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StoryTrails: The People's Map

UNBOXED presents a psychogeographic map of the UK, combining audio storytelling and archive footage with cutting-edge 3D scanning technology to create a new national portrait.

Commissioned for UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK as part of the StoryTrails project, the UK's largest immersive storytelling experience, The People's Map brings to life a psychogeographic representation of 15 UK towns and cities, combining the sort of good old-fashioned storytelling you might hear on the very best radio programmes or podcasts with the latest scanning technologies and 3D models as seen in video games and mobile-augmented reality experiences.

Over 400 stories from local peope and nearly 7,000 scans were captured to create 15 animated 'spatial maps', bespoke to each location and telling stories in new and surprising ways. StoryTrails toured the UK as a pop-up event in summer 2022, visiting 15 different towns and cities.

These interactive maps have been reformatted as individual films that are now available to watch throughout the UK on BFI Player.

The Maps feature archive footage from the Regions and Nations network of public access film archives:
 
The National Library of Scotland
Northern Ireland’s Screen Digital Film Archive
North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University
Yorkshire and North East Film Archives
Media Archive for Central England at University of Lincoln
The Screen and Sound Archive, The National Library of Wales
Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Film London – London’s Screen Archives

 

Alongside them we also present some of the original archive films that were incorporated into the maps, as provided to the project by the BFI National Archive.

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StoryTrails: The People's Map NewportStoryTrails: The People's Map Newport

Documentary202212 mins Location: Newport/Casnewydd

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Newport.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map WolverhamptonStoryTrails: The People's Map Wolverhampton

Documentary202214 mins Location: Wolverhampton

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Wolverhampton.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map OmaghStoryTrails: The People's Map Omagh

Documentary202215 mins Location: Omagh

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Omagh.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map SloughStoryTrails: The People's Map Slough

Documentary202215 mins Location: Slough

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Slough.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map DundeeStoryTrails: The People's Map Dundee

Documentary202214 mins Location: Dundee

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Dundee.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map SwanseaStoryTrails: The People's Map Swansea

Documentary202215 mins Location: Swansea/Abertawe

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Swansea.

Currently unavailable

StoryTrails: The People's Map BlackpoolStoryTrails: The People's Map Blackpool

Documentary202215 mins Location: Blackpool

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Blackpool.

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HolidayHoliday

Travelogue195718 mins Location: Blackpool

The delights of 1950s Blackpool are vibrantly captured in sunny Kodachrome, in this fondly remembered travelogue from British Transport Films.

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Blackpool North Pier (1903)Blackpool North Pier (1903)

Non-Fiction19023 minsSilent Location: North Pier

Edwardian holidaymakers throng to the attractions at Lancashire's premier seaside resort.

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StoryTrails: The People's Map BradfordStoryTrails: The People's Map Bradford

Documentary202215 mins Location: Bradford

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Bradford.

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The Bradford GodfatherThe Bradford Godfather

197649 mins Location: Bradford

Meet Mohamed Fazal Hussain, elder statesman and all-round Mr Fixit of Bradford's Muslim community, and a film mogul in the making...

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A New Kind of MatchA New Kind of Match

Current affairs196726 minsSilent Location: Bradford

Current affairs programme about the Pakistani community in Bradford and the discrimination they face

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StoryTrails: The People's Map DumfriesStoryTrails: The People's Map Dumfries

Documentary202213 mins Location: Dumfries

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Dumfries.

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Dumfries Street ScenesDumfries Street Scenes

Non-Fiction19104 minsSilent Location: Dumfries

These Doonhamers of Dumfries - the 'Queen of the South' - smile for the camera in this 'local topical' film

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Loreburn School, Dumfries (c.1901)Loreburn School, Dumfries (c.1901)

Non-Fiction19011 minsSilent Location: Dumfries

Dumfries schoolchildren take their turn in the spotlight.

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StoryTrails: The People's Map LambethStoryTrails: The People's Map Lambeth

Documentary202215 mins Location: Lambeth

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Lambeth.

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We Are the Lambeth BoysWe Are the Lambeth Boys

Documentary195949 mins Location: Kennington

Karel Reisz’s honest depiction of South London teens aimed to challenge the media perception of ‘Teddy Boys’.

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South BankSouth Bank

19735 mins Location: National Theatre

Magnificent monument to the arts or architectural monstrosity? The jury's out on Britain's new National Theatre

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StoryTrails: The People's Map BristolStoryTrails: The People's Map Bristol

Documentary202216 mins Location: Bristol

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Bristol.

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Blitzed Cities of Bristol and BathBlitzed Cities of Bristol and Bath

War194235 minsSilent Location: Chew Magna

Vivid colour footage of the wartime devastation wreaked on Bristol and Bath - and the barely affected village of Chew Magna.

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Panorama of the River Avon to Portishead (1902)Panorama of the River Avon to Portishead (1902)

Non-Fiction19029 minsSilent Location: Portishead

A fine variety of views of the Avon gorge taken from various positions downstream from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

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StoryTrails: The People's Map LewishamStoryTrails: The People's Map Lewisham

Documentary202218 mins Location: Lewisham

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Lewisham.

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Lewisham's Film ReviewLewisham's Film Review

Travelogue19225 minsSilent Location: Lewisham

Journey into a lost London with this exquisitely detailed tour of the shops and street life of 1920s Lewisham.

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Joe's WayJoe's Way

Public Information Filler197513 mins Location: Rotherhithe

Road safety film, or warning of the dangers of flared trousers – you decide

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StoryTrails: The People's Map SwindonStoryTrails: The People's Map Swindon

Documentary202216 mins Location: Swindon

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Swindon.

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The Building of a Locomotive at CreweThe Building of a Locomotive at Crewe

Non-Fiction19207 minsSilent Location: Swindon

A 1920 mistitled re-release of the construction of a Great Western Railway 'Star' Class locomotive at Swindon.

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Men on the MendMen on the Mend

Documentary195612 mins Location: Swindon

Injured British Rail employees are put on the railroad to health at Swindon Works

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StoryTrails: The People's Map SheffieldStoryTrails: The People's Map Sheffield

Documentary202217 mins Location: Sheffield

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Sheffield.

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Clean Air CityClean Air City

Documentary197324 mins Location: Sheffield

Sheffield stops smoking: the story of how a polluted industrial city became the cleanest in Europe

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Tram Ride through the City of Sheffield (1902)Tram Ride through the City of Sheffield (1902)

Non-Fiction19025 minsSilent Location: Sheffield

An excellent 'phantom ride' through the heart of Edwardian Yorkshire's 'Steel City'.

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StoryTrails: The People's Map LincolnStoryTrails: The People's Map Lincoln

Documentary202213 mins Location: Lincoln

This map showcases a curated selection of audio stories and digitally animated 3D scans of the people and places in and around Lincoln.

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Employees at Robey's Works, Lincoln (1900)Employees at Robey's Works, Lincoln (1900)

Non-Fiction19002 minsSilent Location: Lincoln

Hoards of workers funnel through the great arched entrance to Robey's works in Lincoln.

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Factory Exit in Lincoln (1900)Factory Exit in Lincoln (1900)

Non-Fiction19002 minsSilent Location: Lincoln

Victorian industrial workers leave their factory after a demanding day.