Here is the product of my labours:
It's all shot on 16mm film. The idea was to used out-of-date film stock to try and get something that didn't look crisp and new. The stuff I used was about 20 years past its sell-by date, which turned out to be a monumental pain in the arse for the processing lab as the images all came out very dark, despite me compensating for it by opening up the camera aperture.
I'm not completely happy with the music. If anyone has some newsreel type music that is less bright and bouncy please let me know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQme4EByHOQ
New Version
Martin, Martin, Martin. Simply the best reenactment film I have ever seen.
Technically stunning, a brilliant recreation of the newsreel genre and not a script to be seen. All played 'live', all shot on the trot. Quite delicious.
watching it for the fourth time. 
good show that man! 
Absolutely superb
Just Brilliant! 
“I wanted to come to the Volga at a specific location at a specific city. By chance it carries the name of Stalin himself. So don’t think I marched there for this reason – it could carry another name – but because there is a very important goal... this goal I wanted to take – and you know – we are very modest, we have it already."
Adolf Hitler, November 1942
"Comrades, Red Army men, commanders and political workers, men and women guerrillas! It is on your perseverance, staunchness, fighting skill and readiness to discharge your duty to the country that the defeat of the German-fascist army and the liberation of the Soviet land from the Hitlerite invaders depend! We can and must clear the Soviet land of Hitlerite vermin."
Joseph Stalin, November 1942
Amazing... I love it. 
I've watched a lot of newsreel footage whilst researching this hobby, and apart from the fact its colour it's 100% got the feel of all of them.
Martin, that is simply fantastic
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Truly Excellent. Well done that man.
I have a small skewer hidden in the collar of my jumping jacket, and a razorblade in my gaiter, as well as my knife.
WOW FANTASTIC !!!
I've watched a lot of newsreel footage whilst researching this hobby, and apart from the fact its colour it's 100% got the feel of all of them.
For me it's the colours that make it work. Making it B&W looks like video that's been fannied around with and sort of negates all the trouble and expense of shooting film
There WAS a colour newsreel called The National News but it folded in 1937. Pathe and Movietone only began to use colour after the war.
Oh there was and you've certainly captured that perfectly.
But the whole thing, the movement, the way it's shot. Everything reminds me of a 40s newsreel. Just the fact it's colour detracts slightly from the immersion. Even when I see real colour footage of the time it looks almost unreal because I'm used to B&W so much!
Note that there's even real colour film of HG doing training...
Heh, I think it is the first 'airsoft' video I have shown the female members of the family where they didn't yawn or wander off halfway through or just guffaw at their dad/husband but said at the end "Gosh, that was good." High praise indeed!
Now that's Praise !!
WW2 in Colour/color:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJd9LZSjP8s (This one specifically shows Home Guard in colour on manoeuvres from about 6'40" on)
There were quite a few privateers using colour film throughout the war.
Martin it's brilliant. No two ways about it, regardless of level of 'immersion' some people might feel.
Heh, don't get me wrong, I think it is brilliant, and I also think you did the right thing by filming it in 20 year out of date colour! 
The real Home Guard look a bit sharper when it comes to drill 
I tried to get John Thaw for the VO but his agent won't return my calls 
Yes we all fecked up the drill big time. 
The VO is ace, btw... did you do it? The clipped accent is great.
And I was really proud that me and Dean stayed in time on that march - and did the shorty leggy steps on a corner, on a hill...
Yes. Wartime commentators managed to have excellent enunciation delivered at rapid-fire speed. It's surprisingly difficult to do convincingly. I've also tried to emulate the Lo Fi sound technology of the '40s which is why the music cracks all over the place.
Oh another question... the train. Is that your footage as well or stock footage from elsewhere?
