Secrets of The 39 Steps: Part 2

Continuing on with our secrets series, in this post we will reveal our approach to character stories in The Thirty Nine Steps; something we call Recalls.

Part 2: Recalls

For those of you who have been following closely, you may already know that in our digital adaptations we don’t explicitly show characters – instead allowing the fusion of words and location art / audio to bring the story to life. However, there are moments where we break our own rules…

Occasionally, Richard Hannay, Franklin P. Scudder and a few other characters in the story embark on self-contained stories about themselves – digging into past events, which might be true, semi-true or just plain made-up. We feel these moments are actually projections from the characters’ minds – not necessarily the reader’s – and as such, we thought it would be right (and fun!) to depict these in a way that reflects the media of the time (ie 1914).

So, for The Thirty Nine Steps, we decided that we would use an early stop-frame animation approach. Stylistically, this also allows us to match the tone of the book, which never quite takes itself seriously – never being afraid of using a touch of humour to keep reader interest and the pace going.

With the help of the incredible Silje Eirin Aure, we created – out of card, pen and ink – sets, characters and objects that we then took to bring alive (huge thanks to the very talented Thomas Pollock!). We also commissioned original silent film music from Duncan Hendy, which sounds amazing, and really helps to make these interludes shine.

If you think these images look great, we can’t wait for you to see them in their full animated glory! We’ll get a snippet of the soundtrack up on our Soundcloud soon and let you know when that’s there – and we might even share a snippet of one of YouTube.

Thanks, as ever, for your support – and keep spreading the word! A mere 6 weeks until you can get your hands on a copy…

Author: Simon Meek