Cousin Connie: A Few Stories
Interviewer, Camera, Edit & Design
In 2009, I shot my first interview on my newly acquired JVC GY HD100 camera, enlisting my Cousin Connie as guinea pig. This was primarily an experiment to create a video memoir that combined biographical anecdotes with scanned photographs. Over the course of an hour, we covered Connie's childhood memories, the first time she met her future husband, and the early years of her marriage.
I created an edit based on that first session which my sister screened for Connie on her laptop. I hoped to meet again to continue collecting stories but my family visits to Massachusetts were few and far between.
Inspired by Grandma, a Thousand Times, a documentary I saw during the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival, I explored opportunities to use images without cutting away from my interview subject. So much of the storytelling plays out on her face and especially in her large expressive eyes.
Stills
I created an edit based on that first session which my sister screened for Connie on her laptop. I hoped to meet again to continue collecting stories but my family visits to Massachusetts were few and far between.
Several months after Connie passed away in May 2011, I felt drawn back to this piece and inspired to redo it in her memory. In this version, I restored some interview footage excluded from the original, replaced generic creative commons music with period music found on the Internet Archive, and sprinkled in some newly discovered family pictures.
Inspired by Grandma, a Thousand Times, a documentary I saw during the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival, I explored opportunities to use images without cutting away from my interview subject. So much of the storytelling plays out on her face and especially in her large expressive eyes.
Stills
Left: Connie's mother Erna (my grand aunt) in the wedding dress created by Aunt Hilda (my grandmother). Right: Connie's daughter Linda (my cousin) wearing the same dress dyed black.
Left and Top: My grandmother Hilda.
Bottom: My grandmother Hilda, grandfather Alexander, grand aunt Erna, cousin Connie
