Pete Collman (see who we are ) and Travis Dow started podcasting together in 2013. While talking about Czech beer and alchemical secret knowledge, we also wanted to start to cover the first world war for the centennial and go over events a hundred years after they occurred.
Plans grew and changed. We went from audio-only to learning how to work with video and animations — which takes time. Pete did the storyboarding by himself to start to scope the project and topics around WWI. Then the writing. Standups and voiceovers. Then the travel and shooting. Wait—that’s not doing it justice.
Pete spent years using his own vacation time and money to go to locations to do with World War One. From the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. to the battlefields and memorials of Northern France, Germany, and the Czech Republic (etc!). Not sight-seeing, but interviewing and capturing b-roll. Then put all the b-roll together with on-site standups and adding voice-overs. Finding very specific video needed for the scene — then finding copyright-free sound effects to make silent footage come to life accurately (this part is hard to overstate)–adding and mastering music.
Pete did all this from his wheelchair, while taking notes on how others could more easily follow in his wheel tracks.
So it took seven years. And here it is:
The Great War Revisited
Part One:
Part Two:
For more on this project (see the world with Pete, watch his DIY’s and accessible travel tips) visit the Past Access page:
And for all the other Past Access videos, check out the YouTube Channel.