Team America
Project Vision
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the wits who created South Park, tapped Rockwell Group to collaborate on the art direction for their new film, Team America. Rockwell Group led the production team in the creation of the film’s unique and unexpected visual language. Simplified views of the cities and settings reflect the myopic viewpoint that Team America has as the World Police force.
With a distant skyline consisting only of pyramids and minarets, Cairo is based on a stereotype of the Middle Eastern marketplace with tents, peddlers, street vendors and camels – and a terrorist’s bar thrown into the mix. The energy of New York is squeezed into Time Square, with a dizzying array of cabs and advertising everywhere. Team America’s headquarters is built right into the face of Mount Rushmore, with vehicles and aircraft zooming through the faces of the presidents. The deeply embedded lair serves as both a base for world surveillance and a lounge for the team – complete with a chrome pool table, clear piano, and a well-stocked bar.
Project Details
The entire cast consists of marionettes, and the production design is a series of elaborately constructed puppet theaters. Every detail of the sets, from the Playbills that tile the dressing-room floor to the tiny liquor bottles in the Team America cocktail lounge/headquarters was crafted to further the film's zany and insistent message about America's blundering dominance of the world scene. Why is the design of a cocktail lounge for puppets any less worthy than a sports bar or trade show? This is environmental graphic design.
Design Team
David Rockwell, Barry Richards, Angela Hurley, Rodrigo Tisi, Robert Pyzocha, Stephen J. Joyce, Tomas Pedrasa, Noel Cuvin, Chris Morris, Kinnaresh Mistry, John Prada, Dina Muraca, Mika Fukuyoshi, Michael Dereskewicz, Hilary Carlson Verni, Gretel Schwartzott, Rachel Janocko, Erin Moore, Kevin Leddy, Luke Raymond, Caroline Kim, Craig Byers
Design Firm
Rockwell Group
Consultants
Paramount Pictures
Fabricators
Paramount Pictures