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“We used light-based technology for a lot of her holograms and interfaces, which is a higher fidelity than what we could do with Vibranium Sand from the first film,” said Doug Appleton, Chief Creative Director at Perception. “We also used a white and orange color scheme for most of Shuri’s user interfaces. The white of the UI shows how clean and organized it is, while the orange of the UI is representative of the warmth of Wakanda.”
Beyond the technology contained within Shuri’s laboratory, Perception also developed the HUD of Shuri’s helmet, phone call technology, Ironheart’s HUD, drone HUDs and ship interfaces. Perception utilized a simple, geometric design with thin line-work to communicate the intricacies and refinement of this Wakandan technology.
“For Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we were taking what we created for the first film and pushing it even further,” stated Eric Daly, Director of Production at Perception. “Wakanda has progressed almost a decade into the future and the technology of Wakanda has followed that. This time around, the technology we crafted is more advanced and precise, and we can see that Shuri’s tech has been proliferated outside of just her laboratory.”
Perception has been designing technology for Marvel Studios films since their first collaboration in 2009 on Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2, crafting various pieces of Stark Technology. Since then, Perception has collaborated with Marvel Studios on over 30 of their films and series. Perception is also responsible for the creation of several Marvel Studios title sequences, including the emotional and intimate main on end title sequence of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“Working on the first Black Panther was an incredible collaboration between our team at Perception and Marvel Studios to develop the story of Wakanda and the technology of Vibranium,” concluded Danny Gonzalez, Partner and Co-Founder of Perception. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever carries over all the iconic storytelling and innovative technology into the second film but on a whole new level. We are honored to be part of these historic films that Marvel Studios has created.”
About Perception:
Perception is a team of design visionaries brought together to architect the future of technology for cinema, and the world’s most innovative companies. The two founders, Danny Gonzalez and Jeremy Lasky, started the company in 2001 to pioneer a new era of motion graphics, becoming one of the first studios to blaze the trail of high-end visual effects all created on the desktop. In the last 21 years, Perception has evolved to break new ground in cinema and cutting-edge user experience design. The Perception team divides their days teleporting between the parallel dimensions of fantasy and reality. Whether working on the next superhero blockbuster or an intelligent and delightful experience for industries of the future, storytelling is at the very foundation of everything they do.
About the movie:
In Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba) fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. Introducing Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor, ruler of a hidden undersea nation, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore, opened in U.S. theaters Nov. 11, 2022.
