Disclaimer: I still don't understand a lot about conventions or frame distance. The following are just my thoughts and may be slightly, or completely, inaccurate.
I've been pottering along with Mantle a bit recently and taking advantage of having a willing and available colleague to do in-role stuff for me, often at the last minute due to my lack of organisational skills. This has meant that I haven't been experimenting as much as I should.
This week, I decided to change that. I looked at the list of 33 dramatic conventions with a view to trying some different ones out. I also emailed Luke Abbott about frame distance. I came to the conclusion that to try and understand both would take me a decade, so I'd just get going and see what happened.
The following snippets are related to a WW1 Mantle we are involved in.
A film, or possibly an overheard conversation, or a bit of both:
My colleague and I sat looking at a newspaper.
"Have you seen the news?"
"More about the war? So glad it's over."
"Yes - but look at the front page; they're giving medals to all those poor soldiers."
"I should hope so too. Hang on - isn't that Arthur?"
"From down the road?"
"Yes, it is! Arthur's on the front page! I'll have to show his mum."
The children watched very attentively as we did this. We discussed what they'd seen and I then asked: I wonder what that photograph looks like? The children worked in pairs to create the moment in time, one as Arthur and one presenting his medal. From here we looked at medals and created some for Arthur's family to keep.
Incidentally, this may have been an example of shadowy/twilight role - we didn't make it clear who we were.
A letter read in the voice of the writer:
I wanted the children to create some photos of WW1 soldiers using various artistic techniques. To introduce this I sat at the front of the room with a piece of paper, writing a letter and reading it aloud, as Arthur. I put it into an envelope and enclosed a photograph (I didn't show the children the photograph but read aloud, 'I am enclosing a photograph of me in my smart uniform.'
I deliberately avoided eye contact with the children and just hoped they were paying attention: my colleague later reported that they were transifxed what I was saying and doing. This makes a change, so I was pleased. The magic of Mantle, etc.
We talked about why Arthur may have included a photograph and why photographs are important. Then we moved on to creating that photograph.
An account of a person by another person:
Starting with an image of a WW1 casualty dog labelled 'Flo', alongside a note from Arthur (Flo found me. I am hurt but safe. Please come and get me.) I opened up a discussion with the children about who this dog was and what may have happened to Arthur. I then stepped into role as the dog's handler/the medic (not specified - again perhaps a twilight/shadowy role) and gave an account of Flo going out and finding Arthur and then returning with this note.
Out of role, we established what had happened, what the photo and note in Arthur's belongings meant, and what the role of dogs during WW1 was. This led to making a memorial for the dogs of WW1 (as artists), including holding a minute's silence for them, as suggested by the children. Deep thinking from Year One.
In conclusion: while MoE can be bewildering to the inexpert among us, experimentation leads to glimpses of clarity and much good learning.
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