[infowar.de] PI 14.03.03: Iraq War Plans Include Film Shorts

[Georg Schoefbaenker <schoefbaenker -! - aon - at>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Philadelphia Inquirer
March 14, 2003

Iraq War Plans Include Film Shorts

By Bob Tourtellotte, Reuters

LOS ANGELES - Lights, camera, action! A helmet and flak jacket would be 
very useful, too.

If war breaks out in Iraq, the Navy and Marine Corps said, they will film 
soldiers on the front lines and bring their stories to audiences in shorts 
similar to the Movietone film reels made during World War II.

The idea, explained Marine Lt. Col. James Kuhn, is to show people the real 
images of war and put a human face on the men and women fighting it.

"It's intended to fulfill the Navy and Marine Corps' obligation to maintain 
a strong tie to the public, to let them know what we're doing," Kuhn said 
Wednesday. "It's an opportunity for people to hear how the soldiers feel 
about what they do."

The shorts - which the military hopes will be shown in movie theaters - 
will give audiences the chance to see what actually happens in battle: 
bullets flying, bombs blasting, and people being put in harm's way.

The Movietone Newsreel Project stems from a roughly five-minute short 
titled "Enduring Freedom - The Opening Chapter," that the Navy and Marines 
made after the Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

"Enduring Freedom" had a brief run in about 200 Regal Entertainment Group 
theaters equipped with digital projection equipment last year. It has since 
become a hit at public events, business conferences and seminars, Kuhn said.

Lance O'Connor, a partner in the Santa Monica, Calif., firm American Rogue 
Films, which trained soldiers with high-definition digital cameras to shoot 
the video, said the reels will be similar to documentaries.

"It's not about propaganda, it's about documentary work," he said. "If it 
were propaganda, it wouldn't work."

Connor's company put together "Enduring Freedom" and for years has made 
promotional spots for the military. The company will edit the new shorts 
and try to place them in theaters.

"Enduring Freedom" included live footage of battles in Kandahar, 
Afghanistan, O'Connor said. The camera crews for the new effort will also 
be in the middle of the action.

"Our guys are going straight to the front... secret operations, Navy SEALs, 
whatever is going over on the first tier [of operations], we're going to 
film it," he said.

While "hard combat" will be be featured, the troops doing the fighting also 
will talk about how they feel about war and about serving their country, 
Kuhn said. "It's a story of who these people are and why they do what they do."

A spokeswoman for Regal CineMedia, the Regal division that outfits theaters 
with digital projection systems, said her company does not yet have plans 
to show the films but is talking with the Navy and Marines about doing so.

"Enduring Freedom" was picked up by Regal last year, in part, to test the 
chain's new digital projection equipment. The company pulled the film in 
October after patrons complained that footage was too violent.

When Regal executives met with Pentagon officials six weeks ago, they 
expressed concern that the new Movietone shorts would be unpopular.

"I don't know that seeing a war up on the big screen," said Cliff Marks, 
president of marketing for Regal CineMedia Corp., the high-tech arm of Regal.

"I think they go to the movies to forget about the stress of watching CNN."

Kuhn said the films will be available to the general public, regardless of 
whether theaters decide to screen them.



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