Description of Project:

We decided to build a tableau vivant, a live installation that would bring an old black and white World War One picture to life on the streets of Auckland.

We brought an old black and white World War One picture to life on a busy Auckland street. A busy city alley way was transformed into a World War One trench, everything was just as it was 100 years ago, only entirely in monochrome like the old archive pictures from History Channel. We created an 8-hour live performance based on real New Zealanders' war experiences. An authentic surround sound audio track recreated a day in the trenches and brought their memories flooding back. The event was also broadcast on History Channel and social media.

We reconnected young and old with the past by bringing them face to face with history. News of the Unforgotten Soldiers spread on social media locally and globally. It was the most viewed story on NZ Herald online, made One News, and was shared by the BBC. It was talked about on national radio stations and audiences shared and kept the conversation going. We reached an estimated audience of over 22,835,710 people. That’s over 5 times the entire population of NZ. The value to the History Channel brand was not about generating revenue or subscriptions but raising awareness and helping young and old remember one of NZ's most historic events. It was a social awareness campaign that demonstrated the values of the History Channel of documenting, educating and preserving the past. We also raised triple the usual donations, for the RSA's annual appeal in just one day.

The Unforgotten Soldiers was an engaging 8-hour live performance. It brought memories of the soldiers flooding back with a historically accurate enactment of real warfare and soldiers' experiences. It included conversations and real letters written in the trenches. The installation showed all aspects of a typical day from dawn routines of ‘Stand to Arms’, fighting, duties, meals and boredom, right through to the soldiers singing before lights out. Everything in the trench had to be designed, printed or painted in monochrome to create the effect of looking at a black-and-white picture.

We realised that as time passes and with no surviving veterans, WWI is becoming a distant memory. Now days our only connection to the past and memories of the soldiers are kept in old black and white photographs, so to reconnect NZers with our history we decided to create a Tableau Vivant which brought a black and white WWI photo to life on the streets of Auckland. It was essential to partner with people who could deliver an excellent level of design, costume detail, performance direction, including a full surround sound soundtrack that was completely authentic to WW1.

History Channel curates programmes that document and preserve historical events. To mark WWI, History Channel became H100, and featured programmes to mark the centenary and significant WWI events. As you’d expect, programmes about the wars use genuine footage, shot on black and white film. This is how the past appears but this effect causes us to disconnect to the reality of what we are seeing. It doesn’t seem as real as seeing it in colour. By recreating a living black and white picture we would bring people face to face with the reality of WW1

History Channel believes they have a duty to preserve the past, so for the 100th Anniversary of Gallipoli ( New Zealand’s first significant engagement in WW1) they wanted more than a tribute they wanted to keep the memory alive. Our aim was to help New Zealanders remember and raise money for the Returned Service Association.