Stories Take Flight for the Imperial War Museum

A beautiful animated film promoting London’s Imperial War Museum (IWM) and the new First World War Galleries has launched depicting the personal stories of men who lost their lives in the fields of Northern France.

The 90-second film, from ad agency Johnny Fearless and produced by Aardman, is titled Flight of the Stories and commemorates the First World War Centenary.

The spot shows characters represented by quotation marks – each one symbolises the story of a soldier who lost his life. As the quotation marks fly through the air and home to London, dozens of voices are heard. Each voice is a line from letters and diaries written by soldiers and entrusted to the museum by their relatives.

As the voices gather, the bird-like characters join to form a flock, taking flight across Northern France and the English Channel, over London, and finally resting at the IWM.

Paul Domenet, executive creative director at Johnny Fearless, says: “We wanted to bring people to IWM London to see and hear the words of those who lived and died through the war for themselves and encourage them to reappraise the First World War in a way, which is different to the stereotypical mud and blood imagery.”

Aardman combined 2D illustrations and 3D CGI animation techniques to create a hybrid effect, bringing to life the bold landscapes and muted palettes of war artists from the era.

Director Darren Dubicki adds: “The idea was to create a powerful piece of imagery that is suggestive of the paintings from the era coming to life, and therefore a stunning promotional piece for the museum’s commemoration plans." 

Flight of the Stories is currently being screened in cinemas and online as part of a multi-platform campaign supported by posters, press and radio promoting the new First World War Galleries.

The IWM and the new galleries will reopen on 19 July 2014, ready to mark the official start of the centenary commemorations.