Petr Nuska: Exploring Filmic & Video Approach in Visual Ethnography [conference paper]

Presented at the "VANDA - Vienna Anthropology Days" conference, 20th of September 2018

PDF:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Abstract:

This paper explores recent trends in the involvement of using film and video in ethnographic research. In the last decade, there has been a significant methodological shift in visual ethnography, most notable driven by technological advancement in the production of two traditional motion picture media – film and video. In the digital era, the boundaries between these two media are slowly dissolving. In 2018, for instance, there are numerous smartphones capable of capturing video in 4K resolution, a feature of a very few high-end digital cinema cameras on the market just a decade ago. It is becoming possible to achieve the powerful film effect of shallow depth of field and high dynamic range on these smartphones, devices that, at least originally, were primarily constructed for communication rather than for taking motion-picture footage. Despite the fact that distinguishing the terms film and video in the contemporary world has, therefore, very little practical meaning, visual-anthropology literature still operates with both as if they were two distinguishable concepts (for instance, scholars talk about observational cinema rather than observational video; on the other hand, they recognise the idea of participatory video rather than participatory film). The paper will argue that both film and video represent concepts that are shaped by specific technological and aesthetic aspects from the past, are bound with different film-production practice as well as different ways of doing visual-ethnography.


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References

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Pictures (Creative Commons)

https://pxhere.com/cs/photo/932059 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi... Format_%286498660779%29.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://www.flickr.com/photos/cgiarcl... https://pixabay.com/cs/v%C3%BDvoj-lid... https://pixabay.com/cs/photos/movie%2... https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1435017
http://pngimg.com/download/7873 http://www.argos.co.uk/product/672392...|acid:532-198-3455|cid: 200291090|agid:12525696410|tid:pla-279300410530|crid:66128556170|nw:s|rnd: 17583947754054628782|dvc:c|adp:1o2|mt:|loc: 9046791&gclid=CjwKCAjw7IbaBRBqEiwA6AyZgpqcsXu8MSNHq6x_1PoNC3StT5Da9a- lFBGg8vbhD7iegX2k-nQo5xoCaksQAvD_BwE
http://pngimg.com/download/7891 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... https://www.goodfreephotos.com/albums... picture-at-night-of-water-city.jpg
https://pixabay.com/cs/vhs-páska-fil... https://pixabay.com/cs/filmový-pás-...

Other media (Fair Use)

Film excerpts:
Sonita (2015, dir. by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami)
When God Sleeps (2017, dir. by Till Schauder)
Love Actually (2003, dir. by Richard Curtis)

Additional pictures:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3o69_r8D9pc... meadbateson_msq_rm_final_ls.jpg https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/jean-ro... http://nightingalecinema.org/dead-bir... http://unifiedtao-en.blogspot.com/201...