Within the Community Voice Method, film serves as an engaging, nuanced medium for communicating research results. Each Community Voice film is comprised of excerpts from stakeholder interviews. These excerpts are not just selected on artistic grounds; rather, they exemplify shared perspectives that were identified through qualitative analysis of the interview data. By combining the voices of many stakeholders, the films strive to represent the prevalent local discourses that address a salient topic. The films are not narrated: only the voices of interviewees are heard.
In each film, interview excerpts are frequently illustrated with images that depict the subjects being discussed. These illustrations provide a means of clarifying, amplifying, or inflecting interviewees’ statements. Early CVM films (from POL and LTP) were actually comprised almost entirely of animated still imagery, which accompanied audio-recorded interview footage. In subsequent projects, interviews were video-recorded.
CVM films are small-scale productions; field recordings were typically made by one or two researchers using unobtrusive equipment. As such, the technical quality of the footage is not uniform. However, their goal was not to be “high-gloss,” but rather to be authentic community-based documents that provoke local dialog. In this respect, they have been well received.