Welcome to the website of the Virtual Dylan Thomas Project

Dylan Thomas - Brought Back To Life... On the Anniversary of his Death

In an ambitious project that draws upon hundreds of photographs of the poet, his death mask, and a voice recording made shortly before his death, a team of animators in Swansea has created a talking Virtual Dylan Thomas, using high-end 3D computer graphics technology.

On the 9th November 2005, Dylan Thomas re-created in 3D virtual reality
read again his poem, 'Do not go gentle into that good night'
to a sell-out audience at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea.

Bernard Mitchell and iCreate Ltd were proud to announce the world Premier of ‘A Virtual Dylan',
a 3D photo-realistic performance of Dylan Thomas reading again his poem.

This screening took place on the last night of the Dylan Thomas Festival, 9th November 2005,
5:30pm at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, South Wales.

Through the medium of 3D digital computer animation we have brought back to life Dylan in a strikingly vivid way that has never been seen before. No Moving pictures are known to survive, so this is the closest we have to seeing Dylan Thomas read his own poetry. We hope that this televisual image will help make Dylan's poetry more accessible to a new generation of poetry lovers.

The virtual head has been recreated by the team of animators at iCreate Ltd in Technium, Swansea, using photographs, a 3D scan of his death mask, and voice recordings made in New York in 1952.

“Today we are at the beginning of a new era of 3D computer imaging and animation. It is our ambition to build in Swansea a centre of international excellence, in the high growth virtual reality industry".

Click here to join our newsletter mailing list

Send an email to info@virtualdylanthomas.com to apply for a place at this limited capacity event.

Background

For those who would like to read more about the background of creating Virtual Dylan, click here to read extracts from Bernard Mitchell's report on the research towards his Masters Degree at the Swansea School of Art and Design, at Swansea Institute of Higher Education.