Introduction

Welcome to the After the War with Hannelore DVD production notes and educational guide. This downloadable PDF is designed for the educator and members of the public who are interested in documentary film and Cold War history. My aim with this tool was to produce an information guide as a companion to the film, to offer insights into the filmmaking process, and to provide a database of technical and historical information on the Cold War. I hope you will find this package useful and that it will enable further study and understanding of documentary film and the Cold War in Berlin.

This film is a portrait of Hannelore Scheiber during her years growing up in post-war Berlin. The story follows a linear chronology from her birth in a Berlin hospital in January 1945. It describes her family circumstances during the war and post-war era, contact with Russian soldiers, the Russian blockade, and the Berlin Airlift (Luftbrücke) from 1948 to 1949. The film documents her school years from 1951 to 1967, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, meeting her husband Jean Devigne, their courtship and marriage, and their crossing to the West at Checkpoint Charlie in 1982. My intention with this documentary was to film Hannelore at specific locations in Berlin and document her stories and memories. My goal was to catch her emotions around the most important experiences she remembers from growing up in post-war Berlin.

I met Hannelore and her husband, Jean Devigne, in 1994; years after both of my parents had passed away. We first established a client-artist relationship when they became interested in my paintings. A personal friendship grew from this which now has elements resembling a familial relationship. As I got to know Hannelore, I became interested in her childhood and adult years in Berlin after the war. The impetus behind making this film was her stories, my personal attachment to her, and my interest in World War II and Cold War history.

Scott and Hannelore at Hotel Adlon, Berlin

These seven vignettes of Hannelore’s life are my way of reciprocating all that she’s given me in our friendship. I also believe very strongly that oral histories like hers are valuable records documenting the post-war period and the Cold War years in Berlin, the epicenter of the end of WWII in Europe. What makes these seven vignettes special is that they are so personal. As we are confronted with war on an ongoing basis, I think there is value in narrative historical war documentaries that deal with the real and direct impact of warfare on human beings. Personal testimonies offer a specific, concrete means for understanding the horrors of war. And because they are so personal and real, they avoid the abstraction and separation that are possible when war is discussed through the language of politics, operations, or policies. Documentaries of this nature offer a unique opportunity for understanding.

Technical Information on Film

From September 11th to 25th 2006, I went to Berlin with Director of Photography Emmet Walsh to film (in super 16mm) Hannelore recounting her memories in situ for the seven vignettes.

The film is composed of seven tableaux. Each one was to be filmed in accordance with the era in which the events actually occurred. This determined both the treatment of black & white vs. colour, and the appropriate aspect ratio. In the end we chose not to use the different ratios because the film ended up being a short.

The intro sequence features the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe by Peter Eisenman. This segment acknowledges the end of the war and the many Jews that were killed under the Nazi regime.

Vignette 1 The Hospital 1945 This contains Hannelore’s birth story in January 1945 at the end of the war, the hospital and the circumstances around her mother’s delivery.
	Vignette 2 The Russian Occupation and the Apple Celar 1946 This presents Hannelore’s mother lodging a Russian officer, and the family hiding in the apple cellar.
Vignette 3 Home, My Father and the Railways 1947 The vignette explains family circumstances around the war and post-war era. Hannelore’s father spent time in a Russian hospital and worked for the railways in the Russian sector.
	Vignette 4 The Blockade and Airlift 1948-49 The Russian Blockade and the Berlin Airlift are remembered here.
Vignette 5 Schol Years 1951-1967 This section explores memories of Hannelore’s school years from 1951 to 1967: her elementary, high school, and further education, teaching, and her experiences in the broader education system.
	Vignette 6 The Wal 1961 This is a remembering of the Berlin Wall and its impact in 1961. Students, friends, and family were caught on the other side of the wall. Some student friends were shot trying to escape East Berlin.
Vignette 7 Checkpoint Charlie 1982 Included here are memories of Checkpoint Charlie, which she crossed with her husband in 1982.

Video and 16mm film footage was taken of Hannelore on location, where she reminisced and discussed her past experiences. These specific locations from her childhood, adolescent, and adult years in Berlin triggered her emotions and created the story line. She followed a rough script, but it was my intention to allow the filming and her narrative to be free flowing in order to capture her raw emotions and pure memories as they were elicited in response to the sites we visited.

Hannelore being filmed at the “Hunger Rake” Tempelhof Airport

	Filming Techniques
2 Emmet filming outside sunroof at East Side Gallery 3 Emmet filming Hannelore’s elementary school) 4 Emmet filming Hannelore at Ostkreuz, her father’s S Bahn route 5 Emmet filming Hannelore telling the apple cellar story at Gerda Dressler’s house		This film is made up of five mediums, film (16 mm) and video footage, photographs, archival footage (stock shots), animations and narrative voiceovers and musical soundtrack. My director of photography, Emmet Walsh, and I filmed many present day sites in Berlin as inserts, though we mostly used archival material to highlight the periods of the vignettes. This archival footage was used when Hannelore made reference to other specific sites or events. I gathered my sound from a Mini DV camera, which I shot in tandem with Emmet’s 16 mm work. This enabled a second point of view and the possibility of reviewing the days work. This technique was recommended to me by Harvard film Archivist and documentarian Steffen Pierce. For the insert sections, Emmet used a tripod and various handheld techniques for night and day shots of Berlin monuments, buildings and neighbourhoods. We also shot through the sunroof of our car and from a riverboat tour on the Spree and Havel rivers. My second cameraman Olaf Högermeyer shot the opening sequence of the Holocaust monument with a high definition camera. The film was shot with available light.

Olaf Högermeyer filming Peter Eisenmen’s Holocaust monument

My editors Martin Pensa and Gwenaëlle Larpent edited the off-line on an AVID system, assisted by Pascaline Maître. All the special effects during the on-line editing phase, were created with, Smoke and Flame by Discrete Logic at Buzz Image. The bulk of the animations and 3D work was done by lead compositor Nicolas Laprise Pellicelli and compositors Jean-Michel St-Pierre Lapierre and Mathieu Taggart on Flame, and by Marc-André Poulin with Softimage XSI. The Airlift 3D animation and the MacLeod Nine Productions intro was created by Studio Parsons in Maya 3D. All titles, citations and my graphics were created by Tagteam Studio in Adobe Photoshop and Indesign. And finally the on-line editing was done by Sarah Picard and Martin Pensa in High Definition at Buzz Image in Montreal.

Men loading food during airlift Hannelore holding hands with childhood friend Hannelore pointing out Checkpoint Charlie C-54 Rosinen Bomber “Candy Bomber” during the Airlift 1948-49 The Wall

Hannelore and I went through her family photo albums to select photos of herself, family, friends and pertinent sites in Berlin, (i.e. home, schools, places with any personal connection). These photos were used to highlight each section or tableau of the film. The selected photos were then scanned, photoshopped and animated into the vignettes by my compositing team, which was led by Nicolas Laprise Pellicelli. I also took 500 stills of present-day Berlin and bought the rights to archival photos from the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. These were used as inserts for the Airlift, Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie vignettes.

I acquired the rights for archival film footage from the National Film Board of Canada with the aim of contextualizing the end of WWII Airlift and the Wall periods.

Pencil animation hand shake in stages

Having a background in fine arts and an interest in animation, I decided to animate forty images for the film. My editor Martin Pensa and I used the animations as a vehicle to illustrate moments and locations that we had no footage for. This was also my solution to not having a budget to procure the rights to all the stills and archival footage we wanted. My approach was fairly straightforward, I drew my images on Mylar (a material once used by architects) and set up a tripod with a digital camera and photographed the stages of the drawing. The jpegs were later assembled as a moving picture, much like early animations. The animations and VFX was directed by Martin Pensa and lead compositor by Nicolas Laprise Pellicelli and his compositing team.

For the film score, I composed a total of nine songs for the soundtrack. Seven of the songs were composed to reflect the periods represented in each vignette. For Home, My Father and the Railways 1947, for example, I wrote an original blues piece after the style common in the 1940s. The bulk of the lyrics for the music accompanying the film score were constructed from Hannelore’s narrative voice. As a parallel narrative voice in the songs, I chose as woman singers Robin Gorn, Laure Péré, and Josée Gagnon, as I felt the female voices represented Hannelore herself, against a few male voices that represented her father, or best suited the context of the vignette, such as the The Wall which is a very mechanical and robotic. The songs were recorded by engineer Ky Anto, Ky recorded the musicians live off the floor with a portable Pro Tools unit.

Musicians Robin Gorn and Alex Flores

I did my sound design at Audio Z with Alexandre Wang-Legentil. Alex and I looked for natural environmental sounds like birds to emphasize the notion of ‘rebirth’ and greenness of present day Berlin. In Alex’s sound bank, we were able to get accurate helicopter, airplane, and tank sounds that best represented the periods we were looking for. Our sound mix was done in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound at the National Film Board of Canada with Serge Boivin.

I have also constructed the film so it can be presented both as a traditional documentary and also as a film installation, in which case I would incorporate other art practices and environments. The film installation option consists of seven digital projectors and seven 4 X 1m Mylar screens (which will be attached to 1m long horizontal rods and hung from the ceiling with wire). Each vignette ranges from three to five minutes long and the total running time of all seven vignettes is 20 minutes. Each projector is timed in intervals and goes through projection one to seven, then begins again and repeats the cycle. This is designed to give an overview of Hannelore’s life in the context of the historical events going on in Berlin. Given the types of technology available to filmmakers we now have even greater opportunities of making narrative biographies and experimental film and video available to the public. Thus I am interested in exploring the way films can now be presented. It is my aim to explore these new possibilities by installing these Mylar screens in public forums in Canada and Germany.

Installation plan

Director’s Mission

The Oral History project

During the course of making this Cold War film, I realized how important it was for me to document Hannelore Scheiber’s story. Over the years I have developed a respect for the storyteller as he or she is a tangible living voice and a link that connects us to the past. With film, we have the luxury of recording these witnesses to history, to capture and share their personal testimonies with a broader audience, as Stephen Spielberg has done with his ‘Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation’.

Film is a powerful medium, as it has the potential to be accessible to many people. In this sense, cinema is like the amphitheater of ancient Greece. In contemporary film, we still reference the archetypal heroes and heroines from the past.

I have discovered in popular culture that film can have either a negative or a positive influence on society. In the short history of film, the medium has been used as a propaganda tool to promote hate and violence and as a moral and ethical tool to enable us to better understand the complexities of the world around us. Some of us have the freewill to choose which one we support. As a director I have exercised my democratic freedom to use this film as an ethical and as a positive educational tool.

I am particularly interested in using film to document our elders who have witnessed and experienced the aftermath of wars. Sadly, war is still very much a part of our day to day experience and we have become detached and desensitized through mass media, in what Noam Chomsky refers to as, “trivializing the severity of war.”

This film was influenced and inspired by Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States and Ken Burns’ series, War, because they both enabled ‘the people’, to recount their own personal stories, instead of presenting organizations with a vested interest in sanitizing the impact of war. Like Zinn and Burns I have taken an everyday person’s story, because I felt it was important to humanize the tragedies of war and make them accessible to the public. In After the War with Hannelore, I have tried to faithfully do the same as Zinn and Burns, and portray Hannelore’s stories at the forefront of a series of important historic Cold War events in Berlin from 1945 to 1989.

It is my hope that this documentary will illustrate a woman emancipating herself from circumstantial suffering which ensued from an incredible series of events beyond her control. From what I have learned, it was the collective effort of her communities and the Allies that helped her overcome the darkness of the Cold War, enabling her to release it as the light of compassion. ‘Freeing ourselves from suffering’ is how Canadian filmmaker Velcrow Ripper refers to this light of compassion via his Tonglen meditation practice, which is featured in the DVD extras of his National Filmboard of Canada documentary film Scared Sacred. In my film I have also tried to find what Ripper describes as the ‘flowers in the ashes’ and looked for the positive lessons out of the atrocities of war. Ripper’s downloadable meditation guide has inspired me to create and provide you with this downloadable PDF ‘production notes and education package’. It is my aim to offer a forum for discussion and learning, and to encourage people to tell their own stories and make their own films.

In closing I hope, that Hannelore’s story puts a face to the events of post-war Berlin, which is incredibly important as the epicenter of the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War. I welcome you to Hannelore’s life road map. It is my hope that her story enables us to let go of the suffering, hate, and darkness, to finally welcome the light of compassion to a city of great learning and possibilities. My hope is that this film might instill hope and love as well as peace, and ultimately contribute to the democratization of our planet by helping to end fear and war. I welcome you to one woman’s journey in doing this very thing.

World Trade Center Montréal 2008 Potsdamer Platz Berlin 2006 East Side Gallery Berlin 2007

Credits Written and Directed by G. Scott MacLeod
Based on the oral history and memories of Hannelore Scheiber Featuring Hannelore Scheiber And Gerda Dressler Barbara Schulz Jean Devigne Director of photography Emmet Walsh Lead Editor Martin Pensa Editor Gwenaëlle Larpent Assistant Editor Pascaline Maitre Animations and VFX Directed by Martin Pensa Sound Jean Devigne Sound Design Alexandre Wang-Legentil Original Score G. Scott MacLeod Ky Anto Shaun Pilot Line Producer Vuk Stojanovic Executive producers Hannelore Scheiber Jean Devigne Produced by G. Scott MacLeod MacLeod Nine Productions	Cameraman 16mm Emmet Walsh High definition cameraman Olaf Högermeyer Additional video and still photography G. Scott MacLeod Erik West - Millette Assistant camera Cinzia Riveri Driver Jean Devigne/Code Director’s Assistant Rebecca Arsenault Film consultant Isabelle Marin Production Zèle German history consultant Rosemarie Schade Post Production Supervision Vuk Stojanovic Producer (NFB) Pierre Lapointe Coordinator (NFB) Marie-Christine Guité B&W Film Processing Niagra Custom Lab Colour Film Processing Cité Lab Telecine technician (NFB) Aldo La Ricca HD Digitizing PRIM Photos Digitizing Photo Service	Transcoding Vision Globale Editors Martin Pensa (Baku Studios) Gwenaëlle Larpent (Buzz) Pencil Animations G. Scott MacLeod On Line Buzz Online Editor Sarah Picard (Buzz) Lead Compositor Nicolas Laprise Pellicelli (Buzz) Compositors Jean-Michel St-Pierre Lapierre Mathieu Taggart 3D Animation Bernard Parsons 3D Artiste Marc-André Poulin (Buzz) VFX Director Martin Pensa (Buzz) Direct Sound Jean Devigne/Code English voice over recording Rebecca Arsenault German and French voice over recording Productions Tonnerre de Brest Voice over editing Julia Innes Sound design Alexandre Wang-Legentil (Audio Z) Sound Mix (NFB) Serge Boivin

Sound Technician (NFB) Daniel Trépanier Music, Lyrics and Arrangements G. Scott MacLeod
Soundtrack Producers Ky Anto G. Scott MacLeod Shaun Pilot Soundtrack engineering, mixing and mastering Ky Anto Singers Ky Anto Robin Gorn Josée Gagnon G. Scott MacLeod Shaun Pilot Laure Péré Jubilee Kids Choir Musicians Bas, electric guitar and piano Ky Anto Saxophone Joséane Brunelle Percussion Alex Flores Acoustic Guitar G. Scott MacLeod Cello Philippe Mius d’Entremont Violin Cassandra Norton McAuslan’s hedge clippers Shaun Pilot Resonator and Spanish guitar Tristan Tondino Soundtrack available at www.macleod9.com iTunes.com CDbaby.com	Stock shots and photo archive material Research Julia Innes Stefanie Küehnel Scanning and photo cropping John Huddart Sylvain Chaussée Credits Mylène Reid (Buzz) Stock Shot Footage Library The National Film Board of Canada Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, Germany Picture Archive Kathi Rumlow Henry Ries, The New York Times, DHM, Berlin, Germany Airlift Mural photograph in Templehof Airport courtesy of Dick Kramer Studios www.dickkramer.com Truman Presidential Museum and Library Montana, USA Sina Küehnel’s personal photo collection Hannelore Scheiber’s personal photo collection	Citations The Berlin Candy Bomber by Col. Gail S. Halvorsen, Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Bountiful, Utah, 1990. The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor, Viking Penguin Books, New York, 2003. French Translation Laure Péré German Translation Dieter Halbwidel Rosemarie Schade Helma Kroeh-Sommer Formating and Corrections Romi Norrington DVD Authoring Tim Rideout (Fibii Media) Press kit copy editor Rob Lutes Webplatform Studio Parsons Graphic design Tagteam Studio Accounting Ted Christeas Claudia Chin

Thank you Canada
Concordia University Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Consul General, Montreal, Jörg Metger Consul General, Montreal, adjoint Hans-Joachim Friess Consul General, Montreal, Press and Cultural Affairs Anja Mengewein German Chamber of Commerce in Montreal, Sascha Bardens Jubilee Elementary School Serge Laforest at Audio Z Gilles Castilloux at Main Film Peter McAuslan at McAuslan Brewing Stef Mercier at Mercier Holdings Judy Heron at Unionville Insurance Jessica & Liz Charbonneau at Tagteam Studio Ky Anto Marrek Bagga Melanie Bauer Joséane Brunelle Rosalina Cerritos Lindsay Eberts Craig Gillett Gad Henrion Doug Mackay Walter Makowski Alyson MacLeod Roger MacLeod Stewart MacLeod Libby McCullough Norma Nixon Stéphanie Pascal Gerald Pedros Randy Renaud	Pierre Ross Christina Sciascia Ezra Soiferman Nancy Stokes Tristan Tondino Jaime Torres Tania Zolty Marilynn Vanderstay Eric Witticomb Germany Gerhard Bormann Bert Holterdorf at Praxis Hagen Galerie Olaf Jansen and the staff at Mutter Hoppe Sina Küehnel Stefanie Küehnel Horst Kaspar and Uschi Gruber Olaf Hogermeyer and Cinzia Riveri Gunter and Barbara Schulz Claudia Seeber at The Canadian Embassy Berlin Jochen Simon Claude Trudelle and Manuel Fifel at Bureau Québec in Berlin USA Matt Rigney Steffen Pierce Dick Kramer	In memory of Ghislain Pensa (1958-2008) Produced with the financial participation of The National Film Board of Canada Through the Filmmakers Assistance Program (FAP) and Main Film. With the additional support of Buzz Audio Z KODAK Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Concordia Univerisity B rasserie McAuslan Brewing T agteam Studio Studio Parsons Shot on location in Berlin, Germany MacLeod Nine Productions 2009 © Afterthewarwith.hannelore@gmail.com www.macleod9.com/film.html