The Story of Btritain

the official blog of the Story of Britain show. check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01z2nn3/clips

[storyofbritain]

Episode 10 the Doomsday book.

You can watch the episode HERE

This episode was a difficult one to come together for myself and the writers, however after we included a good section about the grim realities of the harrying of the north it all came together, and I got to make some nice quiet shots of the blasted landscape. I’m not sure what the Dads job is in the treo of the monk and bishop. I imagine he is a learned high ranking peasant and a guy handy with a blade. So essentially intelligent muscle. Although its not overtly stated in the episode, I imagined the family in this episode to be Jewish.

It was a conscious decision to keep the colours bleached and drab for most of the episode to reflect the serious nature of the period of history. That would then contrast with the golden hues of the final shots.

So that's it. the last episode of the series. i hope you enjoyed it. if we get enough good feedback i may be putting up stuff for season two!

[storyofbritain]

Episode 09 the Norman invasion.

you can watch the episode HERE

Ah its almost the end and we have another sad invasion episode.

But I think made up for by the cute knight montage. The father in this episode is loosely based on the actor Jean Reno. Unfortunately there was no mother or cool female character for Katy Carmichael (twist from spaced!) to play in this ep, however we had fun coming up with a snooty voice for the teacher.

In the crowd at Williams coronation there is a cameo of John Green writer of Fault in our stars and presenter of the sterling series crash course history which kept me inspired through production.   

It was a dark joke amongst the crew that the rebellion the father and son are going off to fight is the harrying of the north, which is dealt with in episode 10.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 8 vikings

You can watch the episode HERE

Whaaar Vikings! The Vikings are an interesting people. Most historical programs tend to lump them all into one of two camps. Either they are a daring and misunderstood people, railroaded by history. Or bloody barbarians who burned their way across the world. Seeing as the Viking people where split up into lots of different independent tribes, both are pretty much true depending on the tribe. So that’s why we opted to show both sided in this ep. I was also exited to do this episode so I could feature Æthelflæd! My favorite historical character. She’s so badass I had to give her the death metal shot with her on the horse. I could make an entire film on her and it’s a shame more people don’t know about her, but hopefully now my little show will make more people pay attention, not just to her but other woman of history who got whitewashed out of the public perception.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 7 saxon Britain.

You can watch the episode HERE

Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of info on this period of history. What we do know was that there where no great invasions and battles and such. Mostly as many people in history regarded the age of the Roman empire as a pinnacle of humanity and everything since being a slide to degradation. So as we had so little facts to report lets tell the story of Beowulf! The original fantasy action adventure.

This was lots of fun to design and the team to animate, and I think it shows in the quality of the episode. I was determined not to copy anything from the 3d film. However after watching it after the episode was done there are still some shots which are similar. As with episode six there are many shots which are a homage to Genndy Tartakovsky and his shows Samurai Jack Symbiotic Titan and the Clone Wars. As well as a beautiful and scary animation I saw as a child. You can watch it HERE

The design of Grendel I made when I was about fifteen. Unused and forgotten until he returns in this show! The dragon was particularly fun to design as well as I wanted to make him look like the prow of a ship.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 6 Roman Britain

you can watch the episode HERE

A bit of a gear shift with this one. I was unsure if the gladiators would get past the powers that be. But apparently you can have some violence in a children's show as long as it’s “in a historical context” possibly my favorite note of the series.

Some of the shots in this ep I think betray my love of the show samurai jack.

The dad is based on the actor Idris Elba who I thought would look cool in roman uniform. The plot of the mother sending invitations for her birthday is based on a real tablet unearthed at Hadrian’s wall. There is a file somewhere where the final shot with the dad is ended with the loony toons theme with the red iris going round his head.

Thats all folks!

(no! there are still another four episodes! Stick around for dragons and vikings!)

[storyofbritain]

Episode 5 Roman invasion

you can watch the episode HERE

“Everyone always likes the Boudicca episode”

aah the roman invasion, this was our chance to show off how much we could do with the time and budget we had. There are at some times over 5000 roman soldiers and who knows how many Celtic defenders.

For Boudicca or Boodie as we ended up calling her, I wanted her to have the look of a superhero. She had to look like she could hold her own on the battlefield. Most people portray her in a long dress in battle which seems impractical. So trousers, amour and braids. Her chest bared in a chauvinistic way to show she has no fear.

Her army would have been comprised mostly of women and non fighters, mostly people who she could scrape together. its more than likely they would all be fighting in the nude but for obvious reasons we couldn't put that in a children's show.

featured in this ep is also some sterling cape animation by Johnathon Harris.

I wrote the original treatment for the talk between the roman commander and his subordinate. I always liked the idea of a roman commander who has essentially disillusioned with the pomp and propaganda of the empire. A sad ending I know but it’s a sad story.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 4 Iron age.

you can watch the episode HERE

Colorful costumes at last! No more brown costumes for our family.

I am always astounded by the ingenuity of Angus to get great animation from limited sources. I am of course talking about the father gesturing with the spear. (the first gif up top)

Lots of liberal use of the blur tool on this show.

Myself and the writer Emma where quite insistent on the druid being a woman as she bucks the trend for old men with beards. Unfortunately there is little to no info on the druids, so I had to make do and not make too many assumptions. the diadem that she wears is however based on a real archaeological find.  I am particularly fond of the druids factbox as its pretty spooky.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 3 Bronze age

you can watch the episode HERE

This was the one where everything came together. Myself Angus and Brook had gotten the method of getting the work done in seven days to make each episode. (I know, shocking!)

I insisted on the mysterious opening to keep it slightly spooky and atmospheric. I was also backed up by Emma the writer as bronze making was kept secret at the time so it was considered magical. Some lovely animation here from Brook with the molten bronze. Search for videos of molten bronze its amazing.

It was massively difficult to design clothes for the characters, seeing as they make wool only half way through the episode. And it was in a warm time climate wise. So I just took reference to clothing at the time and substituted wool for leather.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 02 neolithic

watch the episode HERE

Ah episode two, it took so long to make the final shot wasn’t finished until the last day of production!

The fantastic 3D Eagle was made and animated by my brother Henry

And a big thank you to the guys at rapid for putting the eagle sound every time he’s in shot.

it was at this point we where joined by Brook and Hamish who provided sterling animation throughout the show.

There is very little information on people of this age. Most of the costume came from men like Ötzi and other frozen men of the time. The costume of the characters is similar to those of the American Indians, which just goes to prove that some designs just don’t need fixing.

[storyofbritain]

Episode 01 Middle Stone Age

you can watch it HERE 

Hello, this is Ben the director of the show.

Episode one was always going to be a tricky one. I had figured out the art style and the episode was already story boarded before we started, however myself and Angus the lead animator, hadn’t really figured out the most streamlined method of production. So it took almost twice as long to animate as all the other episodes.

The wolves and the bear where the most fun to animate, and a bit of a trick to get past the powers that be. however everyone responded well to wolfie as expected.

and yes that is Jenna Coleman narrating.