Over the last two weeks Alastair Nisbet has explained how the Children of World War II project took shape. This week he explains what the next step was for the project…
—
A vital part of any project is getting your work to the audience. In our case getting people listening to our audio dramas quickly and easily without obstacles like downloading apps or logging onto podcast providers.
We needed people to be able to click a link or scan a code and click play. Instant gratification. So that’s what we did. Drawing on experience from previous projects we built a web player with a familiar look: play/pause button, +15 and -15 seconds, a picture and brief description of each episode as well buttons for the next or previous episode. Think of the player as a digital jukebox – each episode with its own web address and QR code.
That enabled us to design postcards depicting four of the eight drama episodes, with a QR code pointing directly to that episode. We loaded them into our audio player and got the postcards printed in black and white on brown Kraft board. We were ready to launch the show…
—
On the anniversary of VE day, May 8th, the Puddletown group of six girls and a boy, stepped onto the stage at Nothe Fort. Kathie Prince accompanied on clarinet and the audience joined in from their WWII songsheets as they all sang:
Potato Pete, Potato Pete,
See him coming down the street,
Touting his good things to eat,“Get your hot potatoes from Potato Pete”
followed by the poignant Shine on Victory Moon made famous by Ivy Benson and her all-girl band:
In my Dreams I’m waiting in Rainbow LaneTo greet my darling back again.
Shine on Victory Moon, Shine on
And guide my loved one home.
It seemed a good fit for episode eight which ends on the evening of June 5th, 1944 the eve of D-Day and a day before a full moon.
The three primary schools were busy with SATs tests on VE Day, so we brought all 100 children back to the Nothe later in May for a final launch celebration and dance.
—
In the next part – Part 4, Dancing the Palais Glide
Can’t wait to listen? Click here for episode 7 on the dedicated web player: https://screen-play.co.uk/urlplay/?songid=7 or click here for the project on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/eau9qdrf