The Brief.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945, IWM North commissioned The Roads We Walked, a 22-screen installation featuring poetry by Young Identity. The work weaves spoken word, immersive soundscapes, and archival imagery into a single spatial experience.
Our Role.
We designed and animated the title card, end credits, and a series of archival collage inserts. The system ensured a unified audience experience across the scale and complexity of the multi-screen environment.
An Archival Title Card.
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We designed a sequence that felt both public and personal, using typography and motion that mirrored the rhythmic flow of the Young Identity poets. This established a strong visual anchor, grounding the audience in the intersection of history and art from the first frame.
The Panoramic Collages.
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A suite of modular collage inserts for the 22-screen edit.
Modular Design
These were engineered so that the editor could pull different sections for each of the 22 screens.
Visual Continuity
Any isolated portion functioned as a standalone design; however, when viewed together, they formed a seamless, non-repeating tapestry of the 1945 Congress.
Aesthetic Layering
By treating archival photos with a contemporary collage style, we allowed the history to feel "active" and urgent, matching the energy of the spoken word performance.
The Challenge.
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The system needed to allow different sections of the visual narrative to be pulled for display across all 22 screens. The archival collages were designed to feel expansive and continuous, maintaining visual coherence regardless of where they were cut.
This selection of eleven screenshots shows how the client selected and cropped one of the panoramic collages for the installation, integrating it with the film footage.
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End Credits.
The end credits were designed as a continuation of the film’s artistic language. By maintaining the same collage textures and aesthetic for the end, we built a stronger, more unified visual identity. This ensured the transition from the immersive poetic experience back to the museum environment felt intentional and visually consistent.
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Credits.
Credits.
Film by Soup Collective
Sound Design and Composition: AFRODEUTSCHE
3D Animation & VFX: Isa Alsaba
3D Animation and Post-Production: Max Thompson
Editor & Post-Production: Farah Khalil
Motion Graphics: Jayden Crooks, Virgini Studio
Portraiture: Alina Akbar
Title design: Virgini Studio
Director of Photography: Percy Dean
Camera Operators: Rajratna (Raj) Gajhans, Rebeca Rodriguez
Sound Recordist: Morgan Wetherill, Rory Gordziejko
Sound assist: Syd Bailey
Camera Assist: Manish Wadhwani
Sound Mix: Rory Gordziejko
Producer/Director: Mark Thomas
Sound Design and Composition: AFRODEUTSCHE
3D Animation & VFX: Isa Alsaba
3D Animation and Post-Production: Max Thompson
Editor & Post-Production: Farah Khalil
Motion Graphics: Jayden Crooks, Virgini Studio
Portraiture: Alina Akbar
Title design: Virgini Studio
Director of Photography: Percy Dean
Camera Operators: Rajratna (Raj) Gajhans, Rebeca Rodriguez
Sound Recordist: Morgan Wetherill, Rory Gordziejko
Sound assist: Syd Bailey
Camera Assist: Manish Wadhwani
Sound Mix: Rory Gordziejko
Producer/Director: Mark Thomas