As a type of film or television develops, filmmakers and directors find certain techniques that become useful or effective in creating texts. These techniques get used again and again, and eventually they are associated with and are used to define certain types of texts. The techniques then become known as conventions. Documentary has its fair…
Tag: Reenactments
‘The Cummington Story’ Tells Story of Refugees and Their New Community
In researching documentary history, I look for mentions of women who have contributed to the developments and growth of the form. One name I found was Helen Grayson, who co-directed The Cummington Story with Larry Madison in 1945. The Cummington Story is a short about the integration of World War II refugees into a town called…
Memory and Narrative in ‘Stories We Tell’
Stories We Tell offers a sophisticated retelling of a family’s story that calls into question the nature of memory and narrative. It consists of extensive interviews, voiceover narration, archival footage, and staged footage to tell not multiple stories, but a single story from multiple perspectives. These perspectives come from director Sarah E. Polley’s family and…