Touring Ruined Landscapes
Ellen Mattila
Introduction
I am journalist, but traveling to France with this class forced me to be much more. Because of this trip I am now a journalist, a geographer and an armchair historian. My goal with this trip was to create a series of videos that explain some of the history of the First World War and integrate that history with footage of our trip.
I created four videos about our adventure to the historic sites of the First World War. The videos are about The Somme, Verdun, German Bunkers, and a retrospective on our trip. All of the footage from the trip was shot with a GoPro and a Sony handheld camera.
I am journalist, but traveling to France with this class forced me to be much more. Because of this trip I am now a journalist, a geographer and an armchair historian. My goal with this trip was to create a series of videos that explain some of the history of the First World War and integrate that history with footage of our trip.
I created four videos about our adventure to the historic sites of the First World War. The videos are about The Somme, Verdun, German Bunkers, and a retrospective on our trip. All of the footage from the trip was shot with a GoPro and a Sony handheld camera.
This video is about some of the history of mining and film documentation of the Battle of the Somme. It includes historical footage from the Imperial War Museum, and footage that I shot on our trip to France. The Hawthorn Ridge Mine was the first mine explosion of the battle of the Somme. It exploded at 7:20 am on July 1, 1916, ten minutes before the other mines exploded. The explosion was captured by filmographer Geoffrey H. Malins. Here is a video about some of the history of these battles and of our experience walking in Malin's footsteps to visit the Hawthorn Mine and the Lochnagar mine.
This video is about the German Command Bunkers or “stollens” we found outside of Verdun. It is all footage that I shot on our trip to France. In this video our class found German bunkers outside of Verdun. These bunkers have likely gone untouched and undocumented for nearly a hundred years. This video provides a never before seen look inside these bunkers.
This video is about the Battle of Verdun and the forts that surround the city, specifically Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux. The video includes historical footage and footage that I shot on our trip to France. In this video our class visits two historic forts and some of the trenches around Verdun. Author Christina Holstein provided us with a in depth tour of Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaux and the trenches. This video also contains a look at tome of the geographic surveying methods that our class used to create a Digital Elevation Model of Fort Vaux and the Thiaumont Platform.
This video is interviews with the students that went on the trip as well as Professor Joe Hupy. It is a retrospective of our time in France.
Methods
I filmed all footage using a GoPro Hero 3 and a Sony handheld camera. I chose to bring two cameras to suite a variety of conditions. The GoPro was a blessing on days when conditions were wet or precarious, but he Sony camera provided better quality audio than the GoPro. All video editing was done using FinalCut Pro X and all voice over audio was recorded in Garage Band. In the videos I attempted to weave some historical information, and footage when available, with the tales of our trip. Check out this blog to see more about how these movies were made.
I filmed all footage using a GoPro Hero 3 and a Sony handheld camera. I chose to bring two cameras to suite a variety of conditions. The GoPro was a blessing on days when conditions were wet or precarious, but he Sony camera provided better quality audio than the GoPro. All video editing was done using FinalCut Pro X and all voice over audio was recorded in Garage Band. In the videos I attempted to weave some historical information, and footage when available, with the tales of our trip. Check out this blog to see more about how these movies were made.
Image Credits -
Vimy Memorial: Photo by Ellen Mattila, September 2013.
Header: "Over the Top." Retrieved from article "Remembrance Day" by Paul Delplanque. Gazette Live, Nov 11 2010.
Vimy Memorial: Photo by Ellen Mattila, September 2013.
Header: "Over the Top." Retrieved from article "Remembrance Day" by Paul Delplanque. Gazette Live, Nov 11 2010.