History of Ethnographic Film - Pt 3: The Debate

Ethnographic filmmakers have choices when creating a film out of raw footage. Anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker Rob Lemelson outlines some priorities that might guide filmmakers, such as holism and narrative storytelling, along with some editing strategies that can be used to create a compelling film such as juxtaposition, accumulation, voice-over narration, and title cards. This video also addresses options to create a visual style for a film such as archival footage, stock footage,original graphics, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and a soundtrack. Some experimentation with Lemelson’s own raw footage illustrates the impact of different sound elements.

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Resources:

Banks, M. and Ruby, J. (2011) Made to be Seen: Perspectives on the History of Visual Anthropology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Emory University. (2026) Introduction to Ethnographic Cinema Research Guide.

Heider, K.G. (2006) Ethnographic Film: Revised Edition. Texas: University of Texas Press.

Ruby, J. (2000) Picturing Culture: Exploration of Film and Anthropology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.