Ad agency, Johnny Fearless, and Aardman Animations have created a beautiful piece of work, Flight of the Stories, to promote the First World War Centenary, the re-opening of London’s Imperial War Museum and the launch of its new First World War Galleries on July 19.

Its artistic merit is undebatable. But it’s not a work of art it’s advertising. And as advertising, perhaps it’s just too quietly spoken, too well mannered and too long to do its job. Its tagline is strong, but to get to that, you have to pay attention for 1.20 minutes.

The 90 second film shows, “the journey of personal stories and letters written by those who never left the fields of Northern France during the First World War.”  To do that, it features recordings of extracts from soldiers’ letters and diary entries, which were donated to the museum by their relatives. Each voice is also represented by a set of quotation marks, which flock like birds and fly across Northern France to reach the museum in England.

The haunting film uses a mix of CGI and 2D illustrations painted by artist, Aurelien Predal. In the making of video, director, Darren Dubicki explained, “The initial idea was to base the style and look on paintings of the First World War. What we wanted to show, in an abstract way, was a sense of the voices of the soldiers returning from the fields and making their way back to the UK.”

So where did the idea come from? “We wanted to bring people to IWM London to see and hear the words of those who lived and died through the war for themselves and encourage them to reappraise the First World War in a way, which is different to the stereotypical mud and blood imagery,” explained Paul Domenet, executive creative director, Johnny Fearless.

The film is viewable online and in UK cinemas. It is supported by a series of posters and print ads showing objects in the galleries and the stories behind them.

Creative credits:

Agency: Johnny Fearless
Executive creative director: Paul Domenet
Art director: Pia Knight
Copywriter: Paul Domenet
Agency Producer: Christian Lobo

Production Company: Aardman

Director: Darren Dubicki
Producer: Helen Argo
Post Production: Aardman/Big Buoy
Sound design: Grand Central
Sound designer: Ben Leeves
Music: Soviet Science