THE ETHICS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING

Karl Heider

INTRODUCTION

Karl Heider provides some basic considerations and guidelines to keep in mind while making
ethnographic films and doing ethnographic research. Firstly, he notes the main problems that arise in
the process, then discussing on some guidelines to tackle them.

THE ETHICS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMMAKING

The Society of Visual Anthropology does not specify a code of ethics or a guide for ethnographic
filmmaking. Moreover, the Code of Ethics for American Anthropological Association also does not
directly address the problems of visual images. Heider notes that the primary concern in ethnographic
filmmaking is that the filmmaker should not harm the people they study. However, even this becomes
problematic today when anthropological research tries to expose actions of threatening powers in
advocacy of threatened minorities. The second problem is the requirement for gaining consent from all
involved in the research.

Heider notes that the ethnographic filmmaker as well as the ethnographer must be aware of the
considerable responsibility they hold while studying and filming. The filmmaker would avoid the obvious
unethical practices but it is really not possible for people to give fully informed permission for their
images to be used in the film. At the moment of shooting, one does not really know how the footage
would turn out or how they would appear. The subjects cannot anticipate what would be added,
omitted, edited and so on. They also cannot anticipate how the film would affect others after they see
themselves in the film.

The dilemma in ethnographic filmmaking is that if the filmmaker acknowledges an obligation to obtain
permission from the people in the film, then how s/he can at the same time arbitrarily decide that the
obligation is fulfilled at the time of shooting and that thereafter the subjects have no more rights. On the
other hand, if the subjects exercised rights of reviews throughout, then films would hardly be ever
published. This is a complex ethical as well as legal question.

Heider argues that ethnography and filmmaking cannot always guarantee to produce studies that are
thoroughly pleasing to all involved, but they should at least not be vulnerable to charges of falsification
of a situation.

BASED ON ETHNOGRAPHIC UNDERSTANDING

An ethnographic film must be based on ethnographic understanding. It not only makes films more
ethnographic but also makes films better aesthetically. It is necessary that a knowledgeable
ethnographer be closely involved as ‘ethnographer’ in every step of the filmmaking process. However, it
is to be noted that not all ethnographic insights are filmic.

The ethnographer must do fieldwork first, complete analysis and writing, and then return to the scene
with a filmmaker to shoot a film that has been carefully thought out on the basis of the written work.
This course was followed in making ‘The Feast and Kypseli’. Heider’s films ‘Dani Sweet Potatoes’ and
‘Dani Houses’ were shot on his second trip to the Dani after spending nearly two years studying Dani
horticulture and construction.

The ethnography and cinematography may be done simultaneously as well. This is fairly effective and
economical. This was done in the filming of ‘Dead Birds’ and ‘The Turtle People’. However, in most
ethnographic studies, the full involvement of the study is not realised until long after leaving the field.

EXPLOITATION OF THE VISUAL POTENTIAL OF THE FILM

The primary conceptual step from ethnography to film is to decide the elements of ethnography that
can be described more effectively in the film or verbal description can be supplemented by the film. One
can take any important article or monograph in anthropological literature and work out a film that
would best enhance those specific written words.

WHOLE BODIES, WHOLE INTERACTIONS, AND WHOLE PEOPLE IN WHOLE ACTS

Holism is an essential ethnographic principle for an ethnographic filmmaker. There must be restricted
used of close-up shots and entire bodies must be captured. Events should be covered from beginning till
end.

DIVISION OF LABOUR

It is difficult for one person to do all the tasks involved in the filmmaking process. In cases where this
was done so, the ethnography or the film has suffered. Success of films like ‘Dead Bird’ and the Netsilik
Eskimo Films support the argument that one should be the filmmaker while the other should be
ethnographer. But each person should understand the job of the other.

THE MEANING OF REAL COLLABORATION: The Hadza

Heider notes that ‘Hadza’ is a good example of a film made by a skilled filmmaker and a very
knowledgeable anthropologist, but it shows lack of real collaborative thought. The Hadza is a tribe of
hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who have sufficient leisure time. Their main activity in such times is
gambling. The film includes a long sequence of gambling activity and the narration explains rules of the
game and the general cultural context of gambling for the Hadza. But the visuals are general shots and
the narration might as well have been written before the footage was shot. Although they are of the
same subject, they are not well coordinated. The Hadza has achieved a great degree of
ethnographicness but it falls short of maximal ethnographic use of film.

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM CANNOT STAND BY ITSELF

An ethnographic film must, according to Heider, come from an ethnographic understanding of a culture.
It can present a lot which a written ethnography can only hint. On the other hand, no film can
communicate all the information that we can ask of ethnography. We need to know the limits of
ethnographic research and the filmmaking and the cultural context of the behaviour, much of which
includes generalizations of fact and abstract concepts.

Thus, while film can play an important role in ethnographic description, it cannot satisfy all of
ethnography’s needs. It must be supplemented by written material.

ETHNOGRAPHIC FILMS FROM RESEARCH FOOTAGE

The film is data and should be published as part of the technical report. However, there are many
technical problems that have not been overcome in ‘publishing’ film with a journal article.

For instance, Ray Birdwhistell made a stud of Microcultural Incidents in Ten Zoos and his only report is a
film made of a lecture presented under that title. The film includes the original footage, slowed down
and repeated where necessary to point out the more subtle actions.

PRESERVATION OF THE FILM RECORD

Footage shot by anthropologists, especially rapidly changing tribal cultures represents invaluable record
and source of data. It must be preserved for future generations for students as well as scientists who
might be involved in it. However, it must be annotated.