Video game technology has brought Winston Churchill to life at Blenheim Palace.
Didcot-based Rebellion Film Studios has produced an extraordinary video to introduce the new exhibition on the wartime leader which opened earlier this month.
Churchill at Blenheim was filmed using the kind of cutting-edge technologies that are employed on high-end TV shows and ground-breaking video games.
The film takes the viewer on a journey through and around the house and grounds.
The voiceover remarks that as well as being his birthplace, it’s where he decided to propose to his beloved wife Clementine.
Some of Churchill's most famous quotes – including “Never in the field of human conflict… " - are accompanied by a complex sound design which features the thunder of a cavalry charge and the iconic sound of Spitfires passing overhead.
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Blenheim’s head of innovation David Green said: “We wanted to create something really special that would encompass Churchill’s enduring connection to Blenheim in a highly visual and engaging way.
“Part of the brief was also to have an introduction to the exhibition that would be appreciated by a younger audience and by those people who were unfamiliar with Churchill.
“The video game-style technology allows us to tell quite a complex and complicated story quickly and memorably.
“It also means we can reach audiences who are unable to visit in person.”
3D computer rendering of the palace
The film acts as an introduction to the new exhibition, which celebrates Churchill’s lifelong association with Blenheim.
Blenheim Palace was also one of his favourite places to relax, and its rich military history provided huge inspiration for Churchill’s own career.
Brian Mitchell, head of Rebellion Film Studios, said: “The initial idea and story was put together by Oxford-based writer Mark Pritchard and the BAFTA-nominated animation director Robin Celebi.
“The soaring background music was composed specifically for the piece, and the images of the palace have been rendered with a hand-painted look in a stylistic nod to Churchill’s own love of painting.”
A small team from Oxfordshire-based SIAD and Oxotec carried out the digital scanning of the Palace and created the high-definition 3D environments used throughout the video.
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Mr Mitchell added: “We then merged these within a video game engine to achieve the distinct look and feel. Finally, the sound effects and music were added courtesy of Ed Walker from Sounding Sweet and the composer, Ian Livingston.”
Rebellion is one of Europe’s biggest independent cross media studios, and has worked on major franchises from Star Wars to TV projects such as Doctor Who and Netflix’s Love Death & Other Robots, as well as video games like Sniper Elite, Evil Genius 2 and Sony’s Destruction AllStars.
To watch the video, go to churchill.blenheimpalace.com.
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