Transforming a Model into History: Building a Museum Diorama Video from Tom's Modelling in Motion

[BobG]

Quote

The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, all three aircraft being four-engined heavy bombers adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the same wartime era.

 

In 1943 the Lancaster was part of a raid over the Ruhr area with the aim of suppressing the region's industrial output. A lot of civilian were terrorized both by the Nazis and the bombing. So were part of my family who died during the bombing of Duisburg. The Lancaster project is some kind of process of coming to terms with the past. It was important to defeat the Nazi terror regime but as in all wars the civilian losses were pure tragedy. The Ruhr area was the target of many intense attacks during the years 1940-45. With the so-called first Battle of the Ruhr (spring and summer of 1943), the attacks reached an unprecedented intensity and were directed for the first time against the population.

 

The goal was not only to destroy weapons production but also to destroy the morale of the population. The people in the Ruhr area had to suffer under the bombs and the rule of the Nazis at the same time, who had declared "total war" in Berlin shortly before the bombing of the Ruhr. This led to the outcry among the population, "Dear Tommy, fly on, only the Ruhr workers live here. Fly on to Berlin, they all cheered 'yes'."

 

This statement, placed under the wings of the aircraft, represents the central ambivalence of liberation and suffering alongside the 3D typography of 43-44 and Ruhr. My good friend Erick Miotke put these thoughts into his fantastic composition which supports the animation in an impressive way.

 

Music: "Warmachine Contradiction" from Erick Miotke.

 

Here's what he says to his composition: "the track for tom's lancaster model and film is to be understood as a nod to the heroic pilots of these warmachines, just as to the civilians who experienced the hell unleashed on them in the german city targets. It is a contradiction expressed in the two different parts in the track: heaven and hell with a painful but peaceful ending."

 

 

[Egilman]

I think this sums it up quite well....

 

"So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a leading role in a cage?"

 

1975, Roger Waters & David Gilmour, Pink Floyd- "I wish you were here"

 

A very moving work, both model and song....

 

Artistry at the highest level...