Redefined Transcription Structure

Each Line of my poem or some of the lines combined will be used to show what Siegfried Sassoon is saying through his poem and using it to transcribe it into the final animation

Transcription Material - 

In a meeting with Alan we spoke about how the way to move this animation forward would be to shoot it from the point of view of a soldier who lived amongst the trenches during WW1.

Trench Duty by Sigfried Sassoon 1886 – 1967, Kent, England

1 - Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,
2 - Out in the trench with three hours’ watch to take,
3 - I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then
4 - Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men
5 - Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light.
6 - Hark! There’s the big bombardment on our right
7 - Rumbling and bumping; and the dark’s a glare
8 - Of flickering horror in the sectors where
9 - We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,
10 - Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.
11 - ‘What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?’
12 - Five minutes ago I heard a sniper fire:
13 - Why did he do it? ... Starlight overhead—
14 - Blank stars. I’m wide-awake; and some chap’s dead

Start of the Animation -
• Close up shot of an old pocket watch in a jewelery cabinet for sale in a shop window.
• The camera then fades out and back in onto the same pocket watch but this time inside of a WW1 dugout.
  
  
• Poem Begins –
  
  
• 1 - The camera pans down onto the floor of the trench surface onto a waterlogged trench craters throughout the trench. As the artillery lands it shakes the camera and the ground, which is shown by the vibrations in the water. (think Jurassic park)
• 2 - The camera then fades out and changes to a mid-shot or long shot of an overview of the trench. This shot is to show how cramped and how bad the living conditions of trench living actually were.
• 3 & 4 – The camera moves throughout the trench very slowly. This is so the audience can take in the surroundings of the trench and how bad the conditions are. (Over the top of this – the voices of muffling men over the top of the scene.)
• 5 – The camera fades out again onto a mid-shot of a soldiers dugout. The camera zooms in slowly towards the dugout which will be covered by a sheet.(these were used for soldiers privacy.) We will see a silhouette of a soldier cramped in his dugout lighted by the flickering candle.
• 6 & 7 – The camera will be focused on the other end of the trench were the artillery shells will be landing. This is where I will use camera movement such as shaking the camera to add to the atmosphere. For instance camera movement and sound effects will play a huge part in helping to create this atmosphere.
• 8 & 9 – Screen flickers from black to white. Whilst this is going on there is a Mid-shot of the Soldiers equipment. (This part may change).
• 10 – This will be a Mid-shot, the camera will pan across a line of barbed wire which has pieces of cloth and other parts of soldiers uniforms ripped, caught up amongst the wire.
• 11 – Mid-Shot of the medical area of the trench, Stretchers and equipment.
• 12,13 & 14 – Shot Fades in onto a Mid-Shot of the trench, as the camera moves up, the camera zooms out onto a blank sky, cloudy and foggy.
• 14 prt 2 – The camera rests upon the plain sky for a few more seconds and then fades out onto a close-up shot of a soldiers hand, motionless on the floor.
  
  
• Poem Ends -
  
  
• After the Camera has been still on the pocket watch for a moment, the camera the zooms in slowly and eventually fades out and then back in onto the pocket watch back in the shop cabinet which was at the start of the animation. The shot holds for a few seconds and then finally cuts to finish the animation.

John Singer Sargent - Gassed(1919)

Another artist which I have been looking at or came across whilst looking at art which was inspired by WW1 was John Singer Sargent. JSS was an American artist who was born in 1856

He always loved to paint the truth. Sargent used actual imagery and created the paintings from real events which took place during the war. This was the way he liked to paint and also what he was most interested in. 

 

The painting 'Gassed' is an image which shows the aftermath of a mustard attack on the Western front during the first world war.

These images above are a selection of drawings which Sargent used to create the final painting 'Gassed'. These selection of drawings are development images of Soldiers in their every day routines.

Gassed - (1919)

Otto Dix - great influence prints

In this post I have put together a large selection of very inspirational art prints of Otto Dix works. These war prints are perfect examples of the dark and eerie art style that I want to use that will help demonstrate the horrificness of WW1 and war itself throughout my animation.

This image above was drawn by Dix to show that not just humans were being killed by the result of this war, it was also lifestock and other wildlife which suffered as the result of the war. Another simple sketch which gets across the message by portraying the brutality and destruction of the war, the same which can be said for all of these images. 

In these images below and above I really like how effective Dix art style was and is. He uses his style to exagerate objects to make them look more dangerous. If you look closey at the images you can see fence pieces and barbed wire littered across the image with soldiers caught or impaled on them. This is the similar look that I want to go for when creating my trench scenes, especially for the line in the poem were it mentions men crawling through the the barbed wire on their bellies. 

Otto Dix style I believe is very unique but at the same time very powerfull. A style like this can be used in my animation to create the effects I'm going for. It will help me create and original animation which will show our generation what our ancestors may have been through, but coming froma more artistic approach.

Transcription - Original Idea

The Diary and Journal of Bernard Rogers

This was my original idea, with the help of Alan I have refined this idea lots to create a new idea but not straying to far from my original concept which was the poem by Sigfried Sassoon. In this first attempt at creating an idea, me and Alan spoke about trying to relate WW1 to my animation with something personal that my family experienced in the past. 

Before I started this project and this idea, I had no clue that my family had such an amazing history. Alone, I found out that my nan had ten uncles, a family of eleven boys, which didn't include their daughters. Of six of the Rogers brothers that went and battled in WW1, only four came home to tell the tale. my original idea was based on one of the brothers that fought and died in WW1, he was only nineteen years of age, three years younger than me. This made me really think about the war and how it must have effected the soldiers, their friends and their families.

Character Bio -

Name – Bernard Rogers

Age – 19

Born – 1896 – Died – 1915

Occupation During World War One – Soldier/Stretcher Bearer

Advancing troops were not allowed to stop and care for wounded soldiers. All men carried an emergency field-dressing and if possible attempted to treat their own wounds. The wounded soldier then had to wait until the stretcher-bearers arrived. There were only four stretcher-bearers per company and so it was often sometime before they received medical help. Some dragged themselves into a shell-hole for protection, but this was dangerous as many sank into the mud and drowned. One man with a broken thigh spent two days dragging himself backwards with his hands, until he reached his own trenches. Another soldier who had been shot in the chest, lasted eleven days in 'No Mans Land' before the stretcher-bearers found him.

The Rogers Family lived in Faversham, Kent, which was in the South East of England. Bernard or Bert as he was also known, joined the Army when he was 18 along with six of his brothers. Within the Rogers family there were eleven brothers in total. Tragically, of the six brothers that fought in World War One, only two of the brothers returned, leaving the family with only seven sons.

Transciption Material -

Trench Duty by Sigfried Sassoon 1886 – 1967, Kent, England

Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,
Out in the trench with three hours’ watch to take,
I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then
Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men
Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light.
Hark! There’s the big bombardment on our right
Rumbling and bumping; and the dark’s a glare
Of flickering horror in the sectors where
We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,
Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.
‘What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?’
Five minutes ago I heard a sniper fire:
Why did he do it? ... Starlight overhead—
Blank stars. I’m wide-awake; and some chap’s dead

• Boche – A Boche is a derogatory term which is used for Germans, it is a shortened version of the word, Caboche, or Hardhead.

I am using this poem which was written by Sigfried Sassoon and a piece of text on trench life and living to help tell a story of my great great Uncle Bernard Rogers who died at the age of 19 fighting in WW1. Bernard died in 'No mans land' whilst tending to the wounded. Like the poem, Bernard was called for duty, but tragically he was killed trying to rescue wounded soldiers whilst carrying the wounded on a stretcher.

• Act One –
• first person view of a man looking through an old Diary/Journal which lays on top of his desk.
• Clipped to the the Diary is a note...
• The man opens up the Diary revealing blogged accounts of his experience in WW1 plus photographs.
• The man picks up one of the photos and brings it closer to his face.
• Once the Photograph is in frame, it changes from a still image and takes us back in time to the actual event. 
  
  
• Act Two -
• The camera moves through the trenches past sleeping soldiers in the night, Showing the rough conditions that soldiers lived in whilst serving in the trenches.
• The camera comes to a young soldier at the end of the trench, cramped and trying to sleep in his dug - out.
• A loud artillery shell lands close to the trench shaking the earth and shaking the man from his sleep.
• He slowly rises from his dug - out, gathering himself, ready for his duties.
• The camera freezes on the man, turning it into another photograph.
• The Scene changes back to the man sitting at his desk.
• The man flicks the page, the text reads...
• Again he removes the next image from the diary and brings it upto his face.
• The Photograph goes back to the the next event which is a still shot of the man cleaning his rifle.

• Act Three -
• The man finishes cleaning his rifle and puts it to one side
• There are loud sounds of artillery whilst the man picks up a tinned portion of 'Bully Beef', which was kind of like corned beef.
• After a couple of mouth falls, a call out, “Man Down, Stretcher Bearers wanted”.
• The man Drops his food, volunteering himself to join the stretcher bearers who are already out in No mans land'.
• After gathering himself, the man halls himself over the trench, out to aid the stretcher bearers, a man down.
• Once the man is over the trench he runs over the smoky and misty darkness of 'No mans land'.
• Once obscured by the mist, an artillery shell lands near the man, which freezes the camera and goes back to the mans desk.
• He puts down the final photograph, reads the final piece of text, and closes the diary, which ends the animation.

WW1 Weaponary and Equipment

For this I have been researching British weaponary and equipment so that my animation will be logical and accurate to this historical subject.

Aliied British Weaponary - Guns -

The Standard British bolt action rifle which used throughout WW1 was the Lee Enfield Rifle.

This rifle was a British Soldiers main weapon, and was estimated that a highly trained British Soldier could fire upto 15 rounds per minute. This particular rifle could maintain very good accuracy of upto 600 metres but could still kill an enemy who was almost 1,400 metres away from them.

The Maxim Machine Gun -

The American inventor, Hiram Maxim moved to London in the 1980's with promise of creating an effective machine gun for the British Army.

Maxim introduced the worlds first machine gun to the British army in a demonstration which showed off the guns capabilities. The Maxim Machine gun could continually fire until the guns whole belt of bullets was used up. In tests, the gun could fire upto 500 bullets per minute which had an equal firerate of about 100 Lee Enfield Rifles.

The Vickers Machine Gun -

In 1912, The British army adopted the Vickers Machine Gun as thier new standars machine gun. This machine gun which was an adaptation of the Maxim Machine Gun produced by the Vickers company.

Art Styles/Influence - Otto Dix

I have been looking at alot of Otto Dix Lately because his art came around before and during WW1. He has a very unusual style which can be seen in the images below. However. Dix style potrays WW1 by showing the audience how horrific it was. 

Otto Dix "was a German artist, painter, print maker and watercolorist. His depictions of mechanized warfare and post-war Berlin continue to shape our impressions of the Great War and Weimar society. Along with George Grosz, Dix was one of the more important figures in New Objectivity. While Grosz delved into the shadows of modern society, Dix stared into the abyss." 

Modern War: "Dix was a veteran of the First World War. He was haunted by the brutality of mechanized warfare long after the guns fell silent. Through his art, he returns to the desolated landscape of military trenches strewn with mutilated bodies. The dead are distorted by decomposition. Human characteristics are indistinguishable in gas masks and steel helmets."

Siegfried Sassoon - Trench Duty - Narrative Material

TRENCH DUTY by Siegfried Sassoon

1 - Shaken from sleep, and numbed and scarce awake,

2 - Out in the trench with three hours' watch to take,

3 - I blunder through the splashing mirk; and then

4 - Hear the gruff muttering voices of the men

5 - Crouching in cabins candle-chinked with light.

6 - Hark! There's the big bombardment on our right

7 - Rumbling and bumping; and the dark's a glare

8 - Of flickering horror in the sectors where

9 - We raid the Boche; men waiting, stiff and chilled,

10 - Or crawling on their bellies through the wire.

11- "What? Stretcher-bearers wanted? Some one killed?"

12 - Five minutes ago I heard a sniper fire:

13 - Why did he do it?... Starlight overhead--

14 - Blank stars. I'm wide-awake; and some chap's dead.

Transcription - In the Trenches

This post is saved for a documentary which I found on youtube called "In the Trenches".

Part One - 

 

Part 2 -

 

Transcription - Life In the Trenches - Daily Problems

In this post I have added up a list of things which were problems and which were part of trench life. Some of these things I have or will later go on to research.

- Body Lice
- Trench Life
- Shell Fire
- Casualties in the trenches
- Shell Shock
- Amputations
- Gas Attacks
- Self inflicted Wounds
- Food in the Trenches
- Regulation Equipment
- Trench Foot
- Execution of British Soldiers
- Alcohol in the Trenches
- Stretcher Bearers
- Disease - Dysentery
- Soldiers Letters
- Field Punishment
- Waterlogged Trenches

Transcription - The Problem of Rats

I have already briefly talked about the living conditions of trench warfare, but in this post I will talk about something which was a major problem for the soldiers whilst living amongst the trenches.

During the first world war, soldiers who were killed during the battle either lay dead amongst the battlefield or throughout the trenches. Most of the men who died in the trenches found themselves being buried nearly immediately as the fell in battle because of the weathered conditions of the trench.

These Decomposing bodies as well as other food scraps left by the men often littered the surfaces of the trench. This is what attracted the 'Rats'. A pair of rats can produce upto 880 offspring a year which, along with the dead bodies and food litter, was the cause of all of the rats.

"Rats cam up from the canal, fed on plentiful corpses and multiplied exceedingly. While I stayed here with the Welch, A new Officer joined the company and, in a token of welcome, was given a dug-out containing a spring bed. When he turned in that night he heard scuffling, shone this torch in the bed, and found two rats on his blanket tussling for the possession of a severed hand." - Robert Graves,Goodbye to all That.

"The outstanding feature of the trenches was the extraordinary number of rats. The area was infested with them. It was impossible to keep them out of the dugouts. They grew fat on the food that they pilfered from us, and anything they could pick up in or around the trenches; they were bloated and loathsome to look at. Some were nearly as big as cats. We were filled with an instinctive hatred of them, because however one tried to put the thought of one's mind, one could not help feeling that they fed on the dead." - Stuart Dolden, his account of the trenches. 

"Rats bred by the tens of thousands and lived on the fat of the land. When we were sleeping in funk holes the things ran over us, played about, copulated and fouled our scraps of food, their young squeaking incessantly. There was no proper system of waste disposal in trench life. Empty tins of all kinds were flung away over the top on both sides of the trench. Millions of tins were thus available for all the rats in France and Belgium in hundreds of miles of trenches. During brief moments of quiet at night, one could hear a continuous rattle of tins moving against each other. The rats were turning them over. What happened to the rats under heavy shell-fire was a mystery, but their powers of survival kept place with each new weapon, including poison gas." - Private George Coppard, With a Machine gun to Cambrai, 1969.

"We were soon back in the trenches after that action. Our living conditions there were lousy, dirty and unsanitary - no matter what the weather was, whether it was hot or cold, rain or fine, you were in there for four days, and three nights. There were rats as big as cats, and if you had any leather equipment the damn things would gnaw at it. We had leather equipment - and they'd chew it. If you stood still long enough they'd chew your bootlaces." - Harry Patch, Last Post, 2005.

Transcription - Living amongst a trench

As I mentioned in a previous post, in the first world war, more soldiers had thier lives taken through disease than actually been killed by the enemy. This was down to the living conditions in which they had to put up with in order to prevent them from being killed by enemy fire.

 

 This ten minute piece from a documentary explains a bit about life in the trenches. I found this little piece very helpfull because it has added to the insight which I need to complete the animation.

Transcription - Trench Warefare

Trench warefare is a type of warefare which was used in the first world war. Each of the sides would dig trenches throughout the battlefield and occupy them, using them for shelter from enemy fire which was a constant threat throughout the war.

In this image above we can see an example of how harsh living and fighting from a trench can be. Not all trenches were this harsh, but the image above shows how claustraphobic conditions were whilst living moving throughout a trench. 

Most trenches often had very poor conditions, most of the soldiers throughout the war died from disease because of these conditions. They dug into the trench walls to make room for them to sleep. Throughout the trenches the soldiers had to line the muddy floors with wodden planks to stop them from sinking into the quicksand which was the cause of constant disruption and weather conditioning to the surfaces.
On top of all of the problems in the trenches, soldiers also had threat from the enemy on the other side of "No Mans Land"(the land/distance between you and the enemy). This meant constant fire from the enemy, artillery and sniper fire which usually occured when soldiers peaked over the trench.