A collaborative project between the BBC’s video-on-demand team, online graphic designers, journalists, newsgathering reporters and the BBC News channel was launched on the BBC News website yesterday.

The special multimedia report, ‘Life with the Lancers’, follows a year of filming with four Army soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Lancers regiment.

They were given cameras to gather video-diary material, took stills as well, and talked to BBC correspondents at different stages during the year about their experiences. The Army’s combat camera team also provided material.

In a blog post discussing the report editor of the BBC News website Steve Herrmann said the aim was to understand what the daily experience of UK troops serving in Afghanistan “in more detail than headline news reports allow”.