Film on the march!: visual documents of war and the cinematic war genre

This research uncovers the artistic influence that visual war documents have on the cinematic war genre by analysing key archival documents, war genre films, and scholarly texts. The practice of emulating visual war documents in genre films to craft realistic depictions of war has become a key convention in the cinematic war genre throughout the twentieth century. In recent years the proliferation of visual war documents available through the internet has contributed to widespread familiarity with war images, particularly newer types of visual war documents such as helmet camera footage. These visual war documents are unique to the conflicts of the twenty first century and offer the potential to further the boundaries of the cinematic war genre. However, the emulation of newer visual documents in contemporary war cinema is noticeably lacking, with filmmakers instead continuing to emulate the characteristics of older war documents. By analysing key archival documents and war genre films this research project defines, critiques, and proposes future possibilities for the cinematic war genre. This research also implements creative practice research and offers a short film which tests the arguments of this thesis and experiments with the war genre form. The purpose of this research project is to extend scholarly, artistic, and audience awareness of the influence of visual war documents on the cinematic war genre.