Stories We Tell - Sarah Polley
REPRESENTATION
EDITING
Digital debates
CINEMATOGRAPHY
DOCUMENTARIES
MISE-EN-SCENE
SOUND
She uses it to help the audience navigate the text
Conventional doc techniques
Examples:
opening sequence, we see sarah and michael walking up flight of stairs
camera waits at the top and we watch thee pair climb the stairs
Tripod-mounted talking heads
Experimental use of a small super-8 Camera
Adds another layer of meaning to the the film
Making of
Three layers:
Layer 1
Most conventional
talking head testimonies
Conscientiously lit to appear soft and natural
complies with rule of thirds
crystal clear and are filmed on high-end Sony f900 Cine Alta Digital Camera
Layer 2
Reconstruction of Sarah's family
reflect the testimony of the talking heads, as well as Michael's narration
Actors play the characters in the scenes
so well done they could easily fool the viewer
Filmed on super 8 and bear the 'hallmark' of looking like they archive footage
Polly worked through 20 super 8 camera while filming because they are not designed for all day filming
Layer 3
mixture of analogue super 8 and digital cameras
This is the behind the scenes footage of film equipment
audience understands that the film is about the film being made itself
The super 8 aesthetic does not create a nostalgia atmosphere
We are reflective and active spectators
Talking heads
soft box key lights gently illuminate the faces and natural light is also used for these
adds a degree of realism
Home sequence
Polley does such a good job of recreating the stories it results with the audience believing it's real
The costumes and furniture within the houses fits the 1970's time frame perfectly
Layer 1
Long unbroken takes
Polley let's the people speak
we are supposed to believe them
testimony is important so Polley doesn't cut away
Layer 2
recreated home footage as a technique added to it that makes it look like the footage has been recorder in-camera
a cine camera is operated by a trigger and therefore jump cuts are used to make the footage seem mroe realistic
Layer 3
Meta footage is relaxed and underlines the unusual and almost dreamlike way the footage is presented
Events are explained and then Polley cuts to the reconstructions, matching what we hear
Home footage of Sarah is real because there isn't an actor displayed in the credits for playing her
This layer isn't revealed to us until the end of the documentary
Diegetic sound is very important
testimonies
Michaels narration
its done in third person, creating an interesting layer to the film
Polley get's Michael to re-read some of the lines, especially some which are of difficult memories
She's manipulating the subject and the audience
Close up of the real Dianne Polley singing a spoof of the 1929 song 'Ain't Misbehaving' by Andy Razaf
She changes the lyrics to i'm misbehaving
It was an audition tape for a part she really wanted but didn't get
It becomes a leitmotif throughout the documentary
it appears at poignant moments
Implies that her memory still lives on in the song
could be seen as critical because she did misbehave
equipment has become smaller and more accessible making recording documentaries easier
Cameras are everywhere we have one built into our phones
We record for personal consumptions eg family video and snapchat or facebook livestreams
As a result we are all documentarians
CONCLUSION
digital technology has made it easier for film makers to approach film making and they can record endless footage, although this did not effect Polley's approach
SSD'S and flash memory has resulted with huge amounts of footage being recorder for long periods of time until the battery runs out
Polley knew exactly what she wanted to add into the film therfore digital technology became an aesthetic tool for her
She uses digital camera to show we are witnessing the 'truth'
We know that the digital camera means we are watching testimonies
Maybe we link the high definition to television boradcasting
Film makers approaches
Michael Moore
Participatory and performative documentary film maker
personal
He has a visible presence in front of the camera
he directly interacts with participants within his docs
Gives the impression that he's friends with the subjects or aligned with them, which results with a 'personal touch'
Sarah Polley
participatory documentary film maker
she directly interacts with the subjects
she shapes the entirety of the film
she is seen in archive footage as a young child and she's the subject of reconstruction in level two when she meets her father in a cafe
level 3 we see her operating a super 8 camera and we see her asking and answering questions in level 1
Doc Theory
Robert Flaherty
"Sometimes you have to lie to tell the truth" Nanook of the North (1922)
it was a documentary that featured mostly staged sequences
John Grierson
'Documentary is the creative treatment of actuality"