Kate McGonigle Final Project Proposal

World War II Re-enactment on American Soil
Oct. 9, 2009
Kate McGonigle

3. The topic of my story is a young man, Chris Moy, who does WWII re-enactments. I would talk to him about how he started this hobby. It is newsworthy because I have heard of Civil War reenactments, but never WWII, so it would be a fresh angle. I want to know why he enjoys it, what it means to him and of course, what his group actually does. Are there a lot of groups like this? Do people in the group with him have different reasons for doing it?

4. Readers (viewers/listeners) would be interested because as I mentioned, one hears about Civil War re-enactments, but people may wonder about how a WWII re-enactment would work considering no battles were fought in any of the continental states.

5. I searched for WWII re-enactments stories from the last five years in LexisNexis and there were not many results. They have occurred in other states and there were several stories that just included a brief paragraph about a re-enactment that was going to happen, but not many went into depth about it. One interesting story, "WWII lives in 'Battle of Willow Run' Allies vs. Axis re-enactment billed as largest in U.S." was from the Ann Arbor News in Michigan about the "largest World War II heavy-armored battle re-enactment in the United States" that occurred on Aug. 6, 2006. Another story, "They play the losing side in World War II re-enactments" was by Nalia Mielczarek of The Tennessean. She profiled a 21-year-old WWII reenactor, which is similar to my story, except that I think audio will be more lively than words on a page. Finally, there was a story about how WWII reenactors strive for accuracy. This was in the Patriot News from Harrisburg, Pa. and it was called "Military buffs fight for authenticity at WWII re-enactment." So although there were a few clips to give me a little background, there still wasn't an in-depth story, which means a story like mine hasn't really been done before.

6. I plan to take pictures of Chris in his uniform, with all his gear. I will also take pictures of just the gear itself and of anything else they use that he can show me.

7. Chris Moy is the name the subject. If necessary, I can interview someone else who does the reenactments with him, but I think he has a wealth of information about it all on his own.

8. Because I can't actually go see the group do a reenactment, since they are either closed to the public or a few hours away, I will probably interview Chris at his house and take pictures of him in a field.

9. As I mentioned, the only issue I have run into is that I can not actually photograph Chris and his group in action. I also can't get ambient sound from their reenactment, but I can probably get Chris to say some of the things his drill sergeants say to him and if the guns make noise, record that, too.

10. I think this story would be interesting for an older audience, because young people aren't necessarily interested in this war. Obviously, people interested in history would want to have a listen as well.

11. This project probably wouldn't take that much time. I would have a long interview with Chris one day, take pictures another day and edit on a third day.

12. This story does not have a time peg.

13. I don't need any special equipment or help from anyone for this story. I have a digital recorder and a digital camera of my own.

14. No, a word reporter would not be needed to cover this story, and if one did need to, I could do it myself.

15. I am going to be making an audio slideshow (combining audio and photo) because I feel like audio is really compelling and also allows people to be more candid, rather than being nervous about being in front of a video camera. Then, taking pictures of my subject will augment the audio and provide a visual for the listener.