BSOS-184E
BSOS-184E
BSOS-184E
TECHNIQUES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC
FILM MAKING
PRINT PRODUCTION
Mr. Tilak Raj Mr. Yashpal
Assistant Registrar (Pub.) Section Officer (Pub.)
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
March, 2021
©Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN :
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means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
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Content Page
6
Anthropology and
UNIT 1 ANTHROPOLOGY AND Filmmaking: The Text and
the Image
FILMMAKING: THE TEXT AND
THE IMAGE*
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction: Sociology, Anthropology and Filmmaking: The Text and the
Image
1.1.1 Why Ethnography?
1.1.2 Production of a Film and an Ethnographical Text
1.2 Development of Ethnography and the Visual Anthropology: Films and
photographs
1.2.1 Written Ethnographies
1.2.2 Photographs
1.2.3 Ethnographic Films
1.2.4 Ethnographic Films in India
1.3 The Anthropological Journey of the Text and the Image
1.3.1 The Relationship Between the Film Maker and the Filmed
1.4 Let Us Sum Up
1.5 Key words
1.6 References
1.7 Further Readings
1.8 Answers to check Your Progress Exercises
1.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you will be able to understand
The relationship between the text and the image in the context of
ethnography.
The process of production of an ethnographic film.
The debate between whether the visual or the text is better or are they at par, with
one complementing and supplementing the other has been an ongoing one. In
order to understand society and culture both the text and the image are important.
A common sense understanding of the image is one where it is assumed that
seeing is believing. As sociologists we have to examine the proposition that does
an image whether a film or a photograph portray the ultimate truth or aversion of
the truth.We need to understand that visual ethnography is a means of producing
knowledge and of understanding the world. We also need to understand the
relationship of the text and the image in understanding society and culture. Is the
relationship hierarchical one in which one is considered superior to the other or
are the text and the image in a relationship baned an equality? We cannot assume
to that the visual has no subtext and that it represents reality as it is. We have to
understand the way in which what we read and what we see gets produced.
In order to understand the relationship between the text and the visual medium,
it is important to understand the various aspects of development of ethnographic
films. The development of ethnographic films is also dependent on the
development of ethnographic research. The development of ethnography has an
impact on the way the films are shot. Ethnographic techniques influence the way
in which we do research.
The rough notes get translated into sentences and paragraphs. The researcher
has to work with the data that she has. The only way that she can get new data
revisiting the field and gathers fresh data. What we finally read i.e. what is
available to the public is the final edited version in the form of a book or an
article. What we read is a smooth finished narrative which is not patchy but
finished product..
The written texts like the Nuer by E. E. Evans Pritchard (Pritchard, 1940) tell us
about the Nuers of Southern Sudan or the Argonauts of the Western Pacific by B.
Malinowski (Malinowski, 1922) about the Trobriand Islanders of the Western
Pacific Ocean are ethnographies that have been written in the above manner.
The monographs that we read are based on field notes of the researcher. Let us
try and understand this through an example. For instance, if the research problem
was analysis of social interaction between individuals on the basis of the caste
system in a village in India then how would we go about it. The researcher would
spend several months in the field observing social interactions and the impact of
the caste system on these interactions. All observations would be recorded in a
notebook. As would be analysed from the perspective of caste based social
interaction. If interviews have been recorded, they too would be transcribed.
The final written monograph that we produce will be based on observations carried
out over a period of time. The researcher collects data from the point of view of
the research problem. However the most important data is data that is gathered
from the fringes. This data is often gathered through research techniques that are
not pre-established. For example one could be relying on the memory of the
researcher or the memories of the informant. Heider (Heider, 2006) refers to it as
the peripheral vision of the researcher. Writing cultures mean that ethnographers
construct narratives. We select some material and leave out the rest.
For instance if we have to illustrate any instance of caste based interaction then
the incident that we narrate as if it were a ‘true’ incident would not be based on
but one incident. It would be based on our observations carried out over a period
of time and the final incident that we narrate would be based on our observations
over a period of time. Often the reconstruction would be based on the peripheral
vision of the researcher. This reconstruction is an accepted practice in written
ethnographic accounts. In the Argonauts of the Western Pacific
Malinowski describes a long trading expedition carried out by the Trobriand
Islanders from Sinaketa to Dobu. (Malinowski, 1922), Malinowski had not
participated in any such expedition. The account is constructed based on his
observations of similar events and also based on the observation of his informants.
Such a general reconstruction is accepted practice in ethnography.
Thus when we talk about a written ethnographic text we collect data by a number
of techniques. This data is also often peripheral data i.e. data that we have gathered
along the course of the fieldwork. The raw data that is gathered is then selectively
presented and analysed.
Films too are a way of understanding society. The category of films that we will
be referring here are called ethnographic films. The term ethnographic film is
difficult to define. The reason is that all films reflect social life. At the outset we
have to be very clear that we are not talking about films from a technical
9
Techniques of Ethnographic cinematographic angle rather our focus is on understanding how films help us to
Film Making
understand society and culture. It is difficult to have a set criteria to define the
ethnographies of a film.
In a film the ethnographer may begin with an idea and a script. He then shoots a
footage, edits a footage and finally produces a film. The film that we see is again
a reconstructed version of the raw footage. A film is a final product like the
written text that is made public by the ethnographer in the form of a book or an
article. In a film too the production of a film too involves shooting of a film
which we call footage. This footage is then edited and re-edited much like the
writing and rewriting of a text. The final story that the film tells us is a finished
smooth portrayal like a book. Much of the construction of the film takes place on
the editing table and footage shot at different points of time is put together and
presented along a continuum.
Check Your Progress 1
1) What is ethnography?
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Activity:
What is an ethnographic film? Can you distinguish between different genres
of films?
10
Anthropology and
1.2 DEVELOPMENT OF ETHNOGRAPHY AND Filmmaking: The Text and
the Image
THE VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY: FILMS AND
PHOTOGRAPHS
1.2.1 Written Ethnographies
In the 1920s and 1930s a number of monographs were produced. These were
based on fieldwork and were of two kinds. On one hand there were serious
monographs produced for the academia. On the other hand ethnographies were
also written for the general public. Malinowski wrote The Sexual Life of the
Savages (Malinowski B., 1932) based on his fieldwork amongst the Trobriand
Islanders. Margaret Mead along with the serious academic monograph Social
Organization of the Manua written in 1930 (Mead, 1969) based on her research
on the Samao in 1925-26, also wrote more popular ethnographies on child rearing,
education and sex roles. Some of these books also included photographs. However
these were not given any importance as a research tool for understanding societies.
There were a few exceptions like Bateson and Mead and Gardner and Heider.
1.2.2 Photographs
In the late 19th century and early 20th century photographs were seen as an
objective and scientific documentation. Early anthropologists like Franz Boas in
the US, Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen in Australia and Bronislaw Malinowski
in 1915-1918 used photographs as a part of fieldwork. Photographs were
considered to be simply truth revealing meaning that seeing is believing. For
example, Malinowski in his book The Argonauts of the Western Pacific does not
say anything in terms of analyzing the photographs. Photographs are considered
to be an aid to the memory much like the field notes. Some images are used as an
illustration or slides and for exhibitions. Once the fieldwork are made public, the
photographs are either put in a museum or are forgotten. Some images or slides
were used as illustrations and for exhibitions.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Three_Horses_
by_Edward_S._Curtis%2C_1905.jpg
The above image of the Indian is a photograph by Edward Curtis who took
around 2000 photographs of the Red Indians between 1896 and 1930. This
style of photography is an illustration of how the researcher influences the
11
Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making
image. In ‘’The Vanishing Race’’ Christopher Lyman argues that Curtis’s work
was influenced by a romanticised view of the native Indian. Curtis according
to Lyman did not take into account the impact of Western white culture on the
Indians. All his photographs depict the Indian as being savages and completely
unaffected by the White man’s culture. The photographs depict Curtis ‘view
of the “primitive Indian”. Curtis also made a film on the Kwakiutl Indian.
The film has been recently been restored under the title In the ‘Land of the
War Canoes’.
In the 1920s and perhaps till 1960s anthropology did not contribute to the
development of films. There were a few exceptions like the film by Martin and
Osa Johnson Among the Cannibal Isles of the South Seas in 1919 (Johnson,
1918) and Head Hunters of the South Seas in 1922 (Johnson M., 1922). In 1922,
Robert Flaherty, a mining engineer and an explorer produced Nanook of the
North (Flaherty, 1922) on the Inuit (Eskimo) family of the Hudson Bay. The film
was shot in an artificially constructed igloo that was portrayed as a real igloo.
Flaherty’s second film Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age in 1926 (Flaherty
R., 1926), was financed by Paramount pictures. Moana was on the Savaiim in
Western Samoa. These films were not considered to be serious ethnography by
anthropologists. Moana was shot less than 300 miles from Mead’s fieldwork
area in Samoa. Nanook of the North was made close to the area where Franz an
American anthropologist Boas, had done fieldwork. Both Boas and Mead even
if they heard of the films they did not give the films any ethnographic importance.
They did not attach any significance to the films at all even though they themselves
had worked in areas close to where Flaherty shot the films. Flaherty’s films were
too ethnographic for the world of popular commercial films. His films were not
considered significant from a serious ethnographic angle.
Bateson and Mead were the first to As discussed in the earlier section Mead
use ethnographic films to integrate and Bateson used photographs for their
with and to supplement their written ethnographic work. In addition to the
work. The work done by Bateson and numerous photographs Bateson also
Mead was path breaking in several shot 22000 feet of 16 mm film footage.
ways however they did not lead to His raw footage much like the written
an increasing use of ethnographic field notes of a researcher and was used
films by researchers. Ethnographers to produce six films in 1950. Some of
still did not consider films and these included the films like Childhood
photographs as a serious research Rivalry in BaliandNew Guinea.
tool.
Apart from institutional efforts film makers like Jean Rouch in France, John
Marshall, Robert Gardner and Timothy Asch in America contributed greatly to
ethnographic film making. All four of them were trained in anthropology. Some
significant films that were made in the 1950s were The Hunters (1958) on the
hunters and gatherers of the Kalahari Desert by John Marshall; Dead Birds (1964)
by Robert Gardner about warfare amongst the Dani of New Guinea. Timothy
Asch along with anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon made a number of films like
The Feast (1968) and Ax Fight (1971) on the Yanomamo of Venezuela. These
filmmakers supported the idea that films were an important anthropological tool
and were important in recording data.
The development of technology and synchronised sound also meant that the
films could be shot using long shots and entire bodies could be shot. They believed
that this footage shot with accompanying written material made the film
anthropologically sound. Such films used the observational style of filming. In
this style the filmmaker adopts an approach in which there is a belief that the
presence of the camera has no impact on the subjects. Such an approach was also
called the ‘fly on the wall’ approach. It was a ‘scientific’ objective approach. In
which the truth was portrayed as it is in sharp contrast to earlier films like those
made by Flaherty.
The cinéma-vérité movement believed that they could film the truth without
influencing the outcome. Jean Rouch believed that the presence of a camera
induced cine trance i.e. those being filmed after a while forgot about the camera.
The use of portable synchronous sound recording equipment added to the illusion
that the film maker was not influencing the outcome of the film. Rouch’s idea
was to see the world as the natives see it. This led to a participatory style of film
making. The cinema and the cinéma-vérité movements or truthful cinema adopted
this style of film making. This style of filmmaking is attributed to Jean Rouch
and inspired by Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker can be present
in front of the camera and can even provoke the subject in terms of a stylized
interaction. The role of the camera is always acknowledged. This attempt was to
engage with individuals more directly while not reverting to classic exposition
interview styles. It allows filmmaker to account for past events via witnesses
and experts whom viewer can also see. Sometimes archival footage was also
used to reinforce the truth of what was being filmed.
Oraons of Bihar 1955 and The Martial Dances of Malabar in 1958, by Paul
Zils, a German, was the first to make ethnographic films in India. He was
the head of the Information Films of India in British India.
The Flute and the Arrow 1957, by Roman Karmen, a Russian filmmaker
and a Swede Aren Sucksdorff. The film was on the Murias of Bastar and
was based on fieldwork by Sucksdorff.
The Vanishing Tribe, 1959, by Paul Zils, on the Todas of the Nilgiris.
Tree of Wealth, between 1943 and 1956 under the aegis of Information Films
of India, directed by Bhaskar Rao. This was based on the importance of the
coconut in the life of the people of Kerala. This film was awarded at the
Edinburgh Festival.
We see a shift in the themes of films being made in the films of Mani Kaul. He
made films on the vanishing folk arts and artistes. In 1953, he made The
Puppeteers. The film was on the vanishing art of puppeteering and was based on
the puppeteers of Rajasthan. In 1977, he made Chitrakathi, on the folk artistes of
western India.
From 1990s, the ethnographic filmmaking has gathered momentum. These films
are on a variety of themes.
Main-Taris of Assam, by Charu Kamal Hazarikais on the tribes of Assam.
Gothrasmriti, by M.A. Rahman, is on the Thaiyyam rituals of the Thaiyya
community of North Malabar in Kerala. It is based on an anthropological
interpretation.
3) Why the ethnographic films of the 1920s were not considered a serious
ethnographic works?
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16
4) What was significant about the films made in the 1950s? Anthropology and
Filmmaking: The Text and
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Exercise: Do research on Jean Rouch and Margaret Mead. Watch their films
and interviews online.
Watch ethnographic films made in India. Some of the names of the films are
mentioned in the preceding section. You could also watch other films.
The issue that faced the written text and the films was the same. The filming of
events as they happened were one part of the story but in order to give it structure
it had to be constructed so as to fit into an anthropological model. Hastrup Kirsten
uses the concept of thick and thin description put forth by Clifford Geertz to
explain that how what is seen in photographs and films i.e. a thin description
needs to be supplemented by a thick description i.e. it needs to be culturally
contextualised. (Hastrup, 1993) This could be with the help of a spoken or written
narrative in the film. In a text behaviour that we observe has to be explained in
the context of anthropological concepts.
This style of filmmaking and writing was replaced by a more participatory and
reflexive style. The reader and the audience are made to understand that the
reality as it is portrayed is just one version of the truth. The ethnographer-the
filmmaker and the researcher are no longer articulating from a position of power.
They also try to articulate the truth as is experienced by the subjects.
Check Your Progress 3
1) Compare the approaches to anthropology and filmmaking in the 1920s-
30s. Illustrate your answer with examples.
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18
2) Examine the impact of the structural functional approach on anthropology Anthropology and
Filmmaking: The Text and
and film making. the Image
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1.3.1 The Relationship Between the Film Maker and the Filmed
In section 1.2.3 and 1.3 we have discussed the evolution of ethnographic
filmmaking. Interwoven in this is also the changes in the way that the relationship
between the filmmaker and the filmed has evolved.
In the 1920s we saw that the filmmakers had a colonialist approach. Films like
Gods Must Be Crazy assumed that the presence of the filmmaker had no impact
on the filmed. The voice of the film was the voice of the filmmaker. The filmmaker
acted like a non-participant observer. In the 1950s we see films like Dead Birds
and The Hunters adopting a fly on the wall approach. The filmmaker assumes
that his presence has not influenced the final outcome. This approach was a
‘scientific’ and a positivist approach.
8) Peripheral data: Data that we have gathered along the course of the
fieldwork.
11) Thick and thin description: Clifford Geertz described the practice of thick
description as a way of providing cultural context and meaning that people
place on actions, words, things, etc ... Thin description by contrast, is
stating facts without such meaning or significance.
Gardner, Robert and Karl Heider Gardens of War: Life and Death in The New
Guinea Stone Age. New York: Random House. 1968
1.7 REFERENCES
Catalán Eraso, Laura. ‘Reflecting Upon Interculturality in Ethnographic
Filmmaking’, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social
Research, 7(3), Art. 6, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs060369. 2006
Henri Piault, Marc, Sydney M. Silverstein & Aubrey P. Graham. ‘Where Indeed
Is the Theory in Visual Anthropology? ‘Visual Anthropology, 28:2, 170-180, DOI:
10.1080/08949468.2015.997091. 2015
Spiegel, P. ( April 1984). The Case of the Well Mannered Guest. The Independent
Film and Video Monthly,, pp15- 17 .
Uys, J. (Director). (1980). The Gods Must Be Crazy [Motion Picture].
23
Techniques of Ethnographic in the form of a book or an article.
Film Making
3) In a film the ethnographer may begin with an idea and a script. He then
shoots a footage, edits a footage and finally produces a film. The film that
we see is again a reconstructed version of the raw footage. A film is a final
product like the written text that is made public by the ethnographer in the
form of a book or an article. In a film too the production of a film too
involves shooting of a film which we call footage. This footage is then
edited and re-edited much like the writing and rewriting of a text. The final
story that the film tells us is a finished smooth portrayal like a book. Much
of the construction of the film takes place on the editing table and footage
shot at different points of time is put together and presented along a
continuum.
Check Your Progress 2
4) In the late 19th century and early 20th century photographs were seen as an
objective and scientific documentation. Early anthropologists like Franz
Boas in the US, Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen in Australia and
Bronislaw Malinowski in 1915-1918 used photographs as a part of
fieldwork. Photographs were considered to be simply truth revealing
meaning that seeing is believing. For example, Malinowski in his book.
The Argonauts of the Western Pacific does not say anything in terms of
analyzing the photographs. Photographs were considered to be an aid to
the memory much like the field notes. Some images were used as an
illustration or slides and for exhibitions. Once the fieldwork was made
available to the public the photographs were either put in a museum or
were forgotten.
In 1942 when Mead and Bateson collaborated they used the photographs to
supplement their written work. The photographs were used to fill in the
gaps and to address criticisms of their written work. As technology advanced
Mead advocated the use of the film camera to record events.
6) Ethnographic films of the 1920s were educational films and of exotic people
and were sometimes shot with the help of anthropologists. They were
sometimes shot according to a script. These films were ethnographically
considered to be ethnocentric. These films were criticized by anthropologists
as being ethnocentric and following a colonialist approach. That means the
films were shot just as earlier with the belief that the White man was superior
to the natives. The film Gods Must Be Crazy based on the Ju/’hoansi of the
Kalahari by Jamie Uys was an international hit but was criticized for being
ethnocentric and racist. These kind of films were considered to be naïve
24 depictions of culture. They were not considered to be serious ethnography.
7) In the 1950s the filmmakers like Jean Rouch in France, John Marshall and Anthropology and
Filmmaking: The Text and
Robert Gardner and Timothy Asch in America supported the idea that films the Image
were an important anthropological tool and were important in recording
data. The development of technology and synchronised sound also meant
that the films could be shot using long shots and entire bodies could be
shot. They believed that this footage shot with accompanying written
material made the film anthropologically sound. Such films used the
observational style of filming. In this style the filmmaker adopts an approach
in which there is a belief that the presence of the camera has no impact on
the subjects. Such an approach was also called the ‘fly on the wall’ approach.
It was a ‘scientific’ objective approach. In which the truth was portrayed as
it is in sharp contrast to earlier films like those made by Flaherty.
8) The cinéma-vérité movement believed that they could film the truth without
influencing the outcome. Jean Rouch believed that the presence of a camera
induced cine trance i.e. those being filmed after a while forgot about the
camera. The use of portable synchronous sound recording equipment added
to the illusion that the film maker was not influencing the outcome of the
film. Rouch’s idea was to see the world as the natives see it. This led to a
participatory style of film making. The cinema and the cinéma-vérité
movements or truthful cinema adopted this style of film making. This style
of filmmaking is attributed to Jean Rouch and inspired by Dziga Vertov
and Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker can be present in front of the camera
and can even provoke the subject in terms of a stylised interaction. The role
of the camera is always acknowledged. This attempt was to engage with
individuals more directly while not reverting to classic exposition interview
styles. It allows filmmaker to account for past events via witnesses and
experts whom viewer can also see. Sometimes archival footage was also
used to reinforce the truth of what was being filmed.
2) The 1960s and 70s saw the emergence of the structural functional approach
in anthropology. This approach believed that by observing discrete everyday
events one could make sense of them in the larger anthropological structural
context. For example, Gluckman 1958 followed the principle that by
focusing on the everyday interactions one is able to understand the
underlying normative structural principles. Film makers like Asch too
followed the same principle and filmed events as it happened. This kind of
a filming was an observational style of filming in which the assumption
was that the filmmaker did not influence the outcome of the film.
26
Anthropology and
UNIT 2 DIFFERENT MODES OF Filmmaking: The Text and
the Image
FILMMAKING*
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Different Modes of Filmmaking
2.3 Poetic Documentary
2.4 Expository Documentary
2.5 Observational Documentary
2.6 Participatory Documentary
2.7 Reflexive Documentary
2.8 Performative Mode
2.9 Let Us Sum Up
2.10 Key words
2.11 Further Reading & Viewing
2.12 References
2.13 Answers to your Progress Exercise
2.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you will be able to understand
Different modes of filmmaking
Poetic documentary
Expository documentary
Observational documentary
Participatory documentary
Reflexive documentary
Performative mode
2.1 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, we will discuss the different modes of film making which will provide
an indepth understanding of film making. These Various modes includes poetic
documentry expositary documentary, observational documentary, participatary
documentary, reflexive documentry and performative mode. These different
modes are widely used in filmmaking.
They are abstract and loose in genre just like a poem. Imagine a film with water
flowing or falling and just focus on the way the film is shot. For instance watch
this video on you tube. T, He of the vediocs https://youtu.be/dEBN8zly5N4. Bill
Haanstra’s 1958 documentary Glas is another such poetic mode documentary
available on https://youtu.be/aLS7—ZLCoI. It focuses on the glass blowers and
the beauty of their work.
The film could be on a city and it may just give us a sense of the city by showing
famous landmarks like India Gate, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Connaught Place,
Metro and a huge statue of the God Hanuman. The moment one sees these
landmarks perhaps interspersed with shots of pigeons flying, traffic jams and
corn sellers with just music in the background you get a sense of Delhi the capital
of India and the filmmaker may also show shots of these places from the past
marking the passage of time. Francis Thompson’s N.Y., N.Y. (1957)
The poetic mode may also use historical footage, freeze frames, slow motion,
tinted images, and occasional titles to identify places, some narratives and also
music to build the mood.
Check Your Progress 2
1) What are the characteristics of the poetic mode of filmmaking?
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2) After watching the film Glas do an analysis of the film in the context of the
poetic mode.
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As we can see from the examples of the voice of God commentaries given above
that the expository mode was dominated by professionally trained male voices.
These commentaries could also be voice overs by less professional voices like
Ernest Hemmingway’s commentary for one version of The Spanish Earth (1937)
is in a matter of fact voice. The other two versions with the same footage have
different voices – Jean Renoir for the French version and Orson Welles and Ernest
Hemmingway for the English version. Hemmingway’s commentary was more
convincing and in a more matter of fact voice.
Expository mode relies heavily on logic and the voice dominates. The images
are subordinate and are edited in a way so as to maintain a continuity with the
narration. The voice over appears as the dominant mode and as the voice of
authority. It speaks in a voice and tone of logic and authority. Think of any of the
short documentaries by the government of India watch the documentary on family
planning at the URL https://youtu.be/mrsrz-izfxI.
30
Different Modes of
2.5 OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARY Filmmaking
This mode arose from the availability of 16 mm cameras and magnetic tape
recorders in 1960s. The observational mode found the poetic mode too abstract
and the expository mode too moralizing. The observational mode relies on facts
and often has no voiceovers and music. The actors behave as if no film maker
was there. The development of the 16 mm camera and light weight sound recorders
such as the Nagra aided the development of the observational mode since it also
meant that the filmmaker could move around freely without being intrusive. The
people were observed as it is in their natural surroundings behaving spontaneously.
David MacDougall’s New Boys a part of the Doon School Chronicles shot in
1997 is an example, Other examples include Hospital (1970), http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jZRlh5QTc.
The film maker adopts afly on the wall approach assuming that his presence
because of the lightweight camera and synchronous sounds is almost non-
intrusive. But it raises the ethical question of indirect intrusion. The mere presence
of a film maker may have an effect on the behaviour of the participants. The
observational documentary also faces the issue of seeking the consent of the
people being filmed. The question is also of whether the consent is written or
verbal. The consent also varies from situation to situation.
Observational films give the sense of real time. The filmmaker shoots in a manner
in which the experience is lived. For example David MacDougall’s film New
Boys shows the silences, the pauses and the empty spaces almost as if we were
living the experience. The filmmaker needs to have disciplined detachment it
allowed filmmaker to record unobtrusively what folks did when not explicitly
addressing the camera. It stresses the non-intervention of filmmaker. The control
is with the participants. Editing doesn’t construct time frame or rhythm, but
enhances impression of lived or real time. This mode limit filmmaker to present
moment and require disciplined detachment from events themselves. It uses
indirect address, speech overheard, synchronous sound, relatively long takes.
31
Techniques of Ethnographic Check Your Progress 4
Film Making
1) What are the characteristics of the observational mode of filmmaking?
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Other examples include Chronicles of Summer by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin;
Portrait of Jason. Dziga Vertov’s The Man with a Movie Camera.
The cinema and the cinéma-vérité movements or truthful cinema adopted this
style of film making. This style of filmmaking is attributed to Jean Rouch and
inspired by Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty. The filmmaker can be present in
front of the camera and can even provoke the subject in terms of a stylised
interaction. The role of the camera is always acknowledged. The audience gets a
32
sense of what it means to negotiate the relationship between the filmmaker and Different Modes of
Filmmaking
the subject. We get a sense of who controls.
The filmmakers may also engineer a scene. In Chronicles of A Summer, 1961 for
example Rouch narrates an incident where a Jewish deportee from France who
has spent time in a German Concentration camp during world war II narrates her
experiences using a lightweight portable sound recorder. The camera follows
her at a distance and Rouch comments that it is almost as if the camera is absent.
The other styles of filming could be one in which the filmmaker’s voice could
give the main perspective for example as seen in the film Sorrow and Pity, 1970.
The filmmaker could also be like an investigative reporter or he could even be in
a reflective and responsive mode. The filmmaker in a reflective mode could also
move towards a diary and apersonal testimonial mode. The participatory mode
could also involve interviews. The filmmaker could use several interviews and
put them together in the form of a single story. Examples include Eyes on The
Prize, on the history of civil rights movement; Hina Khwaja’s interviews of those
who left India for Pakistan during Partition available at the URL https://youtu.be/
yY40sosTtzk.
In the participatory mode thus we are able to cover a diverse range of topics that
could vary from giving us a sense of history or perhaps the interviewer own
attempt to give us a sense of history or as sense of their encounters with their
surrounding world.
Check Your Progress 5
1) What are the characteristics of the Participatory mode of film making?
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2) Watch any of the two films listed in the above section and compare them.
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The feminist documentaries of the 1970s are examples of the reflexive mode of
filmmaking where the audience becomes conscious of the various forms of
discrimination against women. They challenge our perception of the world around
us by questioning the dominant ideas of masculinity and femininity.
Check Your Progress 6
1) What is the reflexive mode of film making?
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2.12 REFERENCES
Nichols, Bill. ‘What types of Documentary are there?’ In Introduction to
Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. Pp. 99- 137
ii) Explores associations and patterns that involve temporal rhythms and
spatial juxtapositions.
iii) Social Actors rarely become fully-fledged characters.
iv) Opens up possibility of alternative forms of knowledge to straightforward
transfer of knowledge.
2) The movie Glass uses music of different kinds to show the making of glass.
There are no words used. The camera too rarely focuses on the actors. It is
more focused on the hands and the process of glass making. When shots
from the factory where glass is made by machines is used we find that the
music is different and the position of the camera also changes.
Check Your Progress 3
1) i) Arose from dissatisfaction with distracting entertainment qualities of
the fiction film.
2) ‘Voice of God’ commentary mode in which the speaker is heard but not seen
for example Happy by Morgan Lewis,; The Origins of Man narrated by
Morgan Freeman and Penguin: a Love Story dubbed in Hindi by Amitabh
Bachchan. As we can see from the examples of the ‘Voice of God’
commentaries given above that the expository mode was dominated by
professionally trained male voices. These commentaries could also be voice
overs by less professional voices like Ernest Hemmingway’s commentary
for one version of The Spanish Earth (1937) is in a matter of fact voice.
Check Your Progress 4
1) i) It is characterised by Paradigm: depiction of everyday life.
ii) Often described as either direct cinema or cinema verite.
37
Techniques of Ethnographic iii) Arose from available lightweight portable synchronous recording
Film Making
equipment & dissatisfaction with moralizing quality of expository
documentary.
iv) It allowed filmmaker to record unobtrusively what folks did when not
explicitly addressing the camera.
v) It stresses the non-intervention of filmmaker.
vi) Filmmaker cedes control of events more than any other mode.
vii) Editing doesn’t construct time frame or rhythm, but enhances impression
of lived or real time.
The filmmaker can be present in front of the camera and can even provoke
the subject in terms of a stylised interaction. The role of the camera is
always acknowledged. The audience gets a sense of what it means to
negotiate the relationship between the filmmaker and the subject. We get a
sense of who controls. The filmmakers may also engineer a scene. The
participatory mode could also involve interviews. The filmmaker could use
several interviews and put them together in the form of a single story.
2) The student should watch the films listed and compare them using the
features of the various modes of documentaries.
38
Check Your Progress 6 Different Modes of
Filmmaking
3) i) Reflexive mode of filmmaking arose from a desire to make the
conventions of representation themselves more apparent & to challenge
the impression of reality which other three modes normally conveyed
unproblematic ally.
ii) It is the most self-aware mode - its reflexivity makes audience aware of
how other modes claim to construct “truth” through documentary
practice.
iii) It uses many of devices of other modes but sets them on edge so viewer
attends to device as well as the effect.
iv) It tears away veil of filmmakers illusory absence
v) Becomes technologically viable with emergence of portable synchronous
sound equipment which makes interaction more feasible
4) For comparison with other modes refer to the earlier sections.
Check Your Progress 7
1) i) Like Reflexive Documentary, it raises questions about knowledge.
39
Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making UNIT 3 FILMMAKER AND THE FILMED:
RELATIONSHIP AND
UNDERSTANDING ‘ETHICS’*
Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Film & the Filmmaker
3.2.1 Film is Director’s Medium
3.2.2 Documentary Film: Is it Journalistic?
3.2.3 Filmmakers: Are they Gatekeepers?
3.3 Ethics of Documentary Film Making
3.3.1 Relationship Between Filmmaker and Subject
3.3.2 Code of Ethics in Documentry Filmaking
3.3.3 Filmmakers: Their Role in addressing the Imbalance of Power
3.4 Documentry Filmmaking: Its Various Ethical Issues and Responsibility
3.4.1 Various Ethical Issues in Filmmaking
3.4.2 Ethical Responsibility to Subjects and Viewers
3.4.3 Ethics in Indian Social Documentary
3.5 Ethical Challenges for the Filmmakers
3.5.1 Documentary Filmmakers & Ethical Challenges
3.5.2 Ethical Challenges During Filming and Editing
3.5.3 Decision-making Process
3.6 Let Us Sum Up
3.7 Further Readings
3.8 References
3.9 Unit End Exercises
3.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise
3.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to;
Analyse the Relationship Between Filmmaker And Subject;
Understand Various Ethical Issues in Filmmaking;
Describe Ethical Responsibilities to Subjects And Viewers;
Describe Ethical Challenges for the Filmmakers.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
‘Relationship’ and ‘Morality’ are two key aspects of our day to day life. In order
to keep a proper relationship with anybody, we need to follow some principles.
One of them could be the principles of morality. Isn’t it? You may make a list of
a number of situations in the past, when you were in a dilemma what to do,
which course of action you need to follow etc. In the context of documentary
filmmaking, particularly in case of ethnographic documentary, scholars have
40 *Sunil Kumar Das, EMPC, IGNOU, New Delhi
started showing their keen interest to study on the relationship of the filmmaker– Filmmaker and the Filmed:
Relationship and
filmed. Understanding ‘Ethics’
In this unit, we will discuss at length, how the relationship between filmmaker
and subjects occupies the central place in making the documentary film. In
addition to this, we would analyse many ethical questions raised by the
documentarians during the course of making documentary film. As listed by
Olga Khrustaleva, another research scholar on Ethics of Documentary Filmmaker,
such ethical questions are (Khrustaleva, 2014) –”is it possible to document the
reality without intervening, and without expressing a certain viewpoint? Does
establishing friendly relationships with the subject benefit the story or not? Are
filmmakers exploiting people by documenting their lives? How truthful are stories
of people in a documentary if only a small percentage of footage is used in the
final film?”
The unit would focus on various debates on the ethics of documentary filmmaking
by including filmmakers’ experiences and opinions so that you would understand
what ethics truly mean in the field of documentary filmmaking.
As far as Scripting for the movie is concerned, a script may be obtained through
a number of ways. Filmmakers may write the script themselves based on an
original idea, it may be purchased from a screenwriter, a writer may be
commissioned to flash out an idea. However, irrespective of the methods adopted
by the filmmaker for getting the script, they have the final say on how best a
story or idea should be conveyed to the target audience through this particular
‘film’ medium. You must have heard that ‘Budgeting’ is the most important aspect
of filmmaking. It is true that without a ‘profit’ (or we may call it a ‘success’), no
film project is usually conceived. Filmmakers must come up with an estimated
budget for the film based on the realistic assessment of the story line and the
script decided by them. The assessment may be with regard to anything and
everything related to filmmaking starting from the requirement for hiring the
equipment, booking studio space to paying talents and crews. Once a detailed
budget is made, filmmakers may look for the financers. After the budget is in
place, filmmakers begin the process of making the film, that is, casting for the
movie by putting out advertisements or contacting actors, holding auditions and
selecting the actors. Next important step for filmmakers includes hiring a camera
crew, art director, music director, choreographer, stunt people, editors, film scorers
and anyone/anything required for making of the film.
The production activities of a film are broadly broken-up in three stages: Pre-
production, Production & Post-production. The purpose of Pre-production stage
41
Techniques of Ethnographic is to coordinate and plan meticulously for the actual shooting of the movie. At
Film Making
this stage, shooting locations are selected, rehearsals are held, props are purchased,
and the shooting schedule is finalised. The production phase closely deals with
directing and coordinating the actors and the crew so that everything is done
according to budget, time line and the intended story-telling pattern/treatment of
the film. During the Post-production stage, filmmakers put all their concentrations
on the process of editing the raw footage/shooting material into a meaningful
picture with the help of editors and other technical experts. The process of editing
deals with visual editing, dubbing, laying background music and other special
effects.
Finally, the film sees the day of light after coming out of the dark room i.e. after
the development of the final print of the film from the ‘Film Lab’. Filmmakers
also are responsible for managing the release of the finished product. With the
advancement of technology, a film is being released in different theatres
simultaneously through satellite using digital cinema distribution network like
UFO. Satellite release does not use the conventional reel to project the movie in
order to avoid the piracy and delays due to traffic. It simply allows the movie to
be screened to be hands-free, as the signal is transmitted through satellite. It is
the crucial moment for a filmmaker who would be eager to see the reactions of
the audience. Before releasing a film, filmmakers do coordinate the advertising
as well as the public relation campaign, fix a release date. A screening schedule
is finalised once the film is released to the general public. Sometimes special
screenings are planned for a specific limited audience. Isn’t interesting to know:
How does the making of a film follow so many steps systematically? You must
have watched lot of films. But, have you ever thought that a Filmmaker has to
handle every department of filmmaking with utmost care?
The second issue, as raised by Grierson, refers to the relationships with subjects
or subjects. Grierson refers to subjects or subjects as ‘actors’. He strongly believes
that “the original (or native) actor, and the original (or native) scene, are better
guides to a screen interpretation of the modern world”- which he termed it as the
“multifaceted interpretation of reality”.The philosophical question, as raised by
Khrustaleva, at this juncture is (Khrustaleva, 2014): “how much reality there is
left in documentary film”. As she writes further: “it is reality seen through a
double prism– first through the prism of subjects, and then through the prism of
a filmmaker”.
The third thing that Grierson refers to the principles which emphasize the fact
that the sense of reality and truth is greater in documentaries compared to fiction
films. Grierson refers documentaries as “stories from the raw” and believes that
it can achieve the “intimacy of knowledge” and consequently, it can be more
effective than the fiction or ‘the acted story’ (Khrustaleva, 2014).
Gatekeepers are people who “regulate the flow of information, language and
knowledge” (Storm, 2007) and “determine what becomes a person’s social reality,
a particular view of the world” (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009). As we all know,
journalists have been traditionally considered gatekeepers as they decide which
stories to cover and what information should be included in the story. We may
consider “documentary filmmakers as gatekeepers too for several reasons
including that only a small per cent of the footage is actually used in a film”
(Khrustaleva, 2014).
With regard to the filmmaker’s role, or obligations, and to the question of whether
or not a filmmaker can intervene in certain situations, Maccarone writes that the
main reason for a journalists or a documentary filmmaker’s non-intervention is
that the action “violates their subject’s autonomy”. (Maccarone, 2010) Since the
presence of the camera already violates this autonomy in a way, it is almost
difficult to act as an indifferent observer, especially when a filmmaker becomes
part of the reality rather than just observing it.
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Ethics play a big role in the life of filmmakers to be truthful and honest to their
subject. But it is not that easy to know that what kind of effect the actions of a
filmmaker will have on individuals and cultures particularly when they are not
known to him/her. Therefore, one cannot always be confident that he or she is
acting in an ethical way (Hartzell, 2003).
45
Techniques of Ethnographic However, first of all, we need to know what the real definition of ethics is. You
Film Making
may consider this standard dictionary entry: “Ethics: A theory or system dealing
with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness
of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of
such actions” (Fieser, 2008).
With the changes in the film industry, concerns with regard to the ethics in
documentary filmmaking intensified. In the late 1990s, U.S. documentary
filmmakers were widely respected as media makers as well as recognized as
independent voices at a time when the public lost their confidence in mainstream
media and in the integrity of the political process The interference and influence
of politicians in media had an impact on the perception of documentary films as
neutral and objective (Aufderheide, Jaszi & Chandra, n.d.). Consequently,
documentary filmmakers came under scrutiny for the ethics of their practices.
As Larry Chonko writes, “In order to understand ethical decision making, it is
important for students to realize that not everyone makes decisions in the same
way, using the same information, employing the same decision rules” (Chonko,
2012).
The more recent theories of ethics include libertarian theory and social
responsibility theory. Whereas libertarian theory emphasizes the role of markets
and economy in the media, social responsibility theory argues that audience is a
key factor in ethical decision-making process (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm,
1963).
In United States, while the topics, ranging from major ethnic groups to the most
exotic members of the sub-cultures, differ, most of these filmmakers are concerned
with the relationship between filmmaker and the subject. Documentary film
makers do not always stress interacting with their subjects. On the other hand,
there was a time, the documentary “filmmaker’s ideal was a detached and
exclusively observational attitude, expressed by the saying “fly on the wall
(Spiegel, 1984)”.
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making
3.3.2 Code of Ethics in Documentary Filmmaking
As Nichols raises a very vital question: “Can we establish standards for an ethical
documentary practice?” (Nichols,). You would also agree with him on this point.
This is not a purely rhetorical question. Do documentaries breach an ethical
standard? Nichols puts several questions in series: “What might such a standard
be and who might enforce it? What obligation does the filmmaker have to avoid
distortion, misrepresentation, coercion or betrayal, be it overt or extremely subtle,
even if such acts appear to serve a higher goal such as “getting the story told” or
“exposing injustice”? What responsibility does the filmmaker have for ensuring
that persuasive techniques do not distort established facts, rules of evidence and
the principles of sound debate?”
Should a filmmaker act as a “Polite Guest” (Spiegel, 1984), as the term coined
by Pauline Spiegel in her article ‘The Case of the Well-Mannered Guest’,
published in 1984. As Spiegel feels that there are films like Tony de Nonno’s
“It’s One Family” which are serious, effective and affecting but limited in their
impact as something is missing, more could be said and shown to the audience.
A sense of politeness, of silence towards their subject is observed to be the
characteristics of these films. Many filmmakers including Tony de Nonno feels
that challenging their subjects is like betraying the intimacy they have granted to
them as outsiders. However, considering the filmmaker as stranger is the key
since it sets the terms of the relationships, it determines the process of filmmaking,
and it influences the nature the finished film.
As discussed earlier, the difference in the power of filmmakers and their subjects
can often be best measured by their relative access to the means of representation.
But it depends on few related questions: Do subjects have the means to represent
themselves? Do they have alternative access to the media apart from that provided
by a given filmmaker? If the answer is no, the filmmaker’s ethical obligation to
avoid misrepresentation, exploitation and abuse rises correspondingly. In fact,
the subjects who are dependent on the filmmaker to have their story told are the
most vulnerable to misrepresentation and abuse.
48
Check Your Progress 2 Filmmaker and the Filmed:
Relationship and
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers. Understanding ‘Ethics’
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) Define Ethics. What is the role of ethics in Documentary Filmmaking?
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Therefore, with all sense of responsibility, the required rules must be set by the
documentarians themselves and should be maintained by them by respecting
their conscientiously established boundaries without crossing lines set by both
themselves and their subjects (Cipriani, 2014).
The first problem filmmakers confronts: how to cross these lines of privacy and
the second problem refers to: how to understand the unfamiliar events which
confront them in a strange environment. A process called “participant
observation”, a kind of dedicated, alert hanging-out is the answer to both these
questions (Spiegel, 1984). The method involves talking to subjects and observing
events in the hope of gaining admission to more sensitive areas and more intimate
50
(and reliable) information. For filmmakers it is especially important that subjects Filmmaker and the Filmed:
Relationship and
feel at ease with all the bits and pieces of filming. The filmmaker’s claim, like Understanding ‘Ethics’
Tony de Nonno’s, to be “a member of the family” is not only a comfortable fact,
it’s a claim to legitimacy. The trust of the subject implies a responsibility, an
ethical imperative not to betray. The responsibility could be including “the choice
of whom to film”. However, the ethnographic filmmakers tend to focus on
marginal peoples who are relatively powerless and voiceless.
As Pauline Spiegel believes that “some filmmakers feel that this responsibility
can be fulfilled by a kind of contractual quid pro quo” (Spiegel, 1984). Filmmaker
George Stoney said: “When I go to somebody with camera and microphone and
I say, ‘Look, give me your soul,’ I’ve got to be able to say ‘Look, it is going to
help you, not hurt you.’” It is not the case with all filmmakers like Stoney, who
made a concentrated effort to use his films to promote dialogue between under
represented groups and government bureaucracy. What this quid pro quo implies
is “an agreement, stated or unstated, with the subjects to produce a film that
shows the subjects the way they see themselves” (Spiegel, 1984). Spiegel opines
that in an anthropological context rather than an investigative one, it would be
not just impolite but pointless to challenge what people say about themselves.
Patwardhan strongly believes that “Ethics is the answer” to all the dilemmas
with regard to issues related to religion, culture etc. In order to argue on this
issue, he writes that Gandhi’s Sarva Dharma Samabhava (all religions are equal)
cannot take the place of Ambedkar’s constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights
and we need the Constitution much more than we need holy books. As he writes,
“Small wonder that Ambedkar and Gandhi, each in turn arrived at individual
definitions of Ahimsa”. It is equally applicable to all the documentary filmmakers
while they are at a cross road of taking ethical decisions with regard to the
involvement of their subjects in the film as well as interpretation of values, beliefs
etc. for the viewers.
51
Techniques of Ethnographic Check Your Progress 3
Film Making
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) Please mention five ethical issues affecting the work of filmmakers?
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3) Watch a documentary film on any social issue (s) of India and mention
regarding if at any point of time the filmmaker has crossed the ethical lines
with regard to subjects as well as viewers.
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It may be very disturbing for you to read something narrated below but for your
clarity, one instance is being cited here. While a filmmaker was on location
shooting a wildlife film, trying to capture one animal hunting another, recalled
(Aufderheide, Jaszi & Chandra, n.d.):
We tried to shoot a few, and missed both of them. Unbeknownst to me, the
[animal wrangler] broke the next rabbit’s leg, so it couldn’t run. So we got
one. On the next take, they then asked, “Should we break its leg again?” .
. . the DP [director of photography] was sitting there, saying “No, I’m
sure you wouldn’t want to do it,” but nodding his head yes. I made the
decision, let them break it. I regret it. It eats me up every day. I can sort of
rationalize this, that it might be killed by a natural predator. But for us to
inflict pain to get a better shot was the wrong thing to do.”
As far as the “integrity of agreements made between producers and their subjects
as a condition of filming” is concerned, it is also threatened due to the assembly-
line nature of the production. At the time of editing and post-production, the
producer who lines up subjects or oversees production is often separated from
this process. Filmmaker feels frustrated as the stations do not always honour the
agreements they have made with their subjects. In one example, as a filmmaker
expressed during a survey (Aufderheide, Jaszi & Chandra, n.d.), “interviews
were given and releases were signed on condition that they garble their voice
and obscure their face . . . They didn’t garble the voice but did obscure the face.
53
Techniques of Ethnographic That makes me uncomfortable; it puts them at risk.”
Film Making
As the author (filmmaker) of this unit recalls his days in 1999 during a shoot of
a documentary on Street Children entitled “Bringing into Focus” for IGNOU: “I
could more often watch many children on the street of Delhi selling books,
magazines, flowers at the traffic red light. One forenoon, I came on the streets of
Delhi with my shooting crew so that I could talk to those children on camera &
find out the reason behind they were on the street. Were they earning their
livelihoods by choice or by compulsion? But, while a boy was talking to me on
camera, an elderly man appeared like a ghost on the scene & whispered him to
demand for money from us as he was obliging us by giving the interview.
Although, I didn’t pay for his bite on camera, I gave him a ten rupees note in
token of my appreciation for his cooperation as he didn’t leave the location despite
being prompted for money.” However, demanding money for giving a bite on
camera does not come automatically from the subject. It is due to many
Documentary Filmmakers’ unethical decisions of offering money to the subjects
to act in the documentary according to their wish (or like a fiction).
With regard to staying close versus staying distant with subjects, most filmmakers
don’t try to stay distant from their subjects or “collaborators” (as termed by Ross
Kauffman), as they feel that people who are being filmed are active participants
and without their contribution a film wouldn’t be possible. As far as the issue of
involvement versus non-involvement is concerned, Aufderheide, Jaszi & Chandra
have reported in their survey that several filmmakers recalled many ethically
challenging situations where they chose to directly intervene in a situation. To
cite one, during filming, it was found out that a night watchman at the house for
runaway kids was beating children. The filmmakers reported to the concerned
authority and the guard was fired.
Many filmmakers are motivated by their own reasons to impose upon themselves
a series of rules governing style as well as content. It implies a set of limitations.
Implicitly, it could be a contract between the filmmaker and the subject which
leads to self-censorship (Spiegel, 1984). According to Spiegel, many filmmakers
simply refuse to include anything which may make subject look bad as it is
unethical. With regard to rationalisation of the issue of censorship, filmmakers
claim that they only work on subjects about which they have positive feelings.
They also claim that they have no wish or reason to show negative material. But
on the contrary, it is felt that such films can be viewed with intellectually cautious
as subjects speak entirely for themselves and the filmmaker speaks little.
54
Whenever the filmmaker intervenes, it is not to analyse them but to provide a Filmmaker and the Filmed:
Relationship and
context for the events on the screen. Despite these films tell us about other people’s Understanding ‘Ethics’
values and world views, it remains silent about the how and why of cultural
process. It is left to the audience to draw the conclusion on its own. As Spiegel
suggests, “it demands an extraordinary alert, educated and thoughtful audience-
or else a class of social science students (Spiegel, 1984)”.
After going through a detailed discussions on ethical issues and challenges, you
might have realised that that everyone involved in filmmaking-subject and
filmmaker-brings his or her own hopes, fears and expectations to a film. But the
challenges for both, outsiders (filmmakers) looking in and insiders (subjects)
looking in, lie with the balancing the responsibility of sympathy with the
responsibility of honest interpretation (Spiegel, 1984).
Hope, as a filmmaker one can understand it better. But the audience is intelligent;
it will understand and interpret the film it in its own way.
Check Your Progress 4
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) What are the ethical challenges faced by the Documentary Filmmakers?
Please write about some ethical challenges faced by any famous Indian
Documentary Filmmaker.
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Techniques of Ethnographic 3) What are the factors which influence the ethical decision-making process?
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“(i) By what means can we distinguish the structures we believe are in our films
from the structures that are discerned in them, often without our knowing, by
their subjects? And
(ii) is a film in any sense the same object for those who made it, for whom it may
have the status of disclosure, and for those who in passing have left their physical
traces upon it?”
MacDougall opines that the question of “whose story?” thus has both the
dimensions: ontological and moral. According to him, it is considered to be a
rare book or film that emerges at the end of the process as the author pre-conceived
it. Film itself as a channel of communication and if we ask, “Whose story is it?”
in Aboriginal terms, we may have to broaden our conception of “what is narrative”.
ii) Media Ethics: Key Principles for Responsible Practice. Patrick Lee &
Plaisance (Ch-1: Ethics Theory. Ethics Theory: Application to Media)
iv) Documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak’s three films which are often known
as the “Series on Indian Democracy”
https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/44426/
research.pdf?
Nichols, B. (n.d.). Documentary modes of representation-Description
Retrieved on June 17, 2017, from
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/sdaniel/177_2015/bill-nichols-modes.pdf
Patterson, P., & Wilkins, L. (2008). Media Ethics: Issues and cases (6th ed.).
Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Shoemaker, P.J. & Vos, T.P. (2009). Gatekeeping theory. New York: Routledge.
Cited in Khrustaleva, O. (2014). Ethics of Filmmaker-Subject Relationships in
Documentary. A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the
University of ‘Missouri-Columbia in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for
the Degree Master of Arts. Retrieved on June 07, 2017, from https://
mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/44426/research.pdf?
Siebert, F.S., Peterson, T. & Schramm, W. (1963). Four Theories of the Press:
The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility and Soviet Communist
Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do. University of Illinois Press.
Cited in Khrustaleva, O. (2014). Ethics of Filmmaker-Subject Relationships in
Documentary. A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the
University of ‘Missouri-Columbia in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for
the Degree Master of Arts. Retrieved on June 07, 2017, fromhttps://
mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/44426/research.pdf?
Spiegel, P (1984). The Case of the Well-Mannered Guest. The Independent Film
and Video Monthly, April 1984, pp. 15-17.
3) Try to read the reviews on films with regard to the comments of the director
of the films published on Newspapers on print/on-line.
4) Gatekeepers are people who regulate the flow of information, language and
knowledge and determine what becomes a person’s social reality, a particular
view of the world.
3) Patwardhan strongly believes that “Ethics is the answer” to all the dilemmas
with regard to issues related to religion, culture etc.
Check Your Progress 4
1) Documentary filmmakers largely depend on individual judgment, guidance
from executives, and occasional conversations at film festivals.
2) At the time of editing and post-production, the producer who lines up subjects
or oversees production is often separated from this process. Filmmaker
feels frustrated as the stations do not always honour the agreements they
have made with their subjects.
3) Ethical decision-making should be based on rational justification.
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making
UNIT 4 EDITING AND CONSTRUCTION OF
MEANING*
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Editing
4.2.1 Construction of Meaning
4.2.2 Construction of Meaning and Culture
4.2.3 Meaning Construction and Gender
4.2.4 Media, Meaning and Ideology
4.3 Let Us Sum Up
4.4 Key Words
4.5 Further Readings and References
4.6 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise
4.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you would be able to:
Discuss editing as a technique and process,
Describe how editing is related with construction of meaning,
Explain construction of meaning in a cultural context with regard to gender
and ideology, and
Describe how ‘meaning’ and ideology are interlinked.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Unit, we observed the relationship between ‘the film-maker and
the filmed’ and the ethics involved in it. In the present unit, we are going to take
this discussion further and will be discussing the aspect of Editing and the
construction of meaning. In the process of film making, post-shooting of the
film, the next process is of editing. Editing helps in sequencing and systematic
arrangement of a film or program in a logical or defined manner. It helps to
streamline the narrative or the vision objective with which the film was made.
Editing is related with the construction of meaning of the narrative which we
will be now reading in detail.
4.2 EDITING
We will now look at editing as a technique and a process and how it leads to
construction of meaningful stories. Editing is about the selection, arrangement
and timing of visual shots together. The shot is the most basic unit on which a
film is made. Films before editing were single, stationary shots of daily events.
It is through editing that the process of selection of shots takes place. The film
needs to be shot well for the shots to be strung together meaningfully to create a
beautiful visual story. An editor is then supposed to:
For example, in the 1950s Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon where same story with
four different versions were shown and Kurosawa used editing technique of pacing
the story differently to show each one’s perspective. Alfred Hitchkock’s Psycho
in 1960 showed how pace in editing could be used to take the story forward and
create suspense. In India, Renu Saluja in films like Jaane bhi do Yaaron (1983),
Parinda (1989) or Ram Gopal Verma’s Satya (1998) heralded a new era of slick
editing in Hindi cinema.
For fiction films the story is written in advance of the shooting. In documentary
films, story emerges in editing of the film. Filming or shooting accumulates
scenes from which a film can be edited. Horror requires great deal of knowledge
about editing as suspense is created through fast pace changing of shots.
Process:
a) Synchronization of shot visuals and sound;
b) A log is organized which puts together details of the shots, summarizing
and classifying each shot;
c) Evaluation of all the shot material (many shots get rejected at this stage);
d) Selected shots are then put together;
e) How long a shot will be shown for (seconds/minutes) is decided and extra
parts are deleted;
f) If required, extra music and visuals are added to enhance the story’s narrative;
g) Final selection happens;
h) Movie post-selection of shots is screened for the production team.
Re-Editing in Soviet Cinema in the 1920s
The relationship between editing and culture has been explored in various
researches. Yuri Tsivian (1996) in his essay ‘The Wise and the Wicked Game:
Re-Editing and Soviet Film Culture of the 1920s in Film History’ explains
about the term “re-editing” (peremontazh) as used in the Soviet film industry
of the 1920s meaning: the reworking of a film to suit it to a country other than
that of its origin. Apart from the ‘re-editing’ in the proper sense of the word,
this term also referred to re-titling, altering the main title, changing character
names and adding new scenes to pre-existing footage. Generally, re-editing is
associated with censorship, and is regarded as part of the political history of
film. Tsivian looks at it through the lens of film style and culture, and discusses
two activities:
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making
1) The reworking of foreign films for Soviet screens
2) The reworking of Soviet films for export.
In fact similar practices served different sections of the film industry (re-
editing for export was part of production-or, rather, post production-performed,
as a rule, at the studio where the prototype print had been made, whereas
incoming films were re-edited by their distributors). Each practice was
motivated by its own policy and by its own aesthetic logic. He explains in his
article how the process of re-editing afforded early Soviet filmmakers and
editors an opportunity to test ideas of foreignness and to articulate (as well as
play with) the ways in which Soviet identities ‘should be portrayed’.
Even in present times, films are re-edited to suit the tastes’ of varied audiences
worldwide. American films have to go through Censor board certification
(based on ‘Indian sensibilities’) before they are screened in India and some
Hollywood films are even re-edited for Asian audiences.
Check Your Progress 1
1) What is editing?
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Burton (2005) states, “film viewing is a reflective process in which the spectator
64 identifies not only with elements such as characters within the film, but also
with the process of looking that the film carries out through the camera. … There Editing and Construction of
Meaning
is what is called ‘subjectivity’, in which the spectator appears to be the subject
of the film’s discourse, in which we inhabit the cinematic world – talking of both
realism and narrative – as if by magic. We identify with the screen image and the
screen world, although it is an illusion, a construction is socially produced, and
is a manifestation of ideology.” (pg. 189)
Content creators like actors, writers, producers and directors and other production
personnel are located within a particular economic and organizational system.
This system forms a part of their personal and professional lives. The social,
legal, political and economic constraints within which they are live and function
influence the narratives that they portray in cinema. Both producers and consumers
are influenced by their spatial locations. Rockeach and Cantor (1986) observe,
content is created within a social system. They contend that all over the world
the power to create content for the mass media rests with a select few. These are
generally people who usually occupy formal roles in bureaucratic structures.
These ‘communicators’ are the most concrete controllers of media information
resources- creating, gathering, processing and disseminating resources that have
become fundamental to the conduct of societal, cultural, organizational and
personal life’ (pg. 15). As far as media consumers are concerned they are ‘active
individuals and members of social groupings who consume media products in
65
Techniques of Ethnographic the context of their personal and social goals. And it is the media which connects
Film Making
audience to its various institutions’ (pg. 17). For instance, in order to gain social
and cultural acceptability and to create a balance the producers often add a positive
character to the story if a character is shown as negative.
Laura Mulvey gave the Male Gaze theory (Mulvey, 1975) women in the media
are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man. Women are represented as passive
objects of desire for men. In her analysis of the cinema’s system of representation
sees it as offering men the dominant spectator position, the implied viewer who
is seen as the ‘bearer of the look’ while women are enclosed within their sphere,
as they are given the position of identifying with objectified and passive images
of themselves. This theory can be viewed in three ways:
How men look at women
How women look at themselves
How women look at other women.
66
Typical examples of the male gaze include close-up shots of women from over a Editing and Construction of
Meaning
man’s shoulder. Such shots are fixated on a woman’s body. These scenes that
occur frequently in a movie for example show a man actively observing a passive
woman. The Male Gaze implies that the female viewer must experience the
narrative secondarily, by identification with the male. It is the duty of the man to
‘act’ while woman just appears/exists. The dominant-male and dominated-female
are depicted by representing the female as a passive object for the male gaze.
The social depiction of the dominant male and the dominated female is accepted
by the viewer as it is a part of patriarchal gendered norms. The mainstream cinema
reinforces these stereotypes. The female gaze directed at themselves and at other
women are also influenced by these stereotypes. The movies that feature the
male gaze are considered to be more important from the point of view of audience-
male and female- acceptability. This also translates into commercial success.
The same is true for the telecast and depiction of sports. Only some sports are
viewed as entertainment. Women athletes who participate in traditionally
unacceptable sports like rugby, softball, volleyball, hockey, basketball are
neglected. While ‘socially acceptable’ sports are sports like swimming, tennis,
gymnastics, golf, figure skating. The former involve power and aggression and
are thus ignored and neglected by the media. The latter are considered to be
more acceptable and are telecast more often. The guiding principle is one of
highest return on one’s investment or the TRPs (television rating points). The
male dominated institutions like the movies, advertising and television thus
influence and determine what is “natural and normal” in society (Mulvey, 1975).
Check Your Progress 2
1) Explain the Male gaze theory.
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Critical approach in media views the effects of mass media on society. They
argue that competing points of view provide an illusion of openness. In actuality
it is confined or limited to an agenda or ‘overall discourse’. This sets the limits to
what shall or what shall not, be discussed by society. The term ‘agenda setting’ is
often used to refer to a process where the terms of reference for the debate are
fixed to suit the interests of the powerful. For example, media is often accused of
showing urban stories from Delhi and Mumbai. As in 2017, according to the
World Bank collection of development indicators, 66.46 % of the population in
India is rural. Control for the content rests with organizations responsible for
manufacturing and transmitting cultural products. They are obviously urban elite
and dominate the bureaucratic structures of the media organizations.
Frankfurt School critical approach theorist Stuart Hall has talked about how the
ruling class retains its control over other groups’ and creates’ consensus within
society. Media often becomes a tool which helps in reproducing dominant
ideology. The dominant ideology which they express through images and words
in popular mass media, is a dominant way by which the powerful secure their
position. Horkheimer and Adorno in their work Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947)
talk about how art and culture forms become increasingly standardized and
commodified as films, TV and radio. They do not challenge an individual’s
fantasies or intelligence. They presuppose and foster the lack of imagination and
spontaneity of the passive spectator and induce conformity. The culture industry
is suspicious of the new does not want to experiment. The culture industry converts
individuals into consumers. It systematically conveys the message that the
consumers cannot conceive of themselves in any other way. As Adorno states it
68
impedes the development of autonomous, independent individuals who judge Editing and Construction of
Meaning
and decide consciously for themselves. (Larrain, 1994).
Horkheimer and Adorno, fresh from the political and economic totalitarianism
of Nazi Germany, discovered a new form of tyranny in the United States in the
form of Hollywood and the cultural industry. The cultural industry produces a
standardised, homogenised mass culture in which the market, like a lava flow,
consumes everything of value in its path. Citizens are turned into consumers.
Culture and entertainment are fused. Consumers are classified and labelled in
the same way as commodities are. The media, and especially the new medium of
television (they were writing originally on these matters in 1944) provide a
constant and de-differentiating flow: of repetitive, predictable, smug and
superficial programming. Real life is becoming indistinguishable from its
mediation in film and television. All is false: pleasure, happiness, spectacle,
laughter, sexuality, individuality. Amusement is structured according to the
rhythms demanded by the entertainment factory- the media.
Kapsis (1986, p. 162) quotes Gans (1957):
“The making of a picture itself can be viewed as a decision making process. As
each creator applies his audience image in the decisions that have to be made, he
is “representing” some of the publics who will eventually see the movie. The
completed picture is a combination of the decisions made by its creators, and
also a compromise or perhaps more correctly, a ‘negotiated synthesis,’ of their
individual audience images. However, this synthesis takes place within a power
structure, and the final decisions are often made by studio executives who point
the compromise in a direction that seems to assure the largest box office (p.318).
Political
Intervention
Audience
The Law
Response
Media
Institutions
Technical
Innovation and Regulatory
Change Bodies
Market Forces
4.4 KEYWORDS
Editing: It is about the selection, arrangement and timing of visual shots together.
Shot: Shot is the most basic unit on which a film is built.
70
Male Gaze theory: Laura Mulvey gave this theory and observed that films Editing and Construction of
Meaning
offer men the dominant spectator position, the implied viewer who is seen as the
‘bearer of the look’ while women are given the position of identifying with
objectified and passive images of themselves.
Mulvey, Laura (Autumn 1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen.
16 (3): 6-18. doi:10.1093/screen/16.3.6.
Kapsis Robert (1986). Hollywood Film Making and Audience Image in Media,
Audience and Social Structure (ed.), London: Sage.
Tsivian, Yuri (1996) The Wise and the Wicked Game: Re-Editing and Soviet
Film Culture of the 1920s in Film History, vol. 8, no. 3, Cinema and Nation- II
pp. 327-342, Indiana University Press.
Larrain Jorge (1994) Ideology and cultural identity, Cambridge Polity Books.
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Techniques of Ethnographic Check Your Progress 2
Film Making
Laura Mulvey gave the Male Gaze theory (1975) and in her analysis of the
cinema’s system of representation sees it as offering men the dominant spectator
position, the implied viewer while women are given the position of identifying
with objectified and passive images of themselves.
Check Your Progress 3
Culture industry produces a standardised, homogenised mass culture in which
the market, consumes everything considered valuable in society.
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Editing and Construction of
UNIT 5 UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE Meaning
5.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you’ll be able to:
Understand the different types of shots used in film and video production;
Describe the various camera movements;
Explain the purposes of different types of shots and camera movements;
Select the suitable shot or camera movement for your film or video
production.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Film is an audiovisual product which generally consists of two elements: audio
and visual. A film communicates its message mainly through visuals, supported
by the audio component. If you want to make a film you must have understanding
of visual language. Visual language has its own grammar, and shots and camera
movements are its important elements. In this Unit, we’ll discuss the different
types of shots and camera movements used in filmmaking. Once you’ll understand
the basics of visual language, you can use it in different audiovisual productions
including ethnographic films. For example, if you know the English language,
you can use this language for writing different things like stories, news reports,
books, articles, novels, etc. The style of language may be different in story writing,
news writing or book writing, but basics and grammar of the language will remain
same. The same logic is also applicable to visual language.
In filmmaking or video production, you can define shot as the recording or footage
without any break. Shot is a single unbroken footage or recording. You can also
say that shot is a footage or recording from one cut to another cut. The duration
of a shot may be a few seconds or up to several minutes. If you see any film
cautiously you can easily identify different shots.
ii) Dynamic shot: Dynamic shots are taken by the moving camera. If you
move your camera during the recording of a shot, it will be classified as
dynamic shot. For example, two persons are talking to each other angrily in
your shot, then camera moves to left for showing the presence of few other
74
people. It will be counted as a dynamic shot. We will discuss the different Understanding Multiple
Shots and Camera
types of camera movements in the later part of this unit. Movements
Subject: A subject may be the character or any object which is the center of
interest for the camera. In other words, subject is the character or object which
will be in focus during recording. More than one character or object may also be
treated as subjects.
Frame: A frame is a still image and the smallest unit of any film or video. As we
discussed earlier, a number of frames together make a shot. In this context, frame
is the space of that still image available to a director or cinematographer to
compose a shot. You can also say that frame is an area which is captured by a
camera and visible to the audience. Anything which is out of frame during shooting
is not the part of film because it is not captured by the camera.
On the basis of subject’s size captured in the frame, shots can be divided into
three basic types:
1) Close-up
2) Medium shot
3) Long shot.
These three basic shots can further be divided into few other types. On the basis
of subject’s size, you can classify shots into seven following types:
1) Extreme close-up (ECU)
2) Close-up (CU)
3) Medium close-up (MCU)
4) Medium shot (MS)
5) Medium long shot (MLS)
6) Long shot (LS)
7) Extreme long shot (ELS)
All these above-mentioned shots can be framed by changing the distance between
camera and the subject. While framing a shot, you can capture anything according
to the need of your story. It may be human beings, animals, plants, non-living
objects, etc. Here we’ll use a female character as an example to explain the
different types of shots and their purposes. But before starting the discussion on
different types of shots, you should be aware of one rule. A shot should never be
cut at the natural divisions of our body like neck, waist and knees. You should
always cut your shots from just above or below these natural divisions.
1) Extreme close-up (ECU): It is closer than the close-up shot and captures a
part of face. It is abbreviated as ECU. Extreme close-up shot is used to
show the important details of a smaller area. You can use this shot to reveal
some important marks on your character’s face or some important and
75
Techniques of Ethnographic meaningful activities of your character’s eyes, lips etc. It helps to show
Film Making
detailed facial expressions and emotions. For example an extreme close-up
could be of a character’s tearful eyes. It helps the director reveal the
character’s emotion beautifully. Extreme close-ups of shining teeth are
commonly used in the advertisement films of different dental products.
Figure 1.1 is an example of extreme close-up shot.
2) Close-up (CU): It captures the whole face. The whole frame is mainly
covered with the face only, so negligible background information is
available. Close-up shots are used to show the facial expressions and
emotions. These shots provide opportunities to actors and actresses to show
their acting skills. Close-up shots are frequently used as reaction shots to
show the character’s reactions and emotions. It is abbreviated as CU. Figure
1.2 shows an example of close-up shot.
6) Long shot (LS): A Long shot (LS) is sometimes also known as wide shot or
full shot. In a long shot, you frame the full body from head to toe. Long
shot puts your character in the context. You can use this shot to establish
your location. It provides detailed information about the background. You
can show the activities of your characters with clear background details
through this shot. Figure 1.6 shows the example of a long shot.
Activity 1
Watch any film (preferably ethnographic film) just for two minutes and try to
do following things:
Count the number of shots used during these two minutes
List the types of shots used during these two minutes
3) Low-angle shot: In this type of shot, you place the camera at lower level. It
gives the effect as you are looking up at a taller or bigger thing. Low-angle
shot makes the subject stronger, important and dominant. Figure 1.9 is an
example of low-angle shot.
4) Bird’s eye view shot: This shot provides a view as a bird observing
something on ground from the sky. It is also called overhead shot. In this
type of shot, you place the camera just above the subject and location. This
shot gives a complete view of the location where the action is going on.
You can use this shot to reveal the information about the location and action
which are not possible to be shown through a high-angle shot. Figure 1.10
shows the example of bird’s eye view shot.
2) Point-of-view shot (POV): Point-of-view shot shows the things from the
viewpoint of a character. Figure 1.14 shows the example of a point-of-view
shot.
80
Figure 1.14 : Point-of-view shot
3) Reaction shot: Reaction shot is very important in storytelling. You frame Understanding Multiple
Shots and Camera
this shot to show the reaction of a character on any dialogue or action. For Movements
example, just imagine a scene in which three characters are discussing
something. One of the characters reveals a shocking information. Now you’ll
have to show the reactions of other two characters through reaction shots.
Reaction shots show the facial expressions and emotions of the characters.
Generally, reaction shots are framed as close-up or medium close-up shots.
An example of reaction shot is shown in figure 1.15.
82
Understanding Multiple
Shots and Camera
Movements
2) Tilt: Tilt is a vertical movement in which you can move your camera up or
down. Like pan, camera mount stays stationary in tilting also. Tilting gives
effect like looking up or down while standing at one place. Tilt movement
can be used to follow the upward or downward movements of your character.
You can use this movement to reveal more information about your location.
Figure 1.17 shows the tilt movement.
83
Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making
You should not be confused between dolly and zoom. ‘Dolly in’ gives an
effect like you are coming towards the subject. It provides normal perspective
shifts, but ‘zoom in’ just magnifies the subject. In ‘dolly in’ you feel the
depth of space but ‘zoom in’ lacks it and looks artificial.
84
6) Truck: Like dolly, truck is also a camera movement performed with the Understanding Multiple
Shots and Camera
help of wheeled camera mounts and tracks, but in trucking you move the Movements
camera sideways. If you move the camera right, it is called ‘truck right’ or
if you move the camera left, it is called ‘truck left’. You should not be
confused between ‘pan’ and ‘truck’. In ‘pan’, camera mount (tripod or
pedestal) stays stationary only camera moves right or left on its axis, but in
trucking camera mount moves right or left along with the camera. For
example, if you want to stay with your character who is moving straight,
you can use the ‘truck movement’. Figure 1.20 demonstrates the truck
movement.
7) Arc: When you truck your camera on a curved path, it is called arc. Arc
movement can be arc right or arc left. In this movement, camera moves
around the subject in a semicircle. You can use arc movement to reveal
more information about your subject, to shoot a moving subject and to
bring visual Variety in your film. Figure 1.21 shows the arc movement.
You can use crane movements for various purposes. For example, you can shoot
a subject from high angle and then come to eye-level in one shot with the help of
crane movements. Cranes can help to take bird’s eye-view and other high angle
shots. With the help of crane, you can combine multiple movements and get the
desired views.
10) Movements with the help of camera stabilizers: Movements with the
help of camera stabilizers: Camera stabilizers are the equipment which enable
the smooth and shake free handheld camera movements. Variety of camera
stabilizers are available from simple to complex ones. Steadicam is the
leading brand. The camera operator can wear the suitable stabilizer and
mount the camera on it. Now he can move anywhere and on any type of
surface. These camera stabilizers provide a great degree of freedom for
different complex camera movements.
Suppose you are a camera operator and a camera mount is fitted on your body
with a technology to minimize the shakes created by a human body. Now you
are free to move during shoot. Just think about the degree of freedom you can
enjoy during shooting.
Check Your Progress 2
Answer briefly.
1) What is camera movement?
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86
2) Why do we use different camera movements in film production? Understanding Multiple
Shots and Camera
....................................................................................................................... Movements
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Shots and camera movements are very crucial elements of the visual grammar.
The proper understanding of these two elements help the filmmaker to produce a
good film which can communicate its message properly, smoothly and
interestingly.
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making 5.7 FURTHER READINGS AND REFRENCES
Belavadi, V. (2013). Video Production.
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Understanding Multiple
UNIT 6 FILMING ORAL TESTIMONIES, Shots and Camera
Movements
INTERVIEWS AND INTERACTION:
FINAL FILM PROJECTS*
Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Filming Oral Testimonies
6.2.1 What makes Oral History Different?
6.2.2 Oral History–Theory and Practice
6.2.3 Filming Oral History
6.3 Filming Interviews
6.3.1 Filming Interviews with Freedom Fighters
6.3.2 Oral Testimony: Is it free from Bias?
6.3.3 Techniques of Interviewing
6.4 Filming Interaction
6.4.1 Interaction Vs. Discussion
6.4.2 Importance of Meaningful Interaction
6.4.3 Strategies of Filming Interaction
6.5 Final Film Project
6.6 Let Us Sum Up
6.7 Further Readings
6.8 References
6.9 Unit End Exercises
6.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercise
6.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to
understand the importance of Oral Testimonies, Interviews and Interaction;
analyse the need for Filmmaking of Oral Testimonies, Interviews and
Interaction ;
understand various issues involved in Filmmaking of Oral Testimonies,
Interviews and Interaction ; and
understand various techniques involved in Filmmaking of Oral Testimonies,
Interviews and Interaction
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Oral testimony can be described as the oldest type of evidence (OT, n.d.).Usually,
before recording their history in the form of written testimony, people passed
information from generation to generation through story-telling. It is still in
practice today. Don’t you think so? If you recall, you would realise that you have
*Sunil Kumar Das, EMPC, IGNOU, New Delhi 89
Techniques of Ethnographic come to know about the lives of your grandparents, mother, father, other family
Film Making
members or even, important figures of the society through word to mouth. Most
probably, you must have either heard them talk about someone to you or to other
people. Therefore, it’s not very difficult to understand why oral testimony should
be considered as an important source of evidence. But, it is also true that it hasn’t
always been recognised as being important. It is simply because many historians
in the past considered oral testimony as unreliable and they preferred to rely on
written evidence. They believed that the story changed as it had to pass through
many mouths and above all, there was also no way of ensuring the credibility of
the story .But it is noteworthy that written sources are mostly found to have
recorded the details of important, rich or otherwise noticeable people rather than
ordinary people. As a result, a lot of information about the lives of common
people was lost.
However, oral history has never gone out of frame completely. A lot of oral
testimonies have survived although there have been testimonies preserved in
written form. As Catherine Isabel Littlejohn, a Research Scholar writes in her
Thesis, “The Indian Oral Tradition: A Model for Teachers”, “The use of the oral
tradition as a source is not a new idea. The most familiar book to use it is the
Bible! Socrates wrestled with the conflicts of values between oral and written
sources. Herodotus, the espoused ‘Father of History’, used oral sources in History
of the Persian Wars” (Littlejohn, 1975). According to the great epic Mahabharata,
Lord Krishna talked to Arjuna in Kurukshetra, in the battlefield, itself. These are
found in the, Bhagavat Geeta, an important part of the oral customs in India.
These were also transmitted orally for hundreds of years in the previous Christian
Era (BCE). Around 20th century, the use of Oral Testimony became easier with
the invention of the telephone and recording equipment. Interviewing people
had never been easier earlier to that. Their thoughts, beliefs, views and experiences
could be recorded for future generations to come.
In this Unit, we will discuss at length– What are Oral Testimonies? It would also
throw some light on Oral History, its Theory and Practice. How is ‘Interviewing’
a person different to the interacting with him/her?
The unit would focus on various issues and techniques involved in Filming Oral
Testimonies, Interviews and Interaction. More importantly, it would present some
basic idea of handling any Film Project.
It is true that oral histories are valuable. But whenever we use them as primary
sources, we must not forget that memory is usually considered to be weak. Because
most of the historians believe that in the intervening years between the events
and the recounting of them, a person may be influenced by others’ accounts as
well as books or even movies about the events in question (VILLAGE, 2018.). It
is also believed that in general, the closer in time to the events that the account is
90 given, the more reliable they (oral testimonies) are considered to be.
6.2.1 What makes Oral History Different? Filming Oral Testimonies,
Interviews and Interaction:
Final Film Projects
In the context of Film Making, it would be proper on your part (specifically, for
those who don’t work with audio-visual media) to understand that “what makes
oral history different if we can see what we hear?”(Lichtblau, 2006). Media experts
believe that the media of communication shape communication itself since it
styles the structure of contents and messages and thus influences how
communication is understood by readers. Albert Lichtblau, University of Salzburg,
Austria has illustrated this point by analysing how handwritten letters differ
essentially from letters that are written by typewriter or are printouts of computer
files or just appear on screen (Lichtblau, 2006). According to Lichtblau, the
character of one’s personality can be easily recognised in handwritten letters by
personal style than in typed ones, which involves a small range of standardised
typographic formats. He further adds that even in the form of typed letters, one
can distinguish among various forms, such as the formal letter or the much more
informal one. As far as E-mail and SMS are concerned, they fundamentally change
the form and structures of typed communication into informality .In fact, both
tend to a specific form of language, signs and codes.
Therefore, by this logic, you would agree that there are essential divergences
when the format of the communication media differs. Consequently, it is required
to understand the differences between audio-taped or video-taped interviews and
accordingly, one can analyse these differences on various levels like form,
structure, interview setting and interaction, intention, re/construction process,
different kind of information and reception by the academic and non-academic
audience (Lichtblau, 2006).
1) How oral history has developed, where oral history sits in the canon of
historical resources, and what must be taken into consideration when
evaluating it as a historical source?
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Techniques of Ethnographic 2) How does memory work, how do the workings of individual and collective
Film Making
memory influence how people talk about the past, and relate the past to the
present?
3) Planning, conducting, and archiving an oral history interview.
4) Practical and theoretical issues of creating oral histories with different
communities.
5) Practical and theoretical issues of interpreting oral history will be explored
with reference to oral histories of a variety of aspects of urban life e.g.
post-independence development in some specific areas, lives of different
communities, memories of Freedom Struggle Movement.
In this context, the following strategies may be adopted to deal with moving
images
1) The origins and nature of film should be taken into consideration with regard
to the developing technologies of the media.
2) The approaches to film making should brought into our focus. Particularly,
the developments in ‘documentary’ film making should be looked at while
considering the notion of “the real” in film and its value to the historian.
4) The archives and the impact of archival practice should also be looked at
with regard to the use of material in this context.
5) The film should be looked at in the context of television history and in the
context of the material shot. For instance oral history should be shot with
the intent of adding to the historical record.
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Check Your Progress 1 Filming Oral Testimonies,
Interviews and Interaction:
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers. Final Film Projects
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) What do you mean by Oral History? What makes oral history different if
we can see what we hear?
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making 6.3 FILMING INTERVIEWS
Film makes it easier to communicate our interview-related research than purely
audio sources (Lichtblau, 2006). ‘Film’ being an Audio-Visual medium has a
great advantage over Audio as far as the effective communication of oral history
is concerned. Why is it so? As Lichtblau writes, “The reason for that is quite
obvious. Audiences are not accustomed to only listen to edit or unedited audio
sources; they are used to watching documentary films.” It is also believed that
even within the community of oral historians; film seems to be a more appropriate
and therefore more powerful form to communicate the sources.
If someone has asked you: Are you biased? It’s not a trick question. Practically,
everyone is biased in some way. If you support one political party, you are probably
biased against another, if you support one ideology, then you are probably
considered biased against another. You may show your bias whenever talking
about different books, television programmes, issues, even the Government policy.
So what does it mean? Basically, bias means having an unfair or unbalanced
opinion. History is considered to be a subject where people express their opinions.
It means that we need to be very careful in order to get rid of bias.
For example, as a student if you look into the two sides of the story whether
there really was a Hindu temple at a particular site later covered by a Masjid, one
94
would not avoid being biased. In references to the question, the focus is invariably Filming Oral Testimonies,
Interviews and Interaction:
on the case made by the Hindu side, viz. that there was a temple, and that different Final Film Projects
types of evidence confirm this. You may confront with a standard question: Is
the evidence for the temple demolition scenario valid? By contrast, the anti-
temple argumentation also offers evidence that the allegedly demolished Hindu
temple never existed. Now it must be clear to you that if you take any side, you
will be considered biased by the other. Therefore, you would end up with a very
one-sided view if you are not very careful. Filming Oral Testimony would
definitely facilitate as another source to recognise that a particular source is biased.
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use other available sources - just that we
should be careful.
It is also important to recognise that bias is not found just in secondary sources,
primary sources like filmed oral testimonies can also be biased. Bias is not
necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be very useful as it allows one to find out
about what people believed or thought about a particular subject. Historians are
required to find evidence from lots of different sources including the filmed
sources so that they can form a balanced opinion themselves.
Conversation and Discussion : these two words share a common meaning i.e. a
mutual exchange between two or more people. But with regard to the difference
between these words, conversation is commonly used for all talk between two
individuals, whereas discussion is for talk concerning a precise subject
(d’Alembert, 2008). To simplify, we can say that a man’s conversation is good
which indicates that he speaks well about different subjects on which he has the
occasion to talk. But we should not say he is good at discussion. The
word discussion is also used when the talk concerns an important subject. For
example, two heads of states may have talks or a discussion for to make
peace. Whenever a number of people, especially more than two, gather and speak
together informally, we say they are having a conversation and not a discussion
(d’Alembert, 2008).
Therefore, while interacting with people from different faith and ethnic groups,
and different generations, the person involved in interaction should be free from
bias. According to a report commissioned by the Department for Communities
and Local Government of United Kingdom (OPM, 2011), the most prominent
benefits of interaction were found in terms of the reduced levels of prejudice and
improved community resilience, increased education attainment, skills and
employment opportunities, improved health outcomes, particularly in relation to
psychological health and avoidance of depression and reduced crime and anti-
social behaviour.
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Techniques of Ethnographic Check Your Progress 3
Film Making
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) What do you mean by interaction? Describe the usefulness of filming
interactions?
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Filming Oral Testimonies,
6.5 FINAL FILM PROJECT Interviews and Interaction:
Final Film Projects
As a learner if you want to learn from the ground zero then you need to produce
(or to be part of the production team) a short Film/Documentary (or a collection
of shorter films) of 20-25 minutes duration. During the course, you may have to
form small groups on various aspects of the film (production, screenwriting,
filmmaking, post-production, and marketing).
With regard to “Production”, the production team/group holds the charge of legal,
financing, casting, and location hunting and works towards the completion of
the film within the deadline by making a production schedule for the film. As far
as the “screenwriting” team is concerned, it creates a screenplay (in case of fiction)
and storyboards (in case of both fiction/documentary) for the film and further
finalises the shooting script. This team takes care of creative writing, photography,
drawing, etc. At the same time, shooting, lighting, directing, sound, etc. is taken
care by the “Filmmaking” team. This group is primarily responsible for acquiring
equipment involving cinematography, constructing sets, arranging costumes/
props, etc.
Finally, the last and not the least, the activity pertaining to marketing which is
performed by the marketing team. It produces a trailer and uploads on website. It
usually organises a full preview, prepares a press-release and coordinates the
advertising campaign on print/electronic media.
Check Your Progress 4
Note: 1) Use the space below for your answers.
2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) What different groups do you need to form while taking up a film project?
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Techniques of Ethnographic 3) What are the areas in your film project which is taken care by the Screen-
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writing team? How is it different to Filmmaking team?
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4) What do you mean by Post-production? Which tasks are performed by Post-
Production team?
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Next, we have explained the advantage of filming interviews over purely audio
sources as far as the effective communication of oral history is concerned. We
have critically analysed that how the filmed oral testimonies can also be biased.
But on the contrary, the filmed sources help historians form a balanced opinion
themselves by gathering evidence from lots of different sources. Various
techniques of interviewing have been discussed thoroughly.
At the end of the Unit, we have discussed about taking up Film Project by the
learner.
6.8 REFERENCES
Cattell, Vicky; Dines, Nick; Gesler, Wil; Curtis, Sarah. (2008). Mingling,
observing, and lingering: Everyday public spaces and their implications for
wellbeing and social relations. N.P.I Health & Place, 14(3), pp. 544-561. In
OPM. (2011). The benefits of meaningful interaction: Rapid evidence assessment
of existing literature. Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland
House, Bressenden Place, London.
Individual paper for the “Dancing with memory: oral history and its audiences”
entitled XIVthInternational Oral History Conference in Sydney, 12-16 July 2006
Retrieved on June 15, 2017, from
http://www.oralhistory-productions.org/articles/Lichtblau.pdf
Littlejohn, C.I. (1975).The Indian Oral Tradition–A Model for Teachers. Retrieved
on January 12, 2018, from www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/SSU/TC-
SSU-06222007125110.pdf N.P.I OPM. (2011). The benefits of meaningful
interaction: Rapid evidence assessment of existing literature. Department for
Communities and Local Government, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London.
Retrieved on January 28, 2018, from https://www.opm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/
2014/02/2113064.pdf N.P.I OT. (n.d.). Oral Testimony. Retrieved on December
13, 2017, from https://community.dur.ac.uk/4schools.resources/History/Oral.htm
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Techniques of Ethnographic Stinson, J. (2000). The art of the video interview. Retrieved on January 25, 2018,
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from https://www.videomaker.com/article/f5/7657-interview-techniques N.P.I
UH. (n.d.).Testimonies: the filmed and spoken record. Retrieved on June 14,
2017, from http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/urbanhistory/study/taught-courses/
modules/testimonies-outline.pdf
3) Filming Interviews has a great advantage over Audio as far as the effective
communication of oral history is concerned. Justify the statement with
suitable examples.
4) Bias is not necessarily a bad thing. Justify the statement with regard to the
usefulness of the presence of bias in filmed oral testimonies.
7) What are the different groups you need to form while taking up a film project?
10) What do you mean by Post-production? Which tasks are performed by Post-
Production team?
4) The films should be considered with regard to their origins and nature of
film, the approaches to film making in the context of the notion of “the
real” in film and its value to the historian, the use of the archives and the
impact of archival practice and the intent of the film to be added to the
historical record.
Check Your Progress 2
1) Audiences are used to watching documentary films besides listening to
edited/unedited audio sources. Film seems to be a more appropriate for
people including and oral historians.
2) Conversation is commonly used for all talk between two individuals, whereas
discussion is for talk concerning a precise subject.
3) The most prominent benefits of interaction are found in terms of the reduced
levels of prejudice and improved community resilience, increased education
attainment, skills and employment opportunities, improved health outcomes,
particularly in relation to psychological health and avoidance of depression
105
Techniques of Ethnographic and reduced crime and anti-social behaviour.
Film Making
4) In order to have a meaningful interaction, we need to identify the places
and spaces where meaningful interaction can take place e.g. some public
spaces like educational settings with ‘school-linking’ schemes. Some
important skills for practitioners are required to lead meaningful engagement
with people particularly while dealing with diverse groups of people. Both
practice and training are required for skills like active listening, facilitation
of discussion and conflict/tension management.
Check Your Progress 4
1) While taking up a film project, you may have to form small groups on
various aspects of the film: production, screenwriting, filmmaking, post-
production, and marketing.
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Filming Oral Testimonies,
UNIT 7 FINAL FILM PROJECTS* Interviews and Interaction:
Final Film Projects
Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Stages of Film-Making
7.2.1 Role of Producer and the Story idea
7.2.2 Start of Production
7.2.3 Production
7.2.4 Shoot
7.2.5 Post-Production
7.2.6 Distribution and Publicity
7.3 Role of State
7.4 Film Making Stories
7.4.1 Mother India
7.4.2 Sholay
7.4.3 Mughal- E- Azam
7.5 Let Us Sum Up
7.6 Key Words
7.7 References and Further Readings
7.8 Specimen Answers to Check Your Progress
7.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you would be able to:
Discuss how film projects are conceptualised.
Describe the process from story to a finished product.
Explain the role that state plays.
Discuss examples of some famous film projects and their behind the scenes
story.
7.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Unit, we observed the relationship between ‘camera and social
research’ and we explored the use of camera for conducting social research. In
the present unit ‘Filming Oral testimonies, Interviews and Interaction: Case
Studies, we are going to take this discussion further and will be discussing Final
Film Projects.
Discussing the process of film making, here with Final Film Projects we are
looking at how the progression happens from an idea to story and then culminates
into a finished product which is then brought in front of the world as a ‘film’.
7.2.3 Production
The production period can be divided neatly into three phases: preparation, the
actual shooting and post-production. The actual shooting period is the shortest
as it is also the most costly and establishes the value of the accomplished project.
7.2.4 Shoot
A call sheet is developed as the work is announced before the day of the shoot.
The following day’s work is listed in the call sheet with reporting time mentioned
for each department. Advertisment, dress and make-up professionals arrive first,
followed by the actors who have their scene listed for the day. The assumption is
that once the camera starts rolling everyone must be ready as the camera waits
for nobody. A single scene may require different shots until technically it is
acceptable to DP, sound mixer and camera operator and Director. Script may
undergo changes where lines get edited/ added by the actors on the sets. After a
day’s shoot gets finished, the film is sent to a laboratory for developing it and
then transferred to videotape for the director, editor, executives and producer to
have a look at it.
7.2.5 Post-Production
Post- production period can be divided into three parts: editing, music and effects
addition and dubbing and printing. Re-shooting of scenes is scheduled if the
story demands. The flow and final look of the film gets decided by the editor
during post production.
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Techniques of Ethnographic Check Your Progress 1
Film Making
1) What is the role of the Producer?
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting deals with all the matters relating
to films, i.e. promoting production, dissemination and preservation of film content.
It also looks into the organization of International Film Festival of India, other
national and international film festivals, sanctioning of films, granting film
shooting permission, and also holding National Film Awards. No film can be
publicly viewed in India without the Certification by the Board of Film
Certification. The guidelines given by CBFC have to be strictly adhered to.
Guidelines by CBFC
The medium of film remains responsible and sensitive to the values and
standards of society;
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Final Film Projects
Certification is responsible to social changes;
The medium of film provides clean and healthy entertainment; and
As far as possible, the film is of aesthetic value and cinematically of a
good standard.
In pursuance of the above objectives, the CBFC shall ensure that anti-
social activities such as violence are not glorified or justified the modus
operandi of criminals, other visuals or words likely to incite the commission
of any offence are not depicted; scenes -showing involvement of children
in violence as victims or perpetrators or as forced witnesses to violence, or
showing children as being subjected to any form of child abuse; showing
abuse or ridicule of physically and mentally handicapped persons; and
showing cruelty to, or abuse of animals, are not presented needlessly
pointless or avoidable scenes of violence, cruelty and horror, scenes of
violence primarily intended to provide entertainment and such scenes as
may have the effect of de-sensitising or de-humanising people are not
shown; scenes which have the effect of justifying or glorifying drinking
are not shown; scenes tending to encourage, justify or glamorise drug
addiction are not shown; scenes tending to encourage, justify or glamorise
consumption of tobacco or smoking are not shown; human sensibilities
are not offended by vulgarity, obscenity or depravity; such dual meaning
words as obviously cater to baser instincts are not allowed; scenes degrading
or denigrating women in any manner are not presented; scenes involving
sexual violence against women like attempt to rape, rape or any form of
molestation or scenes of a similar nature are avoided, and if any such
incidence is germane to the theme, they shall be reduced to the minimum
and no details are shown; scenes showing sexual perversions shall be
avoided and if such matters are germane to the theme they shall be reduced
to the minimum and no details are shown, visuals or words contemptuous
of racial, religious or other groups are not presented; visuals or words which
promote communal, obscurantist, anti-scientific and anti-national attitude
are not presented; the sovereignty and integrity of India is not called in
question; the security of the State is not jeopardized or endangered; friendly
relations with foreign States are not strained; public order is not endangered;
visuals or words involving defamation of an individual or a body of
individuals, or contempt of court are not presented.
The Board of Film Certification shall also ensure that the film is judged in
its entirety from the point of view of its overall impact; and
Is examined in the light of the period depicted in the films and the
contemporary standards of the country and the people to which the film
relates provided that the film does not deprave the morality of the audience.
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Techniques of Ethnographic
Film Making Films that meet the above – mentioned criteria but are considered unsuitable
for exhibition to non-adults shall be certified for exhibition to adult
audiences only.
While certifying films for unrestricted public exhibition, the Board shall
ensure that the film is suitable for family viewing, that is to say, the film
shall be such that all the members of the family including children can
view it together.
If the Board, having regard to the nature, content and theme of the film is
of the opinion that it is necessary to caution the parents / guardian to consider
as to whether any child below the age of twelve years maybe allowed to
see such a film, the film shall be certified for unrestricted public exhibition
with an endorsement to that effect.
If the Board having regard to the nature, content and theme of the film, is
of the opinion that the exhibition of the film should be restricted to members
of any profession or any class of persons, the film shall be certified for
public exhibition restricted to the specialized audiences to be specified by
the Board in this behalf.
The Board shall scrutinize the titles of the films carefully and ensure that
they are not provocative, vulgar, offensive or violative of any of the above-
mentioned guidelines.
Source: https://www.cbfcindia.gov.in/main/guidelines.html
Check Your Progress 2
1) What is the role of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with regard
to films?
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Chatterjee (2002) describes the film and its opening shot, which was a tight
close-up of an old woman's face. She is old but strong, villagers come to request
her to inaugurate the dam and put a garland on her. She seems irritated and the
story goes into flashback where she is shown as young bride getting married to
actor Raj Kumar.
The film reflected high moral values and self-sacrifice, also somewhere plays on
the idea of nation as the mother alluding to a strong sense of nationalism and
nation-building. The film was shot in Mumbai's Mehboob Studios and in the
villages of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Shot mainly on sync sound,
very little dubbing as Khan was against dubbing, with dialogues mostly in
vernacular Hindi. Naushad gave the music and did some experimentations,
including Western classical music and orchestra to Hindi cinema.
It was an epic film for its time and was a huge commercial hit. It won many
awards, including for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Sound Design,
Best Cinematography etc. It became the first Indian film ever to be nominated
for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from India, film came
close to winning the award but lost by a single vote. The government of India
supported their travel as they represented India at the Academy Awards.
7.4.2 Sholay
Anupama Chopra in Sholay the Making of a Classic (2000) talks about the making
of the famous film Sholay (1975). It is basically a revenge story. It was developed
from four lines that writers Salim-Javed had shared with Ramesh Sippy and he
asked them to develop it into a script. The actors and characters kept changing.
Gabbar's role was originally given to Danny Denzongpa and later went to
newcomer who was suggested by Javed Akhtar, Amjad Khan. Sanjeev Kumar
and Amitabh Bachchan were both interested in Gabbar Singh's role and
Dharmendra wanted to play Thakur. Ramnagar, 50 kms from Bangalore was
selected as location shooting of the film.
Sippy shot Hema Malini's scenes in the first half of the schedule, as Hema Malini's
dialogues were long, which she had trouble in memorizing. Javed Akhtar had to
enact them for her to help her get the character. Some single shots took even
twenty days as Sippy wanted each shot perfectly enacted. Some real life situations
were made a part of script, for example, the scene where Jai (Amitabh Bachchan)
tries to convince Basanti's aunt (Mausi) for Veeru, came from real life. Javed
Akhtar had asked Salim Khan to meet Honey Irani's mom and convince her
about him as a suitable son-in-law.
The film Sholay won the Filmfare Award for Editing. CBFC had asked the makers
to change the climax of the movie where Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) kills Gabbar
(Amjad Khan) to Gabbar gets arrested by the police.
The story idea came around 1944-45 as K. Asif thought of adapting Imtiaz Ali
Taj's play about a love story between Salim, the Mughal prince and Anarkali,
courtesan-dancer in Akbar's court. Although, the story has no basis in historical
fact. In 1946, when the first shooting schedule began, for the roles of Akbar,
Salim and Anarkali, Chandra Mohan, D.K. Sapru, and Nargis were taken
respectively. Due to Partition as some of his cast and other team members went
to Pakistan he had to shoot major portions again of the film, another reason of its
delay and increase in budget. The chains worn by Madhubala were authentic and
heavy and she took days to recover post-shooting.
Naushad gave the music and K. Asif wanted Bade Ghulam Ali to sing for the
movie. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab quoted a big figure but K Asif agreed and
paid him the advance then and there. Each scene was shot meticulously paying
attention to the details. Mughal-E-Azam was a huge commercial success too,
breaking all box office records at the time of its release. The film was originally
shot in black and white with only a few scenes and one song in color.
Check Your Progress 3
1) How many awards had Mother India won?
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3) From where did the original idea came for Mughal- E- Azam?
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Final Film Projects
7.5 LET US SUM UP
In this Unit, we have looked at how film projects are conceptualized in detail
have described the process from story to a finished film. We have also examined
the role that state plays through certification and its guidelines for film exhibition
in India. Lastly, we discussed examples of few famous films like Mughal e Azam,
Sholay and Mother India in detail as successful film projects and their behind
the scene stories from conceptualization, to period film depictions, to casting,
shooting, locations, etc.
7.6 KEYWORDS
Call sheet : Day's work is listed in the call sheet with reporting time mentioned
for each department.
Location Office : Base-office from where operations are conducted for different
shoot locations.
First AD : Person responsible for logistics.
Second AD : Person responsible for the background of each scene.
Director of Photography : In-charge of camera and crew and decides the
appearance of the film including its lighting.
2) The production period can be divided neatly into three phases: preparation,
the actual shooting and post-production.
Check Your Progress 2
1) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting deals with all the matters relating
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Techniques of Ethnographic to films, i.e. promoting production, dissemination and preservation of film
Film Making
content including organization of International Film Festival of India, other
national and international film festivals, sanctioning of films, granting film
shooting permission, holding National Film Awards are handled in Films
Wing.
Check Your Progress 3
1) It won many awards including for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress,
Best Sound Design, Bes Cinematography etc. It also became the first Indian
film ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language
Film.
2) CBFC had asked the makers to change the climax of the movie where Thakur
(Sanjeev Kumar) kills Gabbar (Amjad Khan) to Gabbar gets arrested by
the police.
3) Mughal- E- Azam's story is an adaptation of Imtiaz Ali Taj's play.
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