Output details

Blackbeard the Pirate

Brief Description

Designed to be streamed on the web or viewed as a standalone DVD, this animated version of Blackbeard the Pirate completes a trilogy of films, commissioned by Pollock’s Toy Theatres Ltd. London. Based on an original Victorian play, the film introduces modern audiences to the concepts of toy theatre and the story of the famous buccaneer. The two previous films were Ali Baba in 2006 and Cinderella in 2007, the trilogy is available as separate films or on a single DVD. Film held in the collections of: The Department of Theatre Arts – Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, The British Museum, Prints and Drawings Departments, London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Theatre and Performance Archives, London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Childhood, London and Pollock’s Toy Museum, London.

Research Rationale

The first time that this toy theatre play has been filmed and has included Arnott’s main areas of research in stop motion animation, electronic image manipulation and toy theatre and historic/traditional forms of storytelling. The visuals are based on original 19th Century designs and rendered in three-dimensions with depth and lighting, drawing on the traditions of toy theatre, through the means of software and digital manipulation. The work combines the conventions of Victorian theatre with the modern process of digital animation - making it accessible to new younger audiences.

Strategies Undertaken

The project proceeded through discussion with Pollock’s Toy Museum and Arnott. This collaboration enabled detailed historical research into the museum’s archive. The text can be read as a moral play, where good overcomes evil, or as a post-modern reference to pirates in a modern context, video piracy, radio piracy, the reality of present day Somali pirates. The animation was produced using scans of the original artwork held in the museum’s archive.