In February 2020, we were commissioned by Gravity Fields Festival to create a short film about engineering in Grantham.  Shortly after our commission was announced, the COVID pandemic struck, and we found ourselves in lockdown, having to adapt to new ways of working.

The finished film was to include illustration, animation, live action and narration, and the aim was to allow audiences a glimpse inside the world of Grantham’s engineering past and present.

To ensure that the project was a true community collaboration, we got in touch with members of the Grantham engineering community and conducted some virtual interviews to gather information and memories. These sessions were invaluable as they gave us an insight into the mind of an Engineer, which helped tremendously to shape the story and complete the script.

Writer Neil A. Edwards then weaved all the information into a narrative that connected history, innovation, and some truly heartfelt human storytelling.  He focused the story on a young girl, Amber, and her search for her Grandpa Ernest’s most treasured item. It’s 2020 and Ernest is in hospital with Covid – his wife and granddaughter are unable to visit him due to the restrictions. He asks Amber to find his old drawing kit, the one he used throughout his working life as an engineer, and as she explores his attic, she discovers just how important engineering was to not only Grantham but the world. It’s a story about how the notion to simply ‘improve something’ can change everything. Neil managed to cram 200 years of innovation into a 20-minute film!

Once the script was completed, it was time to move to the casting stage, and as it was to be a largely animated film, we were looking for voice actors. We were lucky enough to secure the vocal talents of professional actors Nick Brimble, Dan Morgan, Sherry Baines, Anthony Glennon, and our youngest cast member, Amelia Barrett, who played Amber.

The action was to be shadow theatre (live action) set against illustrated backdrops. These were provided by the extremely talented Laura Barrett Illustrations, who created wonderfully stylised black and white images that set the scene, depicting iconic locations and incredibly detailed landscapes for our shadow performers to inhabit. Performers, illustrations, and voices were seamlessly and skilfully blended by DCB Productions, and a beautiful score was written for us by Dan Nicholls Audio, who also provided our post-production audio.

Our film was finally finished, but sadly Gravity Fields Festival was cancelled. It was subsequently selected to be screened at the 2022 Derby Film Festival.

The film was made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The National Lottery Community Fund, Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service (LCVS), Grantham College & University Centre and Gravity Fields Festival.

The film can be viewed below.