Last week was Remembrance Day. Marking the soldiers that have fallen in wars both present and past. With this remembrance taking place during lockdown, a lot of people were keen to show their support online.
seeing these young men in their uniforms bought home that realisation
A group of students from Bristol wanted to combine their singing module with this cause. Taking a touching song from James Blunt's 'Monsters', Vocal arrangement was by Joe Church and it was produced by The Big Act performing arts college.
I worked on creating a script that would include a narrative about a boy visiting a memorial ground. I did not want to make it too specific as I felt this story applies to many people who will connect with it in some way.
Hiring WW2 uniforms for the students we wanted to flick between the students now and the soldiers of the time, singing this tribute. We used a space that resembled an Anderson shelter for the location of the soldiers.
Working to a reference track, the boys sang along in these two settings, with the track being mixed and sync'd in post production.
I found myself both during the shoot but especially in editing, getting quite emotional.
Partly for the song but mainly because of how young they looked in uniforms. It is well documented that a lot of the recruits were under 18, especially in the First World War and seeing these young men in their uniforms bought home that realisation of just how young they were and the tragedies that followed these heroes.
We filmed it all in a day, shooting som on green screen. There were 9 students taking part and I was keen to reproduce an 'army'. So after I had keyed out the green screen, I was able to replicate each video multiple times to build the amount of 'people'.
The video has received a great response and support and it was a very special shoot to be a part of. Lest we forget.
You watch the full video below
Click below to watch video
