Pudding Lane Productions, Crytek Off The Map

We are six students from De Montfort University taking part in the Crytek Off the Map project, building a 3D representation of 17th century London before The Great Fire.
For more information on our whole project, including concepts and processes please visit our team blog;
puddinglanedmug...
*the team does not claim ownership to the music used in this video, all credit goes the the composer Hans Zimmer, 'Leave No Man Behind'. Copyrighted.

[@alinaknox5773]

I still come back to watch this once a year or so. True art.

[@MaysLilStar]

This is incredible. I've got tears in my eyes, I want to see this for real so badly. What I wouldn't give for a time machine. Til then, I'll definitely watch this video more than once. Amazing, in every way. To say 'well done' would never be enough.

[@lisaanderson2900]

I wondered if I might be the only one in tears. I'm a family tree researcher with ancestry in this time period and I'm just so excited to see something like this!

[@peterkratoska4524]

@@lisaanderson2900 Out of curiousity, how easy is it to research English ancestors, my wife has a lot of Scottish ancestry as well as English and others but I find the Scottish records easier using ScotlandsPeople website as well as Ancestry etc. I found this by accident, it is fascinating and well done.

[@lisaanderson2900]

@@peterkratoska4524 Fortunately a lot of my English research had been done for me because my ancestor was notorious. I hate to sound like a commercial, but Ancestry .com has been amazing for research. It's expensive, I'm peeking into my sister's account to do my work. But you give them a name, a date, a place where they were born and they find a record for you that might match. Then they give you a "hint" and you follow those hints and not only do you find more info but they patch it right into your tree. I've been doing my research for over 30 years and this is the easiest it's ever been for me. I would say just gather as much information on her family as she has. You start with one guy, you match him up with a wife, you add parents. Eventually if you have to follow them back to England, you may have to rely on other family trees for hints, look for ship records/immigration, burial records from England. I hope that helps.

[@peterkratoska4524]

@@lisaanderson2900 Thanks Lisa, I have been using the Ancestry off and on, and note they keep adding stuff which is great. I just didn't find the marriage and birth death records as detailed for English searches. I will have another look thanks, P

[@lisaanderson2900]

@@peterkratoska4524 When you're doing a search, it will ask you what collection. I usually have it set to "all" but a couple of times I have set it to England and it narrowed down my searches pretty well.

[@nigelwootton421]

A group of students at De Montfort University have lovingly created a 3D representation of what London looked like in the 17th century before the Great Fire of London leveled the city. The result is a haunting yet beautiful journey through a time long past. Many of the buildings are their own estimations and creations, but they followed the original street layouts from old maps for accuracy including using the real names of actual places that once existed.

[@diannepatti1173]

One of my all-time favorite videos this is! Long Live Pudding Lane Productions. Great work, guys. And, yes, a longer version with slower pans would be so great.

[@surefmeurope5766]

A longer version..as in 200 year version would be even better

[@narimandubash8869]

This is truly impressive and gives one a real idea of how living in the 17th Century would have felt. What's remarkable really is how one can still find remnants of Elizabethan architecture in our towns and villages today. Dartmouth, in south Devon, still has buildings which were clearly of this design. Fascinating.

[@annieridesagain3867]

I know the amount of work that had to be put into this, as my son spent 4 years at uni doing these team effort projects . He was the coder in the group.

[@EnglishHeritage]

This is really impressive. Well done!

[@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwyxz102]

wait is it really you omg

[@blulw]

@@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwyxz102 this was seven years ago they probably didn't have many subs then

[@ice-b5b]

I've been learning about the Great fire of London in my history

[@KSUgrad79]

I have a 10th great grandfather whose world this iteration of London was. He left that city aboard a ship called the “Charitie” in 1622 and set off for what was no doubt a great unknown for him as an indentured servant to a man named Luke Boyle. He arrived in Virginia and by sheer fortitude, survived his seven year indenture laboring on a Virginia tobacco plantation. This was London as he knew it. Virginia when he arrived there was just wild backwater frontier, and the sheer audacity of leaving everything and everyone you know behind like that may as well have been like going to the moon for all he knew. A strange, wild new land with few people and not very friendly Native Americans on top of it must have been quite a scary thing to do as a 22 year old Londoner. His survival attests to his sheer strength of will to escape grinding poverty and few opportunities for someone of his low social standing. This video is completely haunting and fascinating to me because it’s like entering a time capsule back to his world and what he saw around him before his decision to emigrate to America. I never tire of watching it, but it’s far too short for my liking! I’ve probably watched it dozens of times by now.

[@michelleeasterly1985]

Just found this..it really is stunning..for anyone who wants a glimpse of the way back.. Just so well done..glad they were rewarded..do more..really creates a different feeling . We need more villages like this where we could really go and live and experience that way of life. It would help slow us all down..

[@Insanalyst]

Context is everything. This music is from Blackhawk Down

[@diosmio1000]

Fable comes to mind when looking at 17th century London. Amazing though I wish I would have had the chance to walk around.

[@samalldridge]

For all the people asking, the music is "Leave No Man Behind" composed by Hans Zimmer for the movie Black Hawk Down

[@ValeriePallaoro]

I slowed it down to 0.5 speed in settings to have a longer view; the music is now very soulful - creepy walkthrough; Wow!!

[@bungalowdweller]

This is s-o beautiful! These are hard times all over the world and just seeing early London reinforces that living in ANY time can be difficult and not all that comfortable. Outstanding effort! Congrats to all students involved in this project!

[@JaneESeymour]

Awesome & crazy brilliant research tool for all actors studying up on Tudor England for a role.

[@ryanfrederick3376]

Really wish you would've indicated the locations of each "stop" along the way...

[@brandyboy65]

Excellent video. Very atmospheric. Why so many thumbs down. Strange folk.

[@dlanfear]

The potential of this sort of modeling to teach history is amazing! Wouldn't it be interesting to have several periods of history available as overlays on current sites. They could be viewed through some sort of glasses or goggles and we could see the progression of development, undevelopment (dark ages) or the effects of war. This could be as close to time travel as we could get, for now.

[@ravells]

Brilliant work! Superbly done! Even saw a glimpse of the 'Sun Inn'. Great attention to detail.

[@peterspierenburg7712]

As a "Londonist" I have read a great deal about London and British history and saw a fair deal of documntaries. This supports in a terrific way my imagination as London looked before the Great Fire.

[@Sorme1001]

Absolute genius, you've succeeded in capturing the imagination of thousands ..to wander those streets, see the sights, feel the times. I doff my hat to all involved, you've excelled yourselves.

[@jamietwyman2948]

Moving, accurate and compelling. A small piece of animated history! Only wished this was longer and showed more of the city. Hats off to you guys. This should be played at the Museum of London if not already

[@simonshreeve5580]

This is magnificent. It is almost like waving goodbye to Medieval London. I say that because about 75% of the houses that were burned down in 1666 goes back to Medieval times.

[@jez6208]

I love this. Been looking for something like this for so many years. Thank you.

[@carriemills3053]

Thank you for this. It is amazing to me that I have now SEEN as close a representation as I am ever likely to see of 17th century London. You've created the gift of time travel. The music is perfect.

[@joedempsey8602]

Thank you David, the team are all very proud of it and are currently awaiting the Crytek Off The Map competition results at Nottingham Game City in two weeks time.

[@cindybronski6950]

This NEEDS to be a video game! I want to live in this world for longer than a few minutes - congrats!

[@RhysChloeLady]

play skyrim!

[@michaelyoung8864]

Hugely impressive! Conveys a real sense of life in a city back then. Many congratulations to you all,

[@odfhs]

It's a fantastic visualisation; somehow the constant movement gives you a sense that something would always have been happening in such a busy city. (Especially liked the tiny details, like the lights behind the windows, too.)

[@jezmiller]

This is stunning. It could have been four, five, six times as long as still held my interest throughout. My only criticism is that you raced through it too fast. I kept wanting to yell, "Wait, slow down, I haven't seen that part properly yet!". The detail and realism are amazing

[@giovannirozada375]

Wow

[@helenkiljoy7775]

if you click on the gear below the screen you can choose a speed...and slow the vid down

[@MissPernickety]

I totally agree

[@CMichaelEH]

So much work put into this but you can't appreciate any of the detail!

[@RobBritt12]

Like traveling back in time. amazing. Kudos!

[@joedempsey8602]

Thank you very much Levi. And you're right there, there are many powerful programs out there already but an artists judgement is the key! Thanks again.

[@Northlanee]

Hey thanks, so the places in the video are built directly from a 17th century map on London, the main streets featured are Thames Street, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane and Botolph Lane (I think). Some of these streets don't exist anymore obviously.

[@artofjonah]

Good luck in the contest! As a first year who's just finished modelling a bin, that was pretty damn inspiring. Really nice work.

[@colinoxley2754]

What a fantastic way to teach History to our children.

[@LaJewel]

Excellent work - really gave me a sense of how some of my ancestors lived in that time.

[@JuanMatiasAlvarado-1995]

London had a very medieval look for the 17th century, just as I loved it as it was.

[@oc2phish07]

Very clever from the original concept right through to the implementation. Good choice of atmospheric music. The fly-through has really brought Olde London to life for me. I would love to something like this, and even bigger, as part of an online virtual, interactive world.Congratulations to all at Pudding Lane Productions.

[@softladification]

For anyone finding the journey a bit too speedy, click on the cog icon directly below the video (bottom right corner) and then select a much slower playback speed.

[@rjkellie]

This is beautiful. You should make the map available for XBOX so it can be sold so that people can walk around old London. Even better would be to tie it into GPS and link it to Google maps as a special street view. That way tourists and citizens alike can use it to view the corner they are standing in the present can see what it would look likein the 17th century. This is what would happen. Stand with your phone and hold it out in fromt of you and it would display the scene around you as it was back then. turning around holding the phone out would give you a 360 degree view. FANTASTIC!

[@marchellabrahams]

This was exquisite. I have a passion for mediæval London. A resounding thank you to all.

[@trog69]

This looks great! As a retiree who is also a PC gaming fanatic, I love to stop and look at all the beauty surrounding me. And this is the kind of walk-about I'd definitely take advantage. I liked how you included the not-so-nice portions of life in that era; dead and dying, the ubiquitous flies and other pests around foods sitting out. Wonderful. It would have been nice to see all the people, but I know that would be a bit too graphics-intensive for those without powerful GPUs. Still a great job all around.

[@thebilesan]

The music is the thing that matters, not the instruments... and the choice of the music is great!

[@digitalbroadcaster]

You can't beat a good 'fly-through' video. It certainly impressed me.

[@jolynnehoward4907]

Very impressive remarkable Crytek Off the Map project with touching beautiful music. Super video!

[@dslartoo]

Excellent work, all of you! This is first rate and really succeeds at bringing the time period, and the city, to life. Great job!

[@gaystereotype]

Really superb. I also appreciate the inclusion of the still shots at the beginning, unlike another commenter. Sets up the thrill of the 3D perfectly.

[@andrian007]

Absolutely fantastic and very well done. Congratulations to Pudding Lane Productions and everyone else who took part!

[@simonshreeve4480]

That is a good view of London between in the first 65 years of the seventeenth century. 2 years before the great Fire of London in 1666 nearly half the houses that got burned down must have been about 300 years old. half the houses that got burned down This means that half the houses that got burned down were there before Dick Whittington came to London. That is why the fire spread so quicky.

[@bardteacher]

I'd love to use this as I introduce London life in my Shakespeare classes. Thank you for posting it!

[@mr.b.w.3146]

What a great representation of what was.....would love to go back and see it for real!

[@LilithsOwn303]

I loved the beautiful streets with market tents and shops, the entrance gate etc... but I miss the people, I had hoped we would see some virtual people in clothing of the times. ... Ah well, maybe a good challenge for the makers to make some more of these clips. Loved it!

[@raystaar]

That was breathtaking...spectacular...inspired...inspiring. Thank you. Wow!

[@rebeccatwyman6465]

I've lost count the amount of times I've watched this - so much detail, really gives a glimpse of how London would have looked! Camera sweeps are a bit too fast but a stunning piece of work!

[@mayshampoo]

This is amazing! You can be really proud of yourselves. Congratulations for this wonderful job.

[@SharonJackson13]

Fabulous. A group of us was trying to do something like this in the early 90's but the technology was not there yet. You have fulfilled my dream!

[@sbtvbroughton6127]

Extremely impressive. I have just used this as part of my topic based on the novel 'Treason' by Berlie Doherty. It lends itself beautifully to the task of drawing and setting writing based on the description in chapter 3.

[@Khannea]

It's strange but there is something extremely familiar about this to me.

[@confirmjannati]

Same

[@Jane-gs6ox]

I totally agree about it being too fast - I would have liked to 'linger and look around'. Also since you based it on real streets, it would have added interest to know where we were. But well done - it was really great.

[@kevinlikethevideooflynnfer9597]

Amazed with Pudding Lane I guess there’s no sun that shon on the narrow lane

[@simonshreeve5580]

At the point 2:06 this confirms my theory that more than half of the houses inside the City Walls of London were 300 to 340 years old. I can tell that they had a fish drawing to showing that the shop was a fishmongers just like it was done in the fourteenth cenrury.

[@zephyr755]

At 2:08, there's a street name on the house wall, just right of the white shield: "Fish St. Hill", site of today's Monument commemorating the Great Fire.

[@evilscary]

Former DMU alum here, keep up the good work!

[@RonRicho]

Great work. I can't imagine why 97 people gave it a "thumbs down."

[@malcolmgeoffreyemblng5766]

Great work Joe and colleagues. I was a student At DMU ( when it was Leicester Poly) Class of 1973 ! No drawing boards these days eh.....? !

[@sergiosenpai]

Too fast camera movements! I tried to immerse myself but I could not contemplate it.

[@Brisgirl23]

SenpaiMc If you go into settings at the bottom right of the video, you can change it to a slower speed. Just turn the soundtrack to mute.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

I love that you problem solved for this. Wonderful of you.

[@thatreputationswiftie]

Impressive!I have to say the walk through felt real!

[@georgenash9086]

This is brilliant work, so well done. And a great idea using Strawberry Fair in a minor key as accompaniment. Super job !!

[@SigrunDesign]

This video blows my mind. I can watch it over and over. What a fantastic production. I´d watch entire movies by you guys!!

[@joedempsey8602]

We are Game Art and Design students not programmers or technicians so our job in the industry would be to work solely on the visuals hence why this was a primarily visual project.

[@julianna5186]

Many thanks for this video! :) I love it!

[@eileenphelps204]

Wonderful. Our family thinks we trace back to a John Taylor, baker, from St. Lawrence Pountney parish. His son crossed the pond to Virginia in 1635, as nearly as we can deduce. I'll be telling all the cousins to watch this!

[@Ledsageren]

Mange takk for at jeg fikk se!

[@Saharacoach]

Congrats DMU Alum. I attended the Law School.

[@imperiallover]

Definitely helped! It's 'Leave No Man Behind' by the incomparable Hans Zimmer from 'Black Hawk Down'.

[@jonthego]

A fascinating architectural tour of 17th century London. Well done.

[@Rick88888888]

Very nice, well done! The only comments I have are that the many parts that are in the shade are very (too) dark and the motions much too fast. At half speed it is much better. You might want to add CC captions with the street names and an explanation about how historically accurate it is what we see and thus not largely fantasy.

[@annelisegoodsir1566]

This is extraordinary and brilliant. Congratulations to you all. It really is exceptional, thank you !

[@lynnc8139]

AS a hobby history nut, I love this - it is a great teaching tool.

[@lesleysilvester2056]

Absolutely wonderful and I really had a feel for the time and place. I would have liked to have lingered and peeked in some of the windows to see who was in there and what they were doing. Well done.

[@jannabanna666]

Congratulations - excellent work!

[@debbiefox1847]

Hi, I am writing about the effectiveness of this as teaching tool at the moment. I thought you would like to know that every teacher who has seen it, has fallen in love with it. Thank you, it is beautiful.

[@bethjohnson9766]

Phenominal work, but yes, I'd have loved to see the 'fly-by' move more slowly.

[@jannekfokus2160]

Watch it in 0,75

[@hookbeak3516]

I felt as though I was wearing a VR visor for a 1666 experience, very impressive.

[@bandhyper2207]

Crytek is the creators of the game warface and so very nicely done

[@srebecca3571]

This is absolutely incredible. The detail and the beauty...and the accompanying music is perfect. Very well done, a phenomenal job.

[@tinnevoeten6552]

Fantastic work!!! Thank you for sharing this! I show it to my students when they are learning about the history of London. :)

[@Davewhiteav8r]

Just stunning! A beautiful and well-executed journey through long-ago London. I do agree that some method of indicating the location of each video segment would be great. In addition, the playback is far too rapid to fully appreciate your incredible work. I slowed it down by half and could really enjoy the detail and accuracy of your work. Well done indeed!

[@StefanosStavropoulos]

Fantastic presentation great work guys! I was visiting some friends at York and Durham two years ago and this is exactly what it was like at some neighborhoods there. Amazing!

[@pascalclement1204]

Magnifique reconstitution. Congratulations to you !

[@williamphillipson8964]

Absolutely brilliant - Bill from Rugby

[@vintage31]

Wonderful! I could take that journey over and over. I'd love to see very long unbroken take at a much slower speed.

[@jonstevens2899]

Is this based on actual historic road layouts and infrastructure or is it just an ‘artists impression’? Interesting either way but would be fascinating if it were based on actual roads / buildings of the time. Also what would be great is if it named all the locations and also as someone else said slower pans / footage. Im fascinated with the history of london and all we really have is a few buildings left due to the great fire of london, world war 2 and gentrificarion or paintings of how it used to look. To watch these is to feel you’re actually there however it would be fantastic if it was based on architectural records of the time

[@3dsman]

Great work. My Mum's into genealogy (understatement of the century) and sent me a link to this. I liked it too. Her comment was she wished it weren't so fast moving and I tend to agree... hope they re-render at a slower camera movement pace so we can soak it in a bit more... very nice work and thanks to you for posting!!

[@lisaanderson2900]

Me too! I'm heavily into my family tree research. I'd like to meet your Mum!

[@jefforaimeewalnofer9743]

Really lovely. Nicely done. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@simonshreeve5580]

At the Point 1:16 you can see the sign Pudding Lane where the Fire of London began nearly 356 years ago. If that is the Bakery in Pudding Lane it must date back to the 1360's judging by it's architecture.

[@Ysoie]

What a magnificent gift. Thank you so very much!

[@alroulexe4996]

Wonderful and fascinating piece of work - well done!

[@rosietabitha]

This is fabulous! Definitely going to use this for a primary history lesson - the children would love it. Thanks for posting :)