Ashley Nelson’s documentary, The Combination, is part of the New Orleans Neighborhood Story Project. Use Nelson’s project to think about different ways of telling your own story.

• What are Nelson’s rhetorical goals?
• How does she seem to reach for these goals through her documentary modes?
• What rhetorical strategies does she use in her documentary? (images, interviews, profiles, etc.)
• What do you find particularly strong about her method of storytelling?
• If Nelson was in your critique group, what might you say to her in a response session?

I would like you to think about your own project as a story.

• What modes will you use? Why?
• What kinds of rhetorical strategies will you use?
• For inventional purposes, follow Nelson’s lead and divide your project up into a few major categories. (Just brainstorm on paper for a few minutes.) Then think about what smaller “stories” would fall under these headings. Share these responses with your group members.

From Bill Nichols, Chapter 6

Consider the different kinds of modes your documentary might have. The different modes reflect different rhetorical goals of a documentary.

What are “rhetorical goals” of a text?

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Information is presented through specific designs.

What are some different ways of presenting information/arguments/narratives about a subject?

• Think about the different parts/pieces of the subject.
• What kinds of different patterns can those pieces be put into?
• How do the different patterns help to convey that larger information?
  • Examples:
    • This American Life
    • Folks Songs for Five Points
    • Pittsburgh Signs Project

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- Ethnography: ethnos + graph (people + writing) (more…)

The Arcades Project shows a method of research, writing, and thinking. Yet, none of what is here might be recognizable as “research.” Benjamin’s methodology is inventive, but it is also a very different way of thinking. (more…)