Sarah Polly Stories We Tell

Through revealing that actors had in fact portrayed Polley’s family, the film sets out to emphasise the reliability and truthfulness of the documentary as well as the recounts. Without notifying the audience that such archival footage was fake and placing this revelation at the end of the film allows the audience to really consider what the “truth” is. When asked about the making of the film, Harry Gulkin, Polley’s biological father, states that the truth is a subjective narrative, that these “narratives are shaped in part by their relationship to the person who told it to them, and by the events” (Stories We Tell 2012). Additionally, Polley states, “the way her mother’s story changed depended on who was going the telling” (Vulture, 2013). This point is what resonates from the film and its purpose – that the there are different sides to the truth; one truth to one person is false to another.

Portrayed through a frame story, a story inside a story, the father tells his daughter the of

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

This summer, I had the joy of discovering the work of several independent filmmakers who are genuinely making a difference in this sect of the world of film. One of those immensely gifted ladies just happens to be Mel Mack, director and writer of the indie short film Touching Mary. She eagerly agreed to chat with me about her experience in the industry, the making of this singularly thought-provoking short film, and a little about what she sees in her future.

O’Brien’s choice to make this film a documentary gives the audience a chance to see up close events as they happen, as well as give Maria and her family a voice. Though there are no crazy camera shots or planned movements, this only adds to the simplicity of the film. While some make take this story and re-write it to be more dramatic or even make it a biographical film, they would lose what really makes it special. How real Maria and her mother are. The film captures them are their best and worst, with to needed sugar to coat our palettes. What you see is what you get. One day Maria is fine, but the next she could be in agonizing pain. This is the reality of her situation, but her mother refuses to settle.

Whether it's navigating economic hardships, dealing with mental health issues, or simply coping with the pressures of modern life, families can find themselves grappling with similar issues portrayed in the film. The film highlights the interconnectedness of family roles and how disruptions in one individual’s behavior can reverberate throughout the family

Each person’s honesty reveals his or her perspective on the story of Diane. The film uncovers details of the marriage of Sarah's dad Michael and mom Diane. Each sibling describes Diane as exciting and Michael as more mellow. The family members then continue describing the in’s and out’s of Diane’s family, life, and

The cast had difficulty acting and communicating through desired emotions. The persistent change of setting produced an unrecognizable environment that was fundamental for the story. At some point along the filming process Steven and I witnessed our production derailing, realizing that our final product would fail. The changes that occurred during our summer offered a new perspective both Steven and I were not envisioning. “Nonfiction” transformed from a somber film to a laissez-faire documentary about how best friends share a mutual appreciation of respect for each

This conflict between the mother and daughter pair is significant as it creates a foundation for the story that introduces multiple themes that closely follow the struggle and bitterness of mother-daughter relationships, and the cultural divide

This essay will analyze the stylistic devices in the film American Murder - The Family Next Door, directed by Jenny Popplewell in 2020. The stylistic devices used intelligently in this film were body language, facial expressions, mood, the protagonist, the setting, and the camera angles, these tools enabled the film to effectively convey its message, evoking specific emotions from the audience. These devices influence audience engagement, perception of characters, and the setting of the tone. The entire film evokes a sense of anticipation and eagerness to see what will happen next in the documentary. The first picture is at the beginning of the film when the police show up at Chris’ and Shannan’s house to tell Chris about how Shannan and his two toddler daughters are missing.

An emotionally and physically tortured teenage girl must find a way to survive the abuse of her sadistic mother, who has already killed her sister. STORY COMMENTS This story is inspired by true events or a series of true events. It’s a tale of survival and overcoming adversity. The script tells a dark journey of child abuse, rape, torture, and madness.

When reading the script of THE DESCENDANTS, moments of the finished film’s excellence shine brightly through the pages, but often those moments are buried beneath terrible pacing, clunky characters, and scenes with “Joanie the Friendly Ghost”. As Matt’s narration starts at the beginning of the film, a keen viewer cannot help but attempt to quickly analyze whether the film is about to drift away in a sea of exposition. While these fear are quickly put to rest because of concise and insightful writing, the usefulness of the narration does not become vividly clear until reading the script. With this information at the beginning, the audience no longer has to spend time focusing to piece together aspects of Matt’s life to understand him throughout the film and can instead focus on the main conflict of the story: Matt healing his family while accepting Elizabeth’s immanent death.

To be an epic a story must have a few key elements, including a hero, a call to adventure, and a reward. The hero can be accompanied by a guide and motivated by the death of someone close to them. In my epic, a young girl, named Sarah, is portrayed as the hero. When Sarah was born her father abandoned her and her older sister, Mary, an action that will cause Sarah to never forgive him, or at least, that is what she has always thought. When Sarah was only eighteen a disease spread across her city, causing her family, and the rest of her loved ones to fall ill and die. When an old man approaches her and tells her that her father is still alive and that he wants to ask forgiveness of Sarah, Sarah gets mad that her father would even think that

“A midwifes tale,” made in 1997, directed by Richard P. Rodgers and Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, tells the story of a hard working woman living in early America’s Maine in 1785. Martha Ballard held many roles in her lifetime, some of them being; a mother, wife, employer, aunt, nurse, and midwife. When Martha was fifty she started writing a journal about everything she saw, experienced, and accomplished for the next twenty-seven years of her life. This includes birthing over 1000 babies, along with having her own, living on a farm, watching her husbands mill burn down, and witnessing the death of her daughters. This film tells the story of Martha’s life by play reenactment, and also showing the research and information from the journal given to us by a historian, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

Josie's perspective of her grandmother changes from viewing her as nagging old women to having a loving, caring, respectful relationship with her. The narrative, which is written in first person, enables the reader to see the stages in which her perspective changes as she gains knowledge about her grandmother and also how it is her own actions that