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The Birth of War (Rough Cut) (4:15)
Elizabeth Wood | New York, NY
The idea of war is so essential to the history mankind, yet is so foreign to the innocence we experience as children, or is it? I propose to create a three minute film from serious interviews with children, exploring their concept of what war is, and why we go to war. This will be inter cut with scenes of the children playing, fighting, learning. This three minute film will provoke the viewer to question their own ideas of war, and how that may or may have not been influenced in the process of growing up.
Elizabeth Wood is the co-director of the feature documentary, Wade in the Water, a film created with students in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, which will premiere Autumn '07. She is also the co-director of Ruth, a feature documentary-in-progress, about the life of Ruth Nussbaum from pre-WWII Berlin to Hollywood. Her short films include Chaste, Three Guns and Drums and Saffron Limited. Elizabeth studied film, design and creative writing at Parson's and Eugene Lang in New York City.
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Notes from the Producer
In response to the overall "light" feeling of the film: I believe the children's "lightness" creates a beautiful contrast within the depth of the subject at hand. As we all know WAR is a very serious topic and in a sense I think the children's light attitude is the "gift" many filmmakers look for when making a documentary.
Working with these children, listening to their experiences and opinions was such a unique and shocking experience. This is what we would like to convey to everyone who is listening. I mean, how often do we really listen to what kids think? After-all their opinions do matter as they are the ones shaping the New America. Our aim here is to not only tell you what the children think about WAR, but to make YOU the viewer question YOUR beliefs on WAR.
Kelly Fancher
Producer/ Birth of War
Bank Three Films
Drawings
Hi Elizabeth:
On the choice between war footage and children's drawings, my gut feeling would be to go with the latter. We know how serious war is as adults and I think it would be distracting. What makes this piece interesting is the child's perpesctive. Their drawings are another element in expressing what they think and feel. The drawings will help underscore their words.
Looking forward to seeing the next version.
Simon Kilmurry
P.O.V. | American Documentary
NOTE FROM FILMMAKER
I have presented myself with an interesting challenge: I did not have a specific story to tell when I set out to make this short film. I had an idea. And now, sifting through ten hours of interviews, I am trying to create a cohesive story through the voices of 24 children. My goal is to be truthful but compelling. I think it will helpful to set up the scenario of this film through a text introduction.
It is interesting to me that listening to children talk about violence isn't particularily shocking. Would their words make a larger impact if it was contrasted with film clips from war? If we were reminded visually what they are actually speaking so casually about, would we consider more seriously their words?
Psychological relevancy of children's film footage
As a practicing psychologist who has worked with children for 40 years, I am still amazed at the insights of children. While children are naive in many ways, they still seem to grasp the anxieties and terror of war. In this film - Birth of War - these constructs emerge again and again. I am looking forward to the complete
film. It looks like an excellent one which delves into the innermost psyches of childen. How does one explain war to children. It looks like they are explaining it to us!
NOTE FROM FILMMAKER
NOTE: This is the rough cut. It is great to have some feedback and I wish there was more - I was/am expecting more.
Interviewing children is a wild-card. And perhaps stating that I would "provoke the viewer to question their own ideas of war" was broad. Perhaps it is more accurate to ask viewers to reflect on their own earliest perceptions/notions of war and violence.
I did not manipulate children to say things that they did not think. And I did not have to. I was surprised at the honesty and insight shown by this societal cross-section of subjects. I think giving children the formal opportunity to express their opinions and knowledge is vastly important.
I have 10 hours of interviews with 24 children for this project- and am still sifting through to find the most poignant comments about War. Also included will be drawings from the children that express thier notions of War (in lieu of playing/fighting).
I was not able to gain access to a "group setting" of children, so worked with children individually. I felt that this was a thorough approach.
I hope the final version (possibly shorter and perhaps with adjusted content) will not seem "too light" to viewers. War is not a light issue, and I feel that simply observing the perception of war from our children is quite heavy indeed.
Feedback
The original pitch say the films will “provoke the viewer to question their own ideas of war.” Unfortunately this doesn’t succeed on that level enough. The most compelling moments were the ones where kids have a direct, real experience, such as the young girl commenting about her mother in the army wearing wool socks.
Also the pitch say that the comments will be cut with scenes of children playing, etc. and I wonder why you decided not to include that.
Overall, it just seems too light and there’s nothing that the kids say that really surprises the viewer.
Simon Kilmurry
Executive Director
American Documentary | P.O.V.