Hello /r/AskHistorians!
The title pretty much says it all.
I am turning to you, because you are far more versed in the ressources available on this topic.
I am located in Southern France, and while I'm willing to travel as much as my wallet will permit, I am more likely to be financially able to go to places around (Western) Europe.
As soon as the project will have more substance, I will make a budget and look for funding. I have a university scholarship that sponsors projects and might quite possibly fund this.
I assume all of the footage is going to be public domain already, am I correct?
If anybody is interested in helping beyond the footage, i.e., being a historic advisor, you're very welcome! The idea is fresh, and at the moment we only want to film the places and intercut for comparison, but some expert narration would definitely be helpful! If anybody is really interested, we could turn this into a mini-documentary.
Thanks in advance!
[I know I already replied to you about this in /r/WWI, but I'm posting it again here for the benefit of any interested readers.]
One that practically cries out to be included is the Hawthorn Ridge redoubt. This was the site of the enormous mine (filled with some 40,000 pounds of high explosive) that was detonated at 0720 on July 1st, 1916, minutes before the opening of the Somme offensive. Other, smaller mines were detonated a few minutes later (0728), but the explosion at Hawthorn Ridge is the one that Malins and McDowell caught on film and subsequently included in their hugely popular feature film, The Battle of the Somme (1916). You can see the detonation here.
I think this makes for an ideal inclusion because a) it's easily located, b) it's from the first moments of what is arguably the defining battle of the war in cultural memory, c) the original footage was itself rather a big deal, not just incidental, and d) given your project's likely focus on the matter of landscapes in transition, it's especially neat to have a piece of footage that shows that moment of change in such an explosive and explicit manner.
Are you looking for battle footage exclusively? That is very very rare because of the limitations of movie technology at the time, the equipment was not very mobile and the filmmakers had to be in the midst of the action (no zoom lenses), which was extremely dangerous as you can imagine. Some well-known battle footage is actually staged after the fact, such as the charge in the 1916 movie Battle of the Somme.
If you are also interested in other footage, such as scenes of mobilization, soldiers in rear trenches, training centres and rest and recreation areas, there is actually quite a lot around.
Would you mind posting this video somewhere once it is done?