A new Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded animated film has been released which retells the salvage of Brunel's ss Great Britain.
The film has been released as part of the vessel's 40th homecoming anniversary celebrations and was produced by animators from the University of the West of England who worked closely with the ss Great Britain Trust on the project.
The 'Visualising Voices' project has been funded by an AHRC Knowledge Catalyst award. The film is aimed at ensuring the story of the ship's rescue from the Falkland Islands and her homecoming to Bristol reaches a new generation. The animated film helps bring to life the oral history interviews carried out by the ss Great Britain Trust. It has been designed for use on a variety of platforms, including online, for broadcast, and as part of a new exhibition at Brunel's ss Great Britain entitled 'The Incredible Journey' which opened on 17 July.
The story of the ship's journey is retold in three parts covering the salvage, the voyage on a pontoon across the Atlantic Ocean, and homecoming to Bristol. Each part has a different style, treatment and colour palette. In 1970, the salvage of the ss Great Britain attracted global media attention. It is estimated that 100,000 people lined the River Avon to see the ss Great Britain return, and eight million watched the story unfold on television.
The memories used to inspire the animation include those of divers, technicians and engineers involved in the salvage operation, a Falkland Islander who recalls the ship's previous resting place on the other side of the world and Bristolians who witnessed the return of the rusting iron hulk in 1970.
To view the trailer of the animated film visit http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/movie/index.html
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AHRC Media contact: Jake Gilmore, Communications Manager, 01793 416021; j.gilmore@ahrc.ac.uk
Editor's notes
• Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £112 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,300 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.
• The AHRC Knowledge Catalyst scheme supports partnerships between universities and non-academic partners such as business, charities, not-for-profit organisations and some publicly funded bodies. The scheme aims to exploit the research base in the arts and humanities for commercial and/or cultural gain and make such activities accessible to organisations for whom the KTP scheme is not appropriate. The scheme works by identifying a project that will significantly enhance the operations of the Enterprise Partner, and employing a recent graduate to work on the project, supported by an academic.
• The ss Great Britain is the world's first propeller-driven, iron-hulled, ocean-going ship, designed by Isambard Brunel and launched in Bristol in 1843. She had been in the Falklands since 1886 after being damaged in a severe storm. In the 1930s the ship was scuttled having been used by the Falkland Islands Company as a storage hulk. The hulk was rescued and towed on a pontoon all the way from the South Atlantic, returning to the same dock where she was built, 127 years to the day after she had left it.