Pre Order your DVD today

For a limited time only the DVD of all three episodes will be available for a special price of £12.50 direct from ASA Productions (UK) Ltd.

Please call Stephen on 020 8464 7929 or email Stephen@asa-uk.tv to get yours in time for Christmas!

AIR DATE

Hello,

Episode one will be screening on Thursday 10th November on UKTV's freeview channel 'YESTERDAY'. The following two episodes will be screened in the following two weekends.

It feels fantastic to finally have the shows on the air after so long in Production, we feel we have done an important story justice, and hope it will give the veterans the acknowledgement they deserve.

Look out for the listings in the Radio Times. We'll also post again when we know what time it wil be shown.


Thanks!

Screening

Hi Everyone

We have recently held a screening of the third programme for the cast, crew and veterans. The programme received a warm reception from all those who attended.

Still uncertain on the transmission date. But heres a few pictures from the screening while you wait.

Mike Whiteman, Charles Waite, Roland Lee

Charles Clark OBE, President of the Ex Prisoner of War Association 

Stephen Saunders, Producer/Director 

Two RAF Cadets, who took part in rememberance march in Poland

Bernard Hill, Narrator 

Alfred Hey & Stan Constable 

Kenneth Hay & Edward Harris reunited after 66 years, 

Edward reminded Ken of saving his life on the road.

Stephen Saunders, Producer/Director 

Myself, David Arshadi, Editor 

A good turn out. 

Completion!

Hello everyone!
It's done! We completed the making of all 3 programmes. This leaves the transmission date. At the moment it is some time in October however, number wise is undecided. I'm sure as soon as I know, I will post some more information for it.
Whilst you wait, here is the poster for the programmes.

Grading and Online Edit Completed!

Afternoon all!
Today we finished the grading and the online edit of the programmes. Completing the grading means that the colours will look exceptional especially if you have a high definition TV. The completion of the online edit also means that all the visual effects are complete making the completion of the programme, ever that bit closer.

Sound Mix!

Hello!
Yesterday we completed the 5.1 surround sound mix for all three programmes. We opted for the added dimension of 5.1 surround sound to enhance the experience for the viewer - machine gun bullets whizzing over your head or creeping strings of the original soundtrack coming up around you as you hear tales from the POWs.

Dubbing mixer Pete Collins & Producer/Director Stephen Saunders at Studio 1 Evolutions London

Compositing to be finished!

Today we finish the compositing for the shots in the documentaries. This is where we have filmed shots in a studio using green or blue screen and placed them into other footage to make it appear as if it were real. It's looking amazing.

Narration!

Hello all!

Yesterday we spent the day recording narration for each programme. We had the privilege of having an amazing guest offer his voice, Bernard Hill.

You may recognise him from films such as Titanic and Lord Of The Rings! It was a real pleasure.

Long Awaited Update

Hi everyone!
We apologise for the long delay of updating this production blog. A little bit snowed under with all the fine progress we have made.

The offline edit for programme 1: Capture and programme 2: Captives has been completed. This means that the narrative of each programme has been finalised. This leaves the magic of grading to make it look lovely. It also means that the sound can be pushed into production allowing us to neaten and perfect it's quality in GLORIOUS HD.

The wow factor

Now this has got us REALLY excited.

 

This is a test render of an aerial showing the scale of the Long March. It's a little hard to see here, but if you click the Youtube button and watch it there in 720HD, you'll see the details of the men all moving along.

The plate (empty aerial shot) was filmed in Poland and the people have been digitally added by the extremely talented Evan Davies at Z-Depth. There's loads more where this came from and it's going to add the sense of scale that we were after. Let us know what you think.

A true Commonwealth effort!

We were thinking today, that much like the Long March itself, this show has been a true commonwealth effort! It's been produced in the UK, composed in Canada and our Kiwi pals Afterglow Films have been busy creating our GFX in Auckland, which have been fantastic so far.

God save the Queen!

Musical score from across the pond

I've recently been track laying our composer Neil Clements' music score, which he has been writing in Vancouver - and boy does it sound good.

Neil in Canada

Long time collaborator Neil has got the tone of the film spot on; harrowing and desperate.

It's truly remarkable how much of a difference specially recorded music makes to a film. Library music can be good, but it's just not the same. Stephen Saunders (Producer/Director) and I are really excited by how it's making the edit come to life.

A short taster will be uploaded soon, so watch this space.....


- David Arshadi, Editor

New Trailer!

Here is a new trailer for the programme. Let us know what you think!

At picture-lock!

Today we have achieved 'picture-lock' in the cutting room i.e we have our full story edited and ready to be finished. Exciting!

Watch this space for some sneak previews......

Behind the scenes at Shepperton Studios

Snow Wrangling!

Classic Director shot

Shepperton Studios

 

Miniatures by Cinesite©

Filming the RAF cadets on their annual memorial march!

In 2010 we travelled to Zagan in Poland, the famous site of Stalag Luft III (from the film The Great Escape). This was the starting point of a 3 day march that followed in the footsteps one of the marches that took place in 1945. The cadets walked 60 miles in sub zero temperatures and stayed in some of the places the original marchers were forced to sleep; pig barns, schools and churches. This annual ordeal honours the memory of those 300,000 men.

Here are some preview stills from that shoot.

 

The background of the story

In the winter of 1945, almost 300,000 Allied POW’s were forced to march across Poland into Germany to evade the advancing Soviet Army. But why would the German's go through such an exercise when the reasons were so unclear?

As early as July 1944 Hitler was aware of the impending situation that they were losing the war and issued orders for the ‘Defence of the Reich’. Amongst these orders was the decision to evacuate the POW camps along the Eastern front and march the POWs west towards Lübeck and Hamburg.

 

Some say that Hitler wanted to use the prisoners as hostages, others say that it was to prevent the Allies and Russians from using them as a fighting force against the Nazis.  A former commandant of one of the camps acknowledged “this was the death sentence for thousands of prisoners.”

Historian Howard Tuck comments "The Germans didn’t want them falling into Russian hands because they could be useful in some sort of military fashion and Hitler imagined that he could use the POWs as a 'bargaining chip', to negotiate towards the end of the war."

The German forces, were terrified of what the consequences of a Soviet attack would be. The Red Army had a fearsome reputation in battle and death was very much part of their  way of waging war, not only on the military, but civilians as well.

Despite all these plans, it wasn’t until the winter of 1944/45 that Hitler's orders were carried out. Himmler gave the order to evacuate all the eastern camps demanding, “no healthy prisoners remain in any of the camps.”

 

This set in motion a series of events that created the Long March...