Why I Make Ethnographic Films (Instead of Writing a Monograph…)

11/13/2014 Why I make ethnographic films (instead of writing a monograph…) | Psycho Cultural Cinema

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A N T H ROP OL OG Y ( H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / C A T E G O R Y / A N T H R O P O L O G Y / ) /

N OV E MB E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 3

WHY I MAKEETHNOGRAPHIC FILMS(INSTEAD OF WRITING A

MONOGRAPH…)





Orwell was once asked by his editor to address the question “why I write.” Orwell, in his typically clear and direct manner,listed a range of reasons, from personal ones such as sheer egotism and aesthetic enthusiasm, to much broader ones ofhistorical impulse and political purpose. In thinking about the inaugural post for this blog I asked myself a relatedquestion: “why do I make ethnographic films?” I will follow one of Orwell’s leads as to why he writes (and by extension

why I make films)—the sense of enjoyment , aesthetic or otherwise, one derives from creating films.

(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/orwell.jpg)

George Orwel l

Starting with the mundane and personal, one of the reasons I make films is because it is social and fun. As anyone who has everslogged through the muddled and tortuous intellectual process of writing a dissertation knows, anthropological research—butmore specifically writing—is a lonely (or perhaps, less loaded, “solitary”) endeavor. One almost always writes alone, by oneself,



with only intermittent interactions with others. Feedback is frequently limited, and at times difficult to get (as anyone who hasever pestered a reluctant committee member can attest to). If one is lucky, one may have the intermittent (and expensive) help ofan editor, but this is usually for quite specific purposes, and in today’s digital world, there is often no actual physical contact withone’s editor.

Ethnographic film is frequently (and for those who are successful, almost always) a collaborative, group endeavor. One worksthroughout the process with cameramen, editors, musicians, producers, other production assistants, not to mention thecollaboration and interaction with the subjects of one’s filming, who increasingly may take a role in the production itself. Whilelonely nights in the editing bay are commonplace, and there are many instances where one has to slog away at transcription andtranslation of the video material, when compared with the solitary task of the typical ethnographer, ethnographic film is a much,much more interactive and collaborative enterprise, start to finish.



(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/20120902MM2_9565.jpg)

Shooting an interview in Indonesia, September 2012.



Along with being a much more social activity than typical anthropological fieldwork (and analysis and writeup), ethnographic filmcan be a very creative and aesthetic enterprise. In film one is often working with more of one’s senses. For example, while wealways engage our visual sense throughout our fieldwork, filming something in one’s fieldworks causes one to focus one’sattention and interests in new, different, and at times unexpected ways. Shooting itself (or if working with a cameraperson,collaborating on shooting), is inherently visual, and involves the sense of sight in multiple ways—from composing individualshots, to planning on a sequence of activities to shoot, to understanding (and manipulating) light and the myriad ways lighttransforms, can obscure what one sees, to finding beauty by forcing one to focus on what is (in another of Orwell’s phrases) “infront of one’s nose.”

I think this scene from the film American Beauty(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Beauty_(film)) illustrates this point well.

And this is just in the production stage. Throughout the post production/editing stage one is continually thinking “with one’seyes,” and in the complex puzzle that is an edit, one is thinking cinematically, in that films should, first and foremost, attempt totell their stories visually (not always an easy task with the subject matter we work with e.g. psychological anthropology—but that



is the subject of another blog.)

The other sense that is being extended, expanded, and reworked at times is hearing. An ethnographic film can be won or lost onthe basis of how good the sound recording is. But it is not merely the technical aspects of getting usable and good recordingsthat is expanded during shooting and editing, it is what one is listening and attending to (or not):

the clanging of a mental hospital’s lock wards doors (from Memory of My Face(http://elementalproductions.org/portfolioitem/memoryofmyface/));

00:22



the sobbing of a boy who feels he has lost everything (from 40 Years of Silence(http://elementalproductions.org/portfolioitem/40yearsofsilenceanindonesiantragedy/));

the everpresent smiles and accompanying laughter that covers deep shame and pain (from The BirdDancer(http://elementalproductions.org/portfolioitem/thebirddancer/))

00:40



All of these and more come immediately to mind when I think of some of the discrete soundscapes in some of our films. Whilethese would be available and observable in normal fieldwork, the immediacy of the gestalt and context they occurred in would behard to recapture without the scene itself being recorded on film.

In the film Memory of My Face(http://elementalproductions.org/portfolioitem/memoryofmyface/), there is an extended section focusedaround the extremely voluble, funny, clever (but indisputably manic) verbal outpouring of the main character, Bambang. Thefootage was shot in a locked ward of a psychiatric hospital in Central Java. While most of the dialogue is (somewhat) intelligiblein the film itself, at the time of the conversation/interview I had almost no concept whatsoever of what he was talking about.

02:14



Untangling and interpreting the halfhour conversation, to produce the short (five minute) scene in the film, took months ofinterpretation, consultation, exegesis, and analysis. Other aspects of meaning would have been lost if we had not recorded it (andrecorded it visually). In addition, some of the analysis only made sense if we included, understood, and interpreted the gestures,gesticulations, postures, and multiple interpersonal contexts in which this conversation (and performance) took place.

Music is also another way in which ethnographic film can differ from traditional fieldwork. While most of us find enjoyment, andrelease, in music throughout our fieldwork, in ethnographic film music can play many roles. Obviously if one is shooting manydramatic, ritual or artistic productions, music plays integral roles. In addition, one must pay attention to music even if it is not thesole, or even main, thing that one is filming in elements such as many performances.[1](#_ftn1)

Music plays a very important role if you decide to use a score, or a soundtrack, in one’s films. Most of our films use a soundtrack(how one does this is again the subject of another blog) but, for me personally, working with music and soundtracks is one of themost pleasurable aspects of filmmaking. I have been brought to tears on more than one occasion by music we have composed for

01:52



our films, and the judicious and appropriate use of a score can support, highlight and strengthen the points one is attempting tomake in one’s films.

One of my favorite scenes, greatly enhanced by the musical score, is from Shadows andIlluminations(http://elementalproductions.org/portfolioitem/shadowsandilluminations/), where Mr. Kereta and Made Ada, his wife, arereflecting back on his illness and their marital relationships.

01:49



So whether it is the multiple contexts in which your filming takes place, or it is the specific human, subjective and experientialaspects of the stories themselves, your sense of hearing will be utilized, expanded and sometimes tested in filmmaking in waysthat normal fieldwork engages in a much more fragmentary, disjointed, and discontinuous manner.

Moving outwards from the sensory expansion that shooting and editing brings, there are other levels of aesthetic and conceptualcomplexity that makes filmmaking inherently enjoyable. In some ways these parallel the analysis, writeup, and “crafting” of a pieceof writing, but there are some fundamental differences that distinguish and separate ethnographic filmmaking. One is in theoverall scope of the enterprise. In ethnographic writing one attempts (within the bounds of word or page limits and the audienceor venue one is writing for) to write comprehensively, and in great (or at least sufficient) detail. “Thick” description, or inpsychological anthropology “experience near” description are the operative terms. Writing is expansive and strives forcompleteness and holism. Filmmaking is in some ways almost the opposite, engaging of a variation of classic Freudian concept—“Condensation(http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/definitions/condensation.html)”—where one tries to pack as manymulti layered meanings, imagery, symbolism, frameworks, in a scene as possible. One of the joys of being a scholar is to craftmeaning and understanding from material where this is not immediately apparent. In filmmaking, you have to do this within amuch more restricted space and time than in writing, and being able to layer and pack these meanings in a visual sense, is reallyone of its pleasures as a scholar. It is also akin to creating a puzzle, and only those “who have eyes to see,” who areknowledgeable or experts in the subject matter you are dealing with, will understand the meaning you are creating.

A simple example of this occurs towards the end of the opening credits in 40 Years of Silence. At 3’55” there is a shot of handsworking on some complex task involving flowers and bamboo. The shot cuts to the making of (for those who have a basicunderstanding of Balinese culture) a sesajen, or offering. The next jump cut is to the completed offering. Again, one would needto have an even deeper understanding to recognize this as a banten, a funeral offering given for the deceased. But it is noordinary offering. Having the picture of the deceased person possibly places it into a category of an banten pengulapan, this typebeing an offering given when there is no corpse, such as when someone is lost at sea. The final jump is the end of the nganyut kepasih ceremony, where the remains of the deceased are brought to the sea and cast in, completing the ngaben ceremony. Thishighly constructed scene is a precursor to the film, as the body being memorialized in these shots were Degung’s father, who waskilled in 1966 and his body was never returned to the family. A ceremony on the 40 anniversary of his death in 2006 wasconducted to, finally, ritually mark his passing (and, in a cosmological sense, allow his soul to reincarnate into his family lineage).This is an example of a scene laden with multiple layers of meaning, but whose meaning is only evident to Balinese (or thoseknowledgeable about Balinese culture and ritual practice.)

th

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S H ARE ON : F A C E B OOK ( H T T P : / / W WW . F A C E B O O K . C O M / S H A R E R . P H P ?

U = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W H Y

I M A K E

E T H N O G R A P H I C

TW IT T E R ( H T T P S : / / T W I T T E R . C O M / I N T E N T / T W E E T ?

O R I G I N A L _ R E F E R E R = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W H Y

I M A K E


P IN T E RE S T ( H T T P : / / Y O U R U R L H E R E . C O M / / P I N T E R E S T . C O M / P I N / C R E A T E / B U T T O N / ?U R L = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W H Y

I M A K E


GOOG L E +( H T T P S : / / P L U S O N E . G O O G L E . C O M / _ / + 1 / C O N F I R M ?

H L = E N

U S & U R L = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W H Y

There are many such scenes in all the films we have done, and the meanings and understandings are only available to “those whoknow.”

In future blogs I plan to expand out on the question of not only “why I make films,” but the larger question of the place that filmshave, and will increasingly have, in Anthropology proper.

[1](#_ftnref1) On the negative side, music can interfere in proper sound recording (and one has to request that music be turneddown or off when one is shooting certain scenes).

00:13

OF PSYCHOLOGICAL,MEDICAL AND VISUALANTHROPOLOGY

(HTTP://PSYCHOCULTURALCINEMA.COM/TOWARD

PSYCHOCULTURALCINEMA/)

There is an opportunity for psychologicalanthropology to break new ground, to come upwith new ways of knowing and representation,

to connect our…

(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/thestateofvisual

anthropologyandmultimodalethnographyareport

fromthescreeningscholarshipmediafestival2014

part2of2/)

http://psychoculturalcinema.com/toward-psychocultural-cinema/



F I L M S I N S T E A D O F

W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H / & T =W H Y

I M A K E


F I L M S ( I N S T E A D O F

W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H … ) )


W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H / & T E X T =W H Y

I M A K E



W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H … ) & T W _ P = T W E E T B U T T O N & U R L = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W H Y

I M A K E



W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H / & V I A = P S Y C H O

C U L T U R A L C I N E M A )


W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H / & M E D I A = H T T P : / / P S Y C H O C U L T U R A L C I N E M A . C O M / W P

C O N T E N T / U P L O A D S / 2 0 1 3 / 1 1 / D S C _ 1 3 0 4 1

1 0 2 4 X 6 8 2 . J P G & D E S C R I P T I O N =W H Y

I M A K E



W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H … ) )

I M A K E



W R I T I N G A

M O N O G R A P H / )

Robert Lemelson (http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/lemelson/)Robert Lemelson is an anthropologist and documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on therelationship of culture, psychology and personal experience in Indonesia. He received his M.A. from theUniversity of Chicago and Ph.D. from the department of anthropology at the University of California, LosAngeles. He was a Fulbright scholar in Indonesia, exploring the relation of culture to mental illness andhas worked for the World Health Organization. Lemelson's area of specialty is SoutheastAsian studies,psychological anthropology and transcultural psychiatry. He is currently an adjunct professor ofanthropology at UCLA and a research anthropologist in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA. Heis also the president of the Foundation for Psychocultural Research, who funds programs and initiativesat the intersection of social and neuroscience.

We b s i t e ( h t t p : / /w w w . e l e m e n t a l p r o d u c t i o n s . o r g )

|

|

|

THE STATE OF VISUALANTHROPOLOGY AND MULTIMODAL ETHNOGRAPHY: A

REPORT FROM THESCREENING SCHOLARSHIPMEDIA FESTIVAL 2014 (PART

2 OF 2)(HTTP://PSYCHOCULTURALCINEMA.COM/THE

STATEOFVISUAL

ANTHROPOLOGYANDMULTI

MODALETHNOGRAPHYAREPORT

FROMTHESCREENING

SCHOLARSHIPMEDIAFESTIVAL

2014PART2OF2/)

(To read Part 1, click here). What Can Multimodal Ethnography Do? So, to return to thequestions of the conference: how can

anthropologists tell…

http://psychoculturalcinema.com/the-state-of-visual-anthropology-and-multi-modal-ethnography-a-report-from-the-screening-scholarship-media-festival-2014-part-2-of-2/



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F E B RU ARY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

20 ETHNOGRAPHIC ANDDOCUMENTARY FILMSPSYCHOLOGICAL

NOV E MB E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 3

NOTES FROM BURMA: BUDDHISMAND NAT WORSHIP IN A CHANGINGSOCIETY(HTTP://PSYCHOCULTURALCINEMA.COM/NAT

FESTIVAL/)

YO U M A Y A L S O L I K E

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ANTHROPOLOGISTS SHOULD BETEACHING(HTTP://PSYCHOCULTURALCINEMA.COM/20

ETHNOGRAPHICANDDOCUMENTARY

FILMSPSYCHOLOGICAL

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TEACHING/)

S E A RCH



T A G S

88generation(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/88generation/)

1965(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/1965/)

1988Uprising(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/1988uprising/)

Ant BweKyaw(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/antbwekyaw/)

anthropology(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/anthropology2/)

Aung San SuuKyi(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/aungsansuukyi/)

Bali(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/bali/)

burma(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/burma/)

cameras(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/cameras/)

culture(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/culture/)

Democracy(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/democracy/)

S U B S C R IB E



DemocraticTransitions(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/democratictransitions/)

Democratization(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/democratization/)

editing(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/editing/)

emotion(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/emotion/)

ethics(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/ethics2/)

film(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/film/)

filmmaking(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/filmmaking2/)

filmreview(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/filmreview/)

Freedom(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/freedom/)

India(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/india/)

Indonesia(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/indonesia/)

intervention(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/intervention/)

Java(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/java/)

jay ruby(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/jayruby/)

margaretmead(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/margaretmead/)

mentalillness(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/mentalillness/)



Min KoNaing(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/minkonaing/)

music(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/music/)

MyaAye(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/myaaye/)

Myanmar(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/myanmar/)

narcocultura(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/narcocultura/)

nelsonmandela(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/nelsonmandela/)

photography(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/photography/)

polygamy(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/polygamy/)

PyoneCho(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/pyonecho/)

reflexivity(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/reflexivity2/)

SaffronRevolution(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/saffronrevolution/)

schizophrenia(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/schizophrenia/)

teaching(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/teaching/)

tourism(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/tourism/)

violence(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/violence/)

voyeurism(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/tag/voyeurism/)



R E C E N T P O S T S

The EighthEgg(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/theeighthegg/)

1

လႊတလပမႈ၏ သရေကာငးမား –ၿမနမာၿပည၏ ၈၈မးဆကႏငမနဒလားအေမြ(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/heroesoffreedomburmese/)

2

Heroes of Freedom: Burma’s 88Generation and the Legacy ofMandela(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/heroesoffreedomburmas88generationandthe

legacyofmandela/)

3

The State of Visual Anthropology andMultiModal Ethnography: A Report fromthe Screening Scholarship Media Festival2014 (Part 2 of 2)(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/thestateof

visualanthropologyandmultimodal

ethnographyareportfromthescreening

scholarshipmediafestival2014part2of2/)

4

The State of Visual Anthropology andMultiModal Ethnography: A Report fromthe Screening Scholarship Media Festival2014 (Part 1 of 2)



A R C H I V E S

July2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/07/)

May2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/05/)

April2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/04/)

March2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/03/)

February2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/02/)

January2014(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2014/01/)

December2013(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2013/12/)

November2013(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/2013/11/)

A U T HO R S

(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/thestateof

visualanthropologyandmultimodal

ethnographyareportfromthescreening

scholarshipmediafestival2014part1of2/)

5



Alessandra

Pasquino(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/pasquino/)

Annie

Tucker(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/tucker/)

Arshinta(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/arshinta/)

Caitlin

Mullin(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/mullin/)

Cebe

Loomis(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/loomis/)

Chisako

Yokoyama(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/yokoyama/)

Gde

Putra(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/bagus/)

Jay

Ruby(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/ruby/)

Neely

Myers(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/myers/)

Robert

Lemelson(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/lemelson/)

Seinenu

Thein(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/thein/)

Sri

Pratiwi(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/sripratiwi/)

Vikram

Zutshi(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/zutshi/)



Wing

Ko(http://psychoculturalcinema.com/author/ko/)

E L EM E N T A LP RO DU C T I O N S

WE A RE AN E T HNOG RA P H ICDOCUME N T ARY F I L M P RODU C T IONCOMP AN Y B A S E D I N L OS AN G E L E S ,C A

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Why I Make Ethnographic Films (Instead of Writing a Monograph…)