Animation inspiration from the dark skies and folklore of the North Pennines

North east animator, Robin Webb, led workshops for families at Alston Town Hall in October 2025, using stop-motion and digital animation techniques to bring the heritage of the North Pennines to life.

Stop-motion animation is a film-making and special effects technique where objects are gradually manipulated between individually photographed frames so that, when the series of frames is played back, the objects will appear to move or change. Any kind of object – puppets with movable joints, clay figures, paper, fabrics or photographs – can be animated.

Themes of dark skies, local folklore and legends, and how they link to the mining heritage of the North Pennines were explored. The children used their inspiration from the themes to develop stories before planning a storyboard for their film, making images, modelling characters from clay, and recording sound. The stop-motion animations were created using cut-outs, painting, found objects, fabric, clay, audio, and imagination.

Robin Webb said “The children’s imaginations were sparked by the folktales and night skies of the region. They were inspired to create some strange and exciting stories, and some very diverse films, which connect to the natural and cultural heritage of the wild upland North Pennine landscape.”

The animation films created are available to watch on the North Pennines National Landscape Youtube channel, and below.

The Land of Lead and Silver project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players, and Historic England.