Background for Educators
New: A PDF Teacher's Kit for Shooters and Camera Commandos available here.
Shooters features Michael Spencer, one of the founding members of the CFPU and, at that time, an editor. Spencer eventually became the first head of the Canadian Film Development Corporation, now known as Telefilm Canada. As such, his contributions to the Canadian Film Industry are seminal. In Shooters, educators will find an excellent companion to Spencer's book, Hollywood North: Creating the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (Michael Spencer with Suzan Ayscough, Cantos International Publishing Inc., 232 pages, 2003 ISBN 2-89594-007-X).
Besides curriculum topics like Canada in WWII, film, photography and Remembrance Day, there is also the topic of media literacy. One implication from viewing Shooters is that the cinematographers, by virtue of the state of their technology, had to not only shoot pictures but shoot an order of images, pre-edited in their minds. This comes home very clearly, if one knows that Lew Weekes, in describing the filming of the liberation of Paris from the memory of shooting it, follows the edition of the newsreel almost exactly. When the editor of Shooters lined up the newsreel and Lew Weekes' narration, we did not have to edit anything at all. Lew's story and the film were an exact match. Everytime Lew changed the subject, the film would change. The order of the parade let him establish an order in his head to be sure but there were no opportunities to shoot footage again. History happened in real time not as in a Hollywood movie where one could pick and choose shots and assembly a story in the edit suite. These cameramen thought out their stories, anticipating the next outcome as they shot the footage of situations before their eyes. As Al Calder says, all of his footage was used because it was all good - very little wasted footage. That ability is a non-linear ability to connect images and story along a line. That ability is a root of media literacy that these cameramen held in spades.
There is little bibliography about the CFPU. In fact, Shooters is one of the first contemporary published records or productions about the unit. Nevertheless, some publications do exist.
Bell, Ken, The Way We Were, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988, excellent source for pictures and a short "wehere are they now" line about featured members of the unit.
Darroch, Lynne, Annotated List of all 106 CFPU Newsreels, (unpublished report for Library and Archives Canada), circa 1995.
Farrell, Jon, "History in the Taking: Some Notes About the Canadian Army Film & Photo Unit," Canadian Geographic Journal, June 1945, pp. 277-287 : complete with pictures from the unit.
Klotz, Sarah, Armed with cameras : the Canadian Army Film Unit during the Second World War, M.A. Thesis, University of Ottawa,. 2004, 130 leaves.
----- "Shooting the War: The Canadian Army Film Unit in the Second World War," Canadian Military History, 14/3, Summer 2005, pp. 21-38 : comes with an excellent bibliography and is well foot-noted for image sources.
Note that the Klotz article claims that no raw or full footage of the iconic D-Day film exists. Shooters contains the entire 2m10s reel of the iconic D-Day footage, shot by Sgt Bill Grant at Juno beach from inside of a landing craft and featuring Canadian soldiers hitting the beach.
O'Regan, R. Brian, Camera Commandos & Reminiscences of D-Day Normandy, ePamphlet, jamesoregan.com, 2007
Shapiro, Lionel, "Camera Commandos," MacLean's Magazine, April 15, 1945, pp. 14, 40, 42, 43 : with one photo.
Web Sites
A site dedicated to the CFPU: http://www.canadianfilm.com/cafu/
A CFPU site at Canadian Soldiers (editable Mediawiki): http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/mediawiki-1.5.5/index/php?title=Canadian_Film_and_Photo_Unit
National Archives Raw A-V Footage
Jean O'Regan Collection: raw camera interviews of Al Calder, Charles E Roos, Lew Weekes and Micahel Spencer; these tapes have been granted a designation of historical significance by the Archives. Coming soon: Master tape of Shooters, diverse audio and video elements.
Dan Conlin Collection: audio of CFPU Reunion proceedings, and interviews with CFPU veterans at 1986 reunion.
ERAC Summary of Comments from Fast Forward Conference April 2007
Shooters
Level: Gr. 10+
Pros:
- Excellent recount of challenges of difficulties of war captured on newsreels from CFPU.
- Excellent stock footage of WWII.
- Very interesting WWII footage; struck a great balance between old footage with narration and the interviews.
Cons:
- Does no justice for the women who served. The DVD case says “men and women” who served WWII, yet the production seemed to lean towards men only.
- “Were there any women involved in the CFPU? I see plenty of pictures of them in the footage, but there is no mention of them or their contribution in the discussion, nor in the biographies of the Unit’s members.”
- Lack of navigational features is frustrating, especially given the length. DVD needs an opening screen, as well as chapter selections.
Final comments:
- Good for Social Studies 11 course.
- Well researched and documented. However, women were not credited.
Educators' Endorsements
FOCUS NEWSLETTER,A Publication of the Social Studies Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association, Volume 35, Number 3, June 2007, p.8-9
Gabe Kraljevic, Divisional Teacher Team Leader, Seven Oaks School Division #10, Manitoba
Mark Woermke, Social Studies Consultant, Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board
Ian Pettigrew, Instructional Coordinator, Social Studies; History and Geography; Canadian and World Studies; Social Sciences and Humanities, (Grades 1-12), H.J.A. Brown Education Centre, Peel DSB