The Bradfords of Kingston

Client: The Jones River Village Historical Society

In the autumn of 2019, the folks at the Jones River Village Historical Society asked us to make a film about three generations of the Bradford Family to be shown in the summer for visitors of the Major John Bradford Homestead in Kingston, Massachusetts.

2020 marked 400 years since the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower and weathered their first harsh winter in Plymouth. Our story was to begin with Willam Bradford, the first governor of the colony.

As the pandemic rolled across the country, the JRV Historical Society reluctantly closed the house. Covid-19 caused us to abandon any plans we had to interview experts on location. Our research revealed that there were no period paintings of the Bradford family nor any drawings from that time representing how they lived.

How could we create a film about the Bradfords and their community with so little to work with? Yari suggested we design and animate the characters into the real backgrounds of the historic places.

Writer and historian Suzanne Buchanan got onboard the idea and opened our eyes to 17th and 18th century lifestyles, customs, politics, and fashion. The Jones River Village Historical Society gave us access to the Bradford house and its contents. Local history buffs helped us find landscapes, waterways, and buildings that remain little changed from the Bradford family’s time.

Artist Chuck Stigliano joined our team. As fast as Suzanne was drafting the script, he was sending us stacks of pencil sketches of people, boats, dogs, chickens, woodpiles, costumes, hogs, and oxen. Babs began to bring the black and white drawings to life with the rich colors and fashion detailing of the time.

The story, the history, and the characters came together in a wonderful film introduction to the Bradford family with music performed by Seven Times Salt, narration by South Australian voice actor Day Robson, and sound design and mixing by Eric Beaudin.