The cameraman's experience of the Second World War: a study of the Army Film and Photographic Unit's 'dope sheets'.

The methodology will compare the dope sheets with pre and post war testimonies, where available, alongside the content of other historical and biographical material. Such source material would provide a basis for comparative analysis. The Imperial War Museum is particularly rich in these holdings containing not only the dope sheets themselves, but private papers, personal correspondence and an extensive collection of oral history interviews with former members of AFPU. Examining discrepancies or similarities between dope sheets complied in the midst of combat, and recollections of the same events decades later, provides a basis from which to examine the effects of changing societal trends or personal circumstances on memories of combat. The question of how and to what extent it is possible to remain detached when filming combat especially when one has formed a bond with those being filmed raises the interesting question of parallels with the filming of recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
I intend to utilise archival material from an array of institutions including The National Army Museum, The British Film Institute and the National Media Library. Comparison between the dope sheets and official War Office correspondence held in the National Archives offers the opportunity of insight into attitudes towards censorship and reconstruction. Similarly the archives of the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU) offer a potential vital source of biographical data regarding the pre and post war careers of individual AFPU personnel.