Client: Jorvik Viking Centre's Viking Festival, 2021 (part of York Archaeological Trust)
When the 2021 JORVIK Viking Festival was replaced by an online version – That JORVIK Viking Thing – due to the pandemic, the team was required to create a lot of pre-recorded content in a short space of time.
With the in-house videographer already working at full capacity, Inkblot was approached to work on a key part of the Thing’s programming: the Viking Saga. The saga had been identified – Refr the Sly – and the storyteller (or Skald) had written a version of the saga suitable for the family audience. The location had also been agreed – at the living history Viking village at Murton Park – with filming planned to take place at the same time as video and photo shoots.
A Big Saga
In a Small Space
Much better than we had in our heads...Inspired
“What we got back really exceeded our expectations by some way – I had expected good quality visuals and sound of a talking head, but they added in so many more details that made the videos much more engaging to watch. Each chapter was filmed from a slightly different angle, so this tiny house appeared almost like five different sets. They had captured other bits of footage from the window during the day – costumed re-enactors walking past the house, Viking children playing, even animals around the village – which gave the films a superior sense of time and place.”
All Killer, No Filler
The films were very popular with visitors to the online festival from every corner of the globe, particularly when all five chapters had been released and the whole series was available to ‘binge watch’.
"We’d expected that this would be a filler piece for the Thing, but the quality is so good that we’ve been able to use it in two of our Schools Week programmes, and we will no doubt release it again during other online festivals,” concludes Jay.
