Synopsis
Janet Kelso was an eleven year old girl when she was evacuated to Canada in 1940. Her ship however; The SS Volendam, never arrived. It was torpedoed by a German U-Boat on route, with 320 child 'seavacuees' on board. This film takes you on her journey of what it was like to leave her parents so young, be attacked by a German U-boat, rescued by an oil tanker and once again experience British mince and potatoes
Proposal
When I was at Primary school I was given a project to do about World War Two. My Dad suggested calling my Grandma to ask about her experience. Eleven years old I sat at the bottom of my staircase with my house phone, dialling my Grandma's number. The questions I asked her, and the responses I received, are still with me today, quite literally in the form of an A4 bit of paper in-fact. Looking back over ten years later, I've become fascinated with her story.
I propose to re-create her memories by blending together film and animation. Traditional cut paper animation will bring to life archive material. A strong recorded interview with my Grandma re-living the events of the past will lead us through the story.
Imagine sending your children off or indeed being sent of as a child yourself in todays day and age? When I was eleven I was dealing with growing up in a quiet suburb, playing video games, attending school, and on weekends swimming lessons. Looking at my own background, there is a huge generational contrast with my Grandma's. I will use my own backstory as a way into the film.
Background
As early as 1924 the British government began to make plans to evacuate British children overseas to colonies in Australia, New Zealand & Canada. CORB (Children's Overseas Reception Board) was set up. There was huge controversy over the idea, people arguing the moral issues, psychological & emotional harm to children and whether it was right just to dispense greater safety to a selected few. There became mounting hostility towards the continuing of private middle class overseas evacuation. After the SS Volendam was torpedoed the programme still continued. The SS Benares was then torpedoed and 77 of the 90 children on board were killed. CORB was then shut down shortly after.
Story
When the war began my Grandma moved to Tillicoultry, just East of Stirling, at the age of eleven. Her Mother Edith was given the option to send my Grandma and her Brother Bill to Toronto, where things were much safer than in Britain. Saying goodbye to her Mother and Father, they took a train to Liverpool and boarded the SS Volendam. She didn't want to leave but was told to keep smiling. Five days in a cabin with three other girls, Janet had the top bunk and had lifeboat practise every day.
The food was very different and she didn't like it. There were too many courses and the food was far too exotic. My Grandma had been used to classic British food such as Mince and potatoes.
About five days into her trip, during the night a girl in her cabin woke her up and there were two loud bangs. Thinking it was a drill everybody went to the lifeboats but were shocked to see them getting lowered into the water. Janet climbed in as she had practised, keeping her teddy bear held close.
A crew member rowed the boat whilst they all sang songs and were rescued by the Val De Vosa oil tanker. On the week long journey home Janet slept on floors, chairs or tables.
Back in Greenock, Janet was reunited with her brother Bill and taken on a train back to Tillicoultry with lots of newspaper reporters asking her questions. Once home, she was happy to be reunited with her parents who'd been very worried. Deciding not to try and go back to Canada proved the right decision, as the next ship the SS Benares was also torpedoed killing most of the children on it.
Style
A fusion of film and animation. I want to show my Grandma as she is today, looking back over 70years later. So there will be filmed footage of her in her home. The filmed footage will be very controlled and all on a tripod to convey a sense of peace and calm compared to the adventure she went on in the 40s.
Traditional animation will be used to show my Grandma's story play out. Animation will bring a nostalgic quality evoking emotion and re-energising a story that took place 70 years ago. As the story is about children, animation conveys their imagination, both my own eleven year old self and my Grandma's.
It's important the style of the animation is traditional, with techniques such as cut paper, hand drawn etc... Any modern computer generated animation will not suit the style of the film. Even titles will be hand-drawn.
For certain plot points, rich archive material such as film footage of the boat and telegrams received at the time can be used.
An example sequence could be a cut out photograph of the SS Volendam sailing along a sea of paper waves. A torpedo noise is heard and when the boat is hit, cotton wool could be used to show the explosion in the water turning into smoke.
Motivation
Getting the opportunity to go and film an interview with my Grandma, who I don’t get to see very often will be good on a personal level as I want to spend time getting to know her a bit better. Over the past few years she has suffered several heart attacks, I want to make sure I get to see her again properly, and capture her story whilst I can.
What We Need
The 1000 US dollars will work out about £600. A large proportion of this will go on the cost of travelling down to film my Grandma and putting ourselves up in accommodation.
Copyright clearance will need to be obtained for some of the archive used. There will be a cost attached to this.
To get my film shown I will need funds for festival distribution. This can be between £10-£40 or more per festival.
Without funding, the quality of the film will suffer and I wont be able to reach as wide an audience. I will have to travel alone to film my Grandma instead of with my Director of Photography. I may not be able to use a large amount of the archive I plan to. Simple things like materials for animating will be in much shorter supply.
I want to make it clear the money isn't going to be wasted and all money raised will be used for the project. If any was left over or more was raised than required I will donate all remaining money to either
A - The Holocaust Educational Trust, http://www.het.org.uk/ OR
B - Evacuees Reunion Association, http://www.evacuees.org.uk/index.html
