Building the JOHNSTON Film: The People and the Process
By Maya Bennett | Temple Gate Films Publicist
A family photograph gives us a face. A letter, a remembered habit, or a story passed down through generations helps us understand the person behind it. Those contributions are an important part of the work taking shape on the JOHNSTON film.
As we continue developing the film, we want to bring you closer to the sailors whose families have shared their photographs and histories with us. Their contributions help guide our character research, our visual references, and the questions we still need to answer.
Where the available material allows, we are giving particular attention to the men whose families have already contributed to the project. Those photographs and records deserve to be part of the conversation as the film develops. Today, I want to share a little more of what we are learning—and how a sailor’s own words can change the way we approach an image.
Clyde Burnett: meeting the man before the battle
Chief Boatswain’s Mate Clyde Burnett begins his account in The Fighting and Sinking of the USS Johnston DD557 with his childhood. Before he describes the ship or the fighting, he tells us something about learning to live among different people:
“I grew up an orphan and lived with four different families. They were all different but were all very good people. I learned to adjust at a very early age.”
Clyde Burnett, printed p. 26.
That is a striking place to begin. His recollection carries gratitude alongside hardship. It gives us something to consider beyond a rank or a list of duties: how he understood the experiences that shaped him. We should be careful about turning a few sentences into a complete explanation of someone’s character, but we can listen closely to what he chose to tell us.
Clyde Burnett’s account and portrait in the crew recollections, printed p. 26. The portrait’s date is not established here; it is not presented as his appearance aboard Johnston in 1944.
Burnett recalls entering the Navy shortly after his eighteenth birthday and serving before his assignment to Johnston. Our family research materials add other pieces to that history. Bringing those sources together takes care: a later portrait, a wartime record, and a recollection recorded decades afterward each answer different questions.
A voice carrying orders through the ship
When Burnett’s account reaches the battle, his responsibilities become very immediate. He describes work around the wounded and the need to send men aft:
“Shortly after evacuating the wounded from the bridge, I received word to send some men to the emergency steering room on the fantail.”
Clyde Burnett, printed p. 28.
He goes on to explain that he went aft himself. In his account, steering orders had to be relayed down a hatch. For a filmmaker, that detail opens a series of practical questions: where is the speaker standing, who can hear him, and how does an order travel from one person to the next? The words on the page have to become understandable action on screen.
Later on the same page, Burnett recalls Captain Evans’s order:
“Shortly after this the Captain said to me "pass the word to abandon ship", and then said "get every one off that you can".”
Clyde Burnett, printed p. 28; spelling retained from the account.
The responsibility in those words is difficult to miss. Burnett then describes searching forward and helping others leave the ship. As we develop JOHNSTON, accounts like this help us think about duty through specific actions: carrying a message, looking for another man, making sure someone else has heard. They also remind us to distinguish a survivor’s recollection from dialogue or staging we create for the film.
Joseph Lester Worling: a face, a life, and a family’s records
Historical portrait of Joseph Lester Worling from the family research materials in Temple Gate Films’ Google Drive collection. Photograph date not established.
The materials for Lieutenant Joseph Lester Worling bring another person into focus. Johnston’s chief engineer was a commissioned officer, a distinction that matters when we build his uniform and place him within the ship’s working relationships. A title alone is not enough to tell us how someone should appear.
The family research also points us toward interests beyond his naval duties, including fishing, hunting, and tinkering with a Model T. Such details give us questions worth pursuing. What did he enjoy talking about? What might a shipmate have remembered about him away from work? We will not invent answers and pass them off as family history, but these threads help keep the research centered on a whole person.
Memorial to Joseph Lester Worling, preserved among the family research materials in Temple Gate Films’ Google Drive collection.
Seeing his portrait and memorial together makes the responsibility personal. The photograph offers an expression to study; the memorial reminds us of the loss carried by a family. Neither image tells the entire story. Our work is to bring the available evidence together with care, including being honest about details that remain uncertain.
Archie Parks: from a historical portrait to a working study
Historical photograph of Archie Philip Parks from Temple Gate Films’ Google Drive research collection.
Archie Philip Parks’s portrait offers a direct way to show what visual development involves. We study the shape of the face, the hairline, the expression, and the relationship between the features. A recognizable likeness has to survive changes in camera angle, lighting, and movement.
AI-generated character and wardrobe study of Archie Philip Parks: dress blues without a hat, View 05. This is a production study, not a historical photograph or a final film frame.
The working study above is one step in that process. Comparing it with the historical reference helps us decide what needs another pass. An appealing image does not by itself settle questions of likeness, age, uniform accuracy, or whether the same person will remain recognizable in the next shot.
The work behind the JOHNSTON film
Creating JOHNSTON is a long, demanding process. Behind the images we share are research, coding, testing, and revision. A face must remain recognizable across different angles and expressions. Uniforms, equipment, movement, and the ship itself all need careful attention—and then those elements must work together across a film.
A single portrait is one step. We also need to carry that person’s likeness into different views, clothing, lighting, and situations. If a face changes when the head turns, or a uniform detail stops matching, that work needs another pass. Each correction must be considered alongside the other images and scenes it affects.
The photographs and stories families have entrusted to us help guide that work. They give us details to preserve and people to do justice to. AI is part of our filmmaking process; bringing these men’s stories to the screen still takes sustained human effort.
There is no simple transaction where we put a dime in and a finished movie comes out. The coding is arduous, and the creative work continues through repeated tests and corrections. A change that improves one view can introduce a problem elsewhere. That is why a short progress image can represent much more work than its few seconds on screen suggest.
Sharing the process while it is still taking shape
Sometimes we share our progress while that work is still underway. That means opening ourselves up to encouragement, thoughtful criticism, and comments that can be harder to hear. We listen, check details, and keep refining. What you see in a progress update is a step toward the finished film, and we appreciate everyone who takes the time to follow the process and offer constructive feedback.
A question about a uniform, a ship detail, or a family resemblance can send us back to the references. We consider that input alongside the historical evidence and the needs of the story. Some choices will remain creative decisions, and we want to be clear when an image is a production study or an AI recreation.
We share these glimpses because we want you to see how much care goes into the work—and to meet the people whose lives give it purpose. Thank you for staying with us as JOHNSTON develops, one carefully considered step at a time. — Maya
P.S. For the families who have shared a loved one’s photograph or history: thank you. Those contributions help us move from a name in the record toward a more considered portrayal. We will continue sharing that work here in the News section as the film takes shape.
Bring a little JOHNSTON to your next coffee break. Our 15-ounce ceramic mug is available below. — Maya
Sources: Clyde Burnett’s recollections in The Fighting and Sinking of the USS Johnston DD557: As Told by Her Crew (September 1991), written and coordinated by Bill Mercer; edited and published by Bob Chastain; Johnston/Hoel Association, printed pp. 26 and 28. Quotations checked against the supplied PDF scan. Additional biographical context: Temple Gate Films’ family-evidence and character research records. Photographs: Worling portrait and memorial, and Archie Philip Parks historical portrait, from the Temple Gate Films Google Drive collection. Parks production study: AI-generated, from the same collection. Historical sources and production interpretations are identified separately.
That's my handsome great uncle Joseph Worling, from Thomas County, GA. Thank you to everyone involved in this very meaningful project.
Really enjoyed listening to Maya read the article. I would never have guessed how much work this project is. But knowing you are being so accurate really adds to the excitement of waiting for the film to be made.