The Battle of Britain

A Feature Length Animation Production

MAGICPIX LTDpresents

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”

William Shakespeare

Winston Churchill described the international corps of airmen who during the Battle of Britain served

alongside the Brits to save the world from domination by Hitler as “The Few”.

Less than 100 of these heroes are alive today.

This feature length animation production is inspired by their story…

Germany rules Europe from Poland to France.

To force Britain to begin peace negotiations, on July 16, 1940 Hitler prepares to invade Britain by air, but…

Churchill, determined to fight to the death declares: “...the Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”

Could twelve (12) of Britain’s “Few” - the ‘Sky Heroes’ - win air superiority over the Luftwaffe?

Could this motley crew of ‘farmers’ with untested planes and rusty flying skills defend Britain against the onslaught of the German

‘Blitz’?

Victory was far from certain…

Setting the Scene…

Into the darkest hour of world history comes the ‘Sky Heroes’; who create a piece of military aviation history

filled with blood, guts, love, impossibly dangerous missions, the irrepressible humour of the Brits; and those moments which in the 75 years since the Battle of Britain was fought continue to remind us of the horror of war and

beauty of the human spirit.

Enter the ‘Sky Heroes’...

12 of the ‘Few’ and one trainee airwoman are crop-dusting because the War has not yet reached Britain’s doorstep. After a call from Churchill,

Charles the squadron leader tells the ‘Sky Heroes’ that the hour has come, Luftwaffe are coming.

Hours later hundreds of Londoners on their usual evening commute witness the horizon over London Bridge darkened by what looks like a swarm of bees and the defending sound of air raid sirens. Soon the bombs start raining from the sky, terror erupts and Germany’s invasion air assault

on Britain begins.

The reaction of the ‘Sky Heroes’ to the news of their recall to active duty is a mixture of excitement, trepidation, joy, dread, feigned

bravado, zeal and foreboding.

None of them is prepared for the roll-a-coaster ride of events and emotions that the next 24 hours would bring

…except of course, the spies.

The Plot…

The Cast …

The Spitfires

Charles a. k. a ‘The Boss’: Squadron leader and instructor; has great knowledge and experience; and is like a father figure to most of the crew.

Arthur a.k.a ‘The King’:Despite of his very working class background and upbringing he thinks of himself as a king and demands to be treated like one.

George a.k.a ‘The Rabbit’: can find a needle in a hay stack; a great tactician and strategist; loves all kinds of sports; a practical joker; great at card games; loves birds.

The Planes…

Locksley a.k.a ‘Paddington’:Typical Brit from East London; tends to brood over situations, somewhat indecisive; loves the bookies; not convinced that Churchill knows what he’s doing.

Harry: a.k.a ‘Outlaw’: University student but has no interest in academics; trouble-maker; loves to party; hates taking orders, prone to panic; tries to do things his way but his best but his best efforts never seem to come out right; hooked on ‘star-fuel’.

Cleutus: a.k.a‘Bulldog’: Big, powerful heavy-set American ; has a heavy Southern accent, ace flyier; knows no fear.

Dwayne: a.k.a ‘Ice’: Cool under pressure; never panics, superior flying and tactical skills; cocky to the point of being slightly annoying but means well; deathly afraid of cats.

The Planes (2)…

The Hurricanes

Polinski – Codename ‘Duke’

Polinski a.k.a ‘Duke’: a man of very few words, respectful and polite, highly skilled and knowledgeable.

Edward a.k.a ‘Expedite’: Does everything fast; speaks with a lisp; cannot; is very picky and likes everything in its place; somewhat effeminate but likes the ladies.

Jacques a.k.a ‘Swallow’: speaks with a heavy French accent; gets stomach pains and butterflies when he’s about to fly; always thinks he’s right and knows best; a bit of a chauvinist; pretends to agree with the Charles but secretly disagrees with just about everything.

Joey a.k.a ‘Shark’: easy, very-laid back, takes life as it comes, often slow to react which sometimes but the squadron in difficulties; always smiling.

The Planes…

Razor

This plane is special.

Always arrives in the knick of time, anticipates danger, skilled and adventurous but with great sense of responsibility.

Unquestionable loyalty to the other planes.

Often goes on solo flights into goes enemy territory.

Viewed by the other planes as their ‘Guardian Angel’.

The Plane…

The P-40 Kitty Hawkes

William a. k. a ‘Niesche’: Great cook; articulate; a born leader; plans to study Law after the war; loves cricket; has grand ambitious of being a politician.

The Plane…

Ryleigh a. k. a ‘Arrow’: Great technical skills despite her lack of flying practice; hates war but thinks that Churchill is doing the right thing; wishes the war would be over so she can pursue her dream to be a famous singer; unfortunately she is tone-deaf and cannot carry a note; still she tries.

The Plane…

The FW – 190s

Wolfgang a.k.a ‘Smettelin’: over-bearing, rude and contemptuous; rough talking; is bad news and has the wiles of a snake.

Otto a.k.a ‘Dolfo’: sharp-tongued, the first to make fun at the British fighters, tries to mock them by attempting to speak English with a heavy German accent.

Ziegel a.k.a ‘Petite Rouge’: Seems not to know his own mind; slavishly follows what Wolfgang and Otto tell him to do because he is does not want to upset them.

The Planes…

The BF-109s

Staggel a.k.a. ‘Kampfflieger’: Likes the bookies, full of bravado, lacks discipline, speaks his mind and is usually wrong when he does.

Willi a.k.a ‘Pritzl’: Is a Count and nauseatingly polite, very compeitive and hates to be out-manoeuvred by Staggel; he believes in the airman’s code and tries to follow it whenever he takes to the skies.

Krieger a.k.a ‘Compel’: Control – freak, goes nuts when things don’t go according to his plan; dances to his own tune; basically does what he likes when he likes and how he likes.

The Planes…

The JU- STUKKA

Fritz a.k.a ‘Der Fuchs’ & Ernest a.k.a ‘ Der Mosquito’:

These two dive bombers are always together; they always have their own game plan; hate following instructions; are secretly jealous of the German fighter planes because they are too big to fly like the fighters so they make fun of them and are always passing snide comments.

The Planes…

Bringing the Story to Life… the magic of animation

The Animation Process

The Animation Production Flow-Chart

MAGICPIX, a UK company is owned by former pilot and illustrator Peter Stevens.

It was created to make history more accessible to all through the power and wonder of animation.

The Battle of Britain is the first of a series of storyboards under development by the company which includes the original re-telling of the following well-known tales:

Cleopatra - Based the famous Egyptian Queen but retold using wit and satire; and set to the beat of a modern 21 century score.

Tom’s Attic – An eight year old boy collects toys and when the moon shines through his bedroom window his toys come to life and the adventures begin.

The 3 Musketeers: A modern version of this classic tale, where the horses are smarter then the Royal Guard of King Arthur.

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About the Company…

To bring this animated feature to a world-wide audience will cost 70 million British pounds broken

down as follows:

• Start costs 5M • Development: 10M • Pre- Production: 20M • Shot Production:30M • Post-Production: 5M

The Investment Opportunity…

In the last decade animated feature films have been the highest grossing films at the box office e.g. Toy Story, Lion King, Adventures of Sinbad.

Today the skill set to draw from is huge with an exponential rise in professional animators, illustrators, sculptors, modellers and 3-D software programmers.

So the success of animated movies is no longer dependent on the availability of craftsmen but on the strength of the story and more importantly the timing of its release.

The Battle of Britain is a classic wartime tale in which the forces of good overcome evil and is timed to be released on Christmas Day 2015 to coincide with the 75th Anniversary of the biggest aerial dog fight of World War II.

The Return on Investment…

Recent Box Office Receipts…

Toy Story (1995) US30M (Budget) US361,948,825M (Box Office )

The Lion King (1994) US79.3M (Budget) US 925,880,140M (Box Office)

Aladdin (1992) US 28M (Budget) US 504,050,219M (Box Office)

Chicken Little (2005) US 60M (Budget) US 319,439,938 (Box Office)

Frozen (2013) US 150M (Budget) US 1.169B (Box Office)

Projected Production Timeline…

End of Development

2013 2015

October

2014

Christmas Day Release

End of Post-Production

End of Shot Production

End of Pre-production

March

Start of Shot Production

December

August

“Send every pump you’ve got, the whole bloody world is on fire”

A London Fire Brigade officer in the Surrey Docks during the Battle of Britain.

The End.