Designing epic stories
on unique canvases
Creating a fresh, modern look for a historic British event.
The Festival of Remembrance is an annual commemoration of those who have served and fallen. Powerful memories are told through music, dance, storytelling and projection visuals. It uses the recognisable interior of the Royal Albert Hall as the show’s dramatic canvas. We were appointed by BBC Studio Events as the new graphics team, and were asked to create visuals for the entire event which would be filmed in front of a live audience and broadcast on BBC One.
Part of the brief was also to refresh the iconic poppy to be used throughout the show. We started by taking the language of the new set design into the visual design of the poppy, adding new texture and graphic accents to create a seamless look that blurred the lines between physical set, the poppy and the visuals.
For the performance sequences, our approach was to firstly understand and research the narrative. From there we created visuals that had a strong cinematic look and feel, complimented the storytelling and staging. Working alongside the choreographer, musical director and multi-camera director we ensured that key moments came together and were captured by the overhead eagle cam. The visuals resulted in a show full of emotion, drama, gravitas and audience connection.
Two live shows ran on Saturday 11th November, each to audiences of over 5,000 people in London. The second show was attended by the King and Queen Consort and key members of the Royal family, and broadcast live on BBC One. The show was a huge success, the new visual design being sighted as a key component to its positive reception by creative director of BBC Studio Events Claire Popplewell and client the Royal British Legion.
