Neverland Filming

Culture Creative / Novak Studios 2024

The Brief

For Blenheim Palace’s immersive indoor Neverland Experience, designed by Culture Creative, we were asked to work with Novak Studio (who were producing the digital aspects of the experience) to cast and direct a series of live-action and audio performance sequences. Specifically they wanted a projected flying fight scene between Peter Pan and Captain Hook, designed to appear on the sail of a full-scale wooden galleon built inside the Long Gallery.

What We Did

Working with movement director Rachel Fulliger, we carried out a feasibility study to explore how Peter Pan could convincingly fly in a live-action sequence. We developed a solution using green-screen filming and an acrobatic base performer rather than harnesses, creating a smooth, dance-like choreography that translated beautifully into shadow and projection on the ship’s sail. We cast and directed the performers for all filmed and recorded scenes, including moving portraits of the Darling children and a playful Lost Boys sequence shot on a green-screen set built at our Driffield base in which local children  portrayed a rowdy group of Lost Boys, filmed to appear inside a fabricated tree stump within the gallery!

The Result

The filmed sequences were successfully integrated into the Neverland Experience in 2024, adding dynamic live-action storytelling to the digital environment. The flying duel provided a ‘wow’ moment which was enhanced by audiences then meeting our real life Captain Hook and the Lost Boys scene was a charming encounter which gave audiences the feeling of peering down into their hidden home!