Soldiers - programme inserts (1985)

A programme content sequence for the documentary series 'Soldiers'. The brief was to find a graphic device to depict the structure of an army (ie how an army is made up of various different levels of command). The idea was to visualise this command structure using colour-coded model soldiers, with the general as the highest in command at the head, painted gold. 14,000 model soldiers were created using the vacuum forming process, allowing the soldiers to be stamped out from one initial mould. All the basic rank soldiers were sprayed silver, whilst captains, corporals, majors etc were sprayed different colours to indicate and highlight their ranking. The soldiers were placed in straight lines on black velvet, kept straight by black thread held by nails, making a grid across the whole area covering the entire length of the studio. The shoot on 35mm film took place at The Moving Picture Company using a motion control rig suspended from the ceiling. The soldiers were laid out within the grid then sections were removed as the sequence was shot in reverse. This gave the impression when viewed that the army was building up in sections. Lighting was crucial as the metallic surface of the models can be difficult to light. Reflective lighting had to be used, as directional lighting (lights directly on the model) might have made the models look dark, even black. The physical set-up took three days and the shoot itself took two days, as each frame took minutes to capture in-camera.

Lighting Cameraman – Peter Truckel, The Moving Picture Company.

Models – Alan Kemp.

Concept and Creative Direction - Liz Friedman.

Winner of a Design & Art Direction Wood Pencil for Television Graphics 1985. 

• BBC Programme Index/Genome