Frontline

From the sound a Russian bullet makes as it zips over your head to how an FPV drone operator keeps his fingers warm in sub-zero temperatures – Daily Mail reporters Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman have captured it all on video. And they have turned it into the hugely successful YouTube series 'Frontline', attracting 10.6million+ views this year.

By combining traditional frontline reportage with the popular modern ‘explainer’ video format, Pendlebury and Wiseman have built a huge audience that rivals the YouTube viewership of respected global broadcasters. They have also earned a hard-won respect from Ukrainian forces themselves, which has in turn brought increasing access to frontline areas which are off-limits to other Western journalists.

Each episode of Frontline combines exceptional access to the Ukrainian front, often accompanying Special Forces, with a unique perspective on the wider aspect of the war. Be it why a spade is still one of the most effective weapons of modern warfare, how drones have transformed the battlefield or what winter on the front is really like for the forgotten infantrymen. The series began with a terrifying firefight between Russian and Ukrainian forces, before Pendlebury and Wiseman made a harrowing escape from a trench under Russian artillery fire in broad daylight. Next came a fascinating study of the dynamics of trench warfare, combining motion graphics with history and interviews close to the Russian lines. Both got millions of views worldwide.

They have made four trips to the Ukrainian frontline this year. Their latest films include a study of drone warfare, during which the pair were given unprecedented permission to operate their own drones on the frontline – resulting in some spectacular footage. This combined with exclusive video shot by the drone operators themselves, produced a film which has been viewed 1.7million times on YouTube. Their next film about Ukraine’s winter killing fields examined the reality of fighting a war in the brutal freezing conditions of eastern Ukraine. Pendlebury and Wiseman were invited to film with Thunder Company who suffered catastrophic losses during a brutal battle at the front. Their next film saw them visit the Ukrainian town of Niu York days before it fell to Russian forces during their advance in the Donbas. Throughout the film they are pursued and tracked by a Russian FPV drone as they accompany a Ukrainian special forces reconnaissance patrols.

Pendlebury and Wiseman show that in the new media landscape, applying traditional print journalistic skill to a new medium can create an exciting new format with an audience well beyond what British newspapers have ever reached before. By working with young office-based producers, editors and designers, including Senior Producer Olga Cheng and Motion-graphic Designer Riccardo Fissore, Pendlebury and Wiseman have created a product that reaches a global audience on a par with traditional broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN. These two veterans of Fleet Street and their new lease of life as YouTubers deserves to be recognised as being in the finest traditions of British journalism.