Tapestries have been used by royal courts for thousands of years to depict important events in the lives of the citizenry. Today, the tapestries are mostly museum pieces, but a creative team in England discovered a new and improved use for the textile storyboard.
BBC Creative, the broadcaster’s in-house agency, painstakingly created a film that included over 600 unique embroidered frames: a feat never before attempted at this scale.
The film promotes FIFA World Cup in Russia and features a special arrangement of Russian folk song, “Oche Chernye,” recorded at Abbey Road by Sir John Tomlinson.
To complement the film, BBC’s team made a 7-meter long tapestry depicting World Cup moments. Following the competition, the tapestry will be updated to reflect the sporting record.
According to The Drum, more than 227,000 meters of thread was used to create the spot, which was directed by Nicos Livesey.
Edward Usher, one of the makers, explained the huge amount of work that went into the components of the campaign is all part of the ethos and remit BBC Creative. “There’s a lot of people that trust the creative and the creative directors here to create something that’s completely unique and new that will put us on the map.”
BBC Creative launched in January 2016.
