"Machines could take 50% of jobs in the next 30 years" 
Moshe Vardi, Professor of computer science, Rice University

As we were building a ‘near future’ reality, we needed to develop a utilitarian coldness to the way things were designed yet still keep them interesting and engaging. We made much of these design decisions in the storyboarding, making composition simple and bold to focus our attention on the story.

Being sci-fi in nature, there was a temptation to add detail but we quickly realised the absence of the detail made everything feel slicker and more minimal. That meant when we employed more texture in the ‘old town’ scenes of the film there was greater contrast, creating a more gritty and ‘real-world’ feel. We also developed a colour script that evolves throughout the film, going from warm to clinical, becoming cooler and darker with higher contrast toward the end, accenting Alice’s emotional journey throughout.

See the full article on The Guardian theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/17/automation-may-mean-a-post-work-society-but-we-shouldnt-be-afraid