Higher, Faster, Further: The Interwar Years
Introductory film for the new permanent exhibition in Hangar 4,5 and 6 at the R.A.F Museum, Colindale, London. I directed a team of talented animators to produce a 5 minute stop motion film to be projected at the entrance of the Interwar Years exhibition. The entire project had to be completed in under a month, making it one of the most challenging projects that I have directed so far. The film won the pitch against 4 other animated films produced within the same time period following the same brief.
I decided to go for a stop motion/analogue approach as I found it appropriate for the time period the film refers to. The brief laid out from the museum curating team strongly suggested to avoid military related events as the purpose of the new exhibition was to lay the context for the R.A.F's achievements in the time period between the two world wars. Therefore, I focused my research on events that were important first and foremost for British history and included international news when they were important enough to mention i.e the creation of the Soviet Union. I also decided to start the film with the end of the first world war and end it at the start of the second one, in this way creating a loop that I found fitting for a physical exhibition. We chose the poppies for the first and last transition due to their relation to Armistice day.
The 4 panel layout is attributed to the 4 screen setup of the physical exhibition, a limitation which produced interesting ideas. I knew that I had to take full advantage of the layout, directing sequences which take full advantage of it, i.e a character might be jumping from screen to screen or completely blacking out 2 of the 4 screens to emphasize an event or an asset completely filling up all of the screens at the same time.