Similar to the skype with Dr. John van Wyhe about Digital Darwin, this film “They Shall Not Grow Old” gave me insight and shined a light onto a subfield of STS that I had never even considered: digital projects through filmmaking and movies. Although I thought the film was very well put together and captivating through its entirety, I found the half an hour documentary after the movie to be the impressive and moving element of the film. As the director of the movie explained how the movie was slowly put together in bits and pieces, I couldn’t help but be amazed by how all the moving parts came together to create this astonishing recreation of World War I. The following are notes that I took as the director explained each part of creating his digital project:

 

  • Colorization
  • Magazine/comics/sketch’s

Subconscious propaganda within

  • Use of BBC audio tapes
  • Being as authentic as possible throughout the building of the film
  • 600 hours of audio
  • 100 hours of video
    Cameraman can’t capture actual fighting

    • So cleverly used sketches from WWI magazine
  • Had to think Morally and technically
  • Static videos became moving shots
  • Took photos of landscape in belgium
  • Created their own sounds (sloshing, cannon shots, rifles)
  • Microphones around new zealand real bomb shells
  • Forensic lip readers
  • Went into archives, June 30th- pep talk
  • Music track… instrumental music
  • Critics music: Mademoiselle from Armentieres
  • British embassy
  • There were many parts to WWI and had to focus on a specific element
    • Also had planes, nurses, home front, navy
  • Dedicated to god father and great uncle who served in WWI
  • Asked us at the end to look within your own family/lineage to see if your parents were in the world war

 

If I was surprised by how much effort was made into Darwin Online, I was really impressed and shocked by the dedication and thought put into this movie. Never did I expect so much audio footage and video footage to have to be scavenged, own sound effects, or even forensic lip readers. A highlight that the director mentioned was how the production team was able to find (almost 100% sure) the exact letter one of the sargents was reading to their troops in a famous scene before the World War I. The fact that they went through archives and found a specific date that would’ve made sense and aligned the lip movements to the archived letter was just wild to me. Whether this was extreme luck or mastery of filmmaking, this was a feat that put me in awe.

Overall, without the short film at the end of the movie, I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate all the hard work and effort put into this movie. I just wouldn’t have known. From the moving shots of static images to actually travelling to Belgium in order to capture the genuinity of the landscape to the clever use of sketches, the movie had so many elements that were so well integrated into the movie. As the audience, I never had to question the authenticity of the movie nor did I stop to think about it. And the singing at the end from the British embassy…a scene I would’ve never expected. If there’s anything I definitely gained through this moving film, I have truly found an appreciation and newfound respect for digital projects and filmmaking.