Crossed Lines: Pilot
Student
First World War
Docudrama
Originally conceived as a final major university project, 'Crossed Lines' is intended to be a docudrama series telling the largely overlooked story of the signallers of the Great War, and the use of technology in battlefield communications.
Written by myself, due to the pandemic the full film has been unable to be made, however pre-visualisation/proof of concept work is in the process of being filmed and put together in order to pitch the concept at a later date.
The pilot episode set in the period from 1914-1915 focuses largely on the men of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
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In order to create this pre-visual work, I took on one of the biggest set challenges to date: to build a full scale section of First World War trench in my garden back home.
I decided to dig out the bottom 3 feet with hand tools as per the original, and create the rest through wooden set pieces.
The digging took three days in all weathers imaginable, but was completed, with duckboards installed as in the real thing.
Old fencing was utilised to create the sides, along with the base of 'no-mans-land' upon which earth and debris was placed so it appeared to be at ground level.
Once completed, via a contact based in Suffolk, a wealth of original props from a field telephone, to ammunition boxes, and and SRD rum jar were obtained; all accurate as possible with extreme attention to detail.
Alongside this, a full British soldier's uniform and webbing, correct for 1915,was acquired. This badged as that of a signaller with the Royal Fusiliers. nothing was left to chance!
Filming was largely carried out within the trench, however a second set was also created, this time in a garden shed!
It was designed to portray a signals dugout of the time and required the set up of a desk, several lengths of telephone cable, and the transit and instillation of all the props down to the signals forms for passing of messages.
Once set up, and with the candle light highlighted, the end result was most effective, conjuring an air of claustrophobia and inherent stressful tension, as there would've been at the time.
News of the project even made it into the local press, as both an online article, and a full page two special in the Herts Advertiser.
A link to the report can be found here, giving details of the story and work behind the film:
https://www.hertsad.co.uk/lifestyle/heritage/chris-richards-digs-ww1-trench-st-albans-garden-7902066
Further to that, the story even made it onto the MailOnline, and the pages of the Daily Express and Star:
The next step of the project is to pitch the concept and screenplay in order to have a pilot episode commissioned, and created with a wider range of resources and with a full cast and crew, along with the originally intended locations.
See the proof of concept trailer now on Vimeo:
As of 2024, further research has lead to the continued development of the screenplay; this I aim to pitch in the future.