David’s short film won an Award from ‘Pro Movie maker magazine’

‘Operation Poppy’

While visiting Bottisham Museum near Cambridge, David Spurdens met Andrew Arnold by chance — mid-way through digging a battle trench and leading a re-enactment group portraying a WWII Estonian Brigade. David saw the potential immediately: the museum and its grounds, together with the world these re-enactors had built, offered the perfect setting for a documentary on the curious, compelling world of historical re-enactment.

The concept: a fictional WW2 mission to secure vital orders and capture an enemy commander, staged across the museum's original wartime buildings and grounds. But alongside the story, David wanted to document the people behind it — everyday men and women who, several times a year, step back in time in authentic period uniforms, using real WWII tanks, aircraft, guns and artillery. In doing so, they preserve historic military equipment and keep the stories of the period alive.

Filming began inside the museum's WWII buildings, surrounded by an extraordinary collection of period artefacts, before building to the main event: battle day. Over the following two months, David returned to capture additional scenes, character moments and cutaways, gradually shaping the final story.

The film was edited, graded and finished by David as a full-service project — sound design, effects and voice-over included. German-speaking friends contributed authentic dialogue, and P-51 Mustang fighter footage was worked into an attack sequence on an artillery position under fire.

On battle day, with Andrew Arnold coordinating pyrotechnics, British, American, Free French and Estonian units squared off — because every WWII re-enactment film needs two sides.

The project carried personal weight for David too: his grandfather served in the British Army throughout WWII, adding real significance to the people, period and equipment on screen.

Operation Poppy showcases the breadth of David's skills — documentary storytelling, directing, filming, editing, sound and colour grading — and offers a glimpse of the creativity and versatility he can bring to your next project.