The final film runs for 12 minutes and has been watched by thousands of visitors online and at the Hurrah for Shippam’s! exhibition hosted at the Novium Museum in Chichester, West Sussex. It complements the exhibition beautifully and has attracted a great deal of interest. Visitors have been eager to share it with their friends and family, and some have even inquired about purchasing it on DVD.
Shippam’s of Chichester
The Novium Museum
The Novium Museum in Chichester launched Hurrah for Shippam’s, an exhibition celebrating the extraordinary story of the Shippam’s company.
The exhibition aimed to explore not only Shippam’s iconic products and pioneering advertising but also the people and community behind the brand. As part of the exhibition, we were tasked with creating a 12-minute documentary film. The aim of the film was to complement the displays by capturing personal memories and reflections from the Shippam family, former employees, and local residents.
How we helped
From planning, to filming and editing, our role spanned all areas of production.
We organised the filming locations, balancing the desired visual style with accessibility for our contributors, captured interviews, atmospheric shots and drone footage to situate the story within Chichester. We also attended a Shippam’s reunion, organised by one of our interviewees - Christopher Butler. It was a great opportunity to capture former employees reminiscing and reliving shared moments. The footage from the event made for a powerful and fitting way to close the film.
This was a truly collaborative project with The Novium Museum, made possible through funding from Arts Council England. We worked closely with the museum’s curatorial team, volunteers, and local partners, drawing on a wealth of research and oral history interviews already gathered through the project.
Using animation to bring the Shippam’s story to life
We used elements of branding from throughout Shippams’ history within the animated sections, from larger full-screen shots to the lower-thirds shown during interviews.
The most prominent animated pieces were the family tree, where we transformed an aged document into a branded, clear family tree. Animation was used again in the end credits, where we repurposed already existing animated mascots from old Shippam’s adverts.
Old photos were also taken and separated into planes, which allowed us to create an immersive 2.5D effect, bringing a sense of motion and life into still images. The animations enhanced the storytelling by bringing the visuals to life in a vivid and engaging way.
The Impact
50k
Over 50,000 in-person visitors
Millstream captured the voices and perfectly brought it all together.
Rachel Ng
Exhibition and Collections Officer
