BAILY - Filmmaking As Musical Ethnography

VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung
Filmmaking as Musical Ethnography

Author(s): John Baily
Source: The World of Music, Vol. 31, No. 3, Film and Video in Ethnomusicology (1989), pp.
3-20
Published by: VWB - Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung
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John Baily
Filmmaking as Musical Ethnography
The motion picture constitutes a unique and perhaps the most important
form of documentation available to the ethnomusicologist.
Hood 1 971 :2691
By publishing films and writing about them, we can share aspects of field
experience - both its data and interpretation - at a new level of communi-
cation. Feld 1976:315s
1 . Introduction
The fact that ethnomusicologists largely Ignored the implications of Hood's

fiat is partly explained by factors Hood himself identified: lack of qualified per-
sonnel and the expense of working with 1 6mm film, at that time the most readily
available visual medium for documentary work. They may have been put off by
the rather grand technical level Hood took for granted, such as advocating the
use of two or three cameras simultaneously - "I suppose one camera is better
than none at all" (Feld 1 976:282).3 Perhaps more important has been the confu-
sion and lack of understanding about the nature of film communication - mat-
ters discussed by Feld (1 976) - and the lack of academic respectability conse-
quently afforded the "ethnomusicologist-filmmaker" by other ethnomusicolo-
gists. In anthropology this problem has to some extent been overcome with the
development of the sub-discipline of visual anthropology, where the value of
filmmaking is taken for granted and is not at issue. However, an unfortunate
side-effect of this has been the marginalization of filmmaking within anthropol-
ogy (Hughes-Freeland 1 989). In contrast, one would wish to see the use of film
in ethnomusicology become a matter of central concern to ethnomusicolo-
gists.
Documentary filmmaking has depended very much on technical innovation.
The invention of the lightweight portable synchronized 16mm camera/sound
recording system (typically Eclair camera and Nagra tape recorder) in the late
1950s was a great breakthrough, allowing the recording of an actuality in both
visual image and sound which resulted in the direct cinema and cinéma vérité
documentary movements. This was the type of equipment which Hood used in
the late 1960s to shoot atumpan. Later, silent 8mm and Super 8mm film
became available to ethnomusicologists, and then Super 8mm with sound
recorded on a magnetic strip along the side of the film, which did not readily
allow for editing. The advent of video has changed the situation radically. With
the ever greater accessibility of light and cheap video equipment the basic
resources for making audio-visual documents became available to most eth-
nomusicologists. But though video was widely used as a research tool - for col-
lecting certain kinds of data - ethnomusicologists have been reluctant to take
the next step of presenting the results of research in terms of the "film docu-
ment."4 Feld's "new level of communication" remained largely unexplored.
The object of this paper is to encourage the use of the new technology for
filmmaking by ethnomusicologists. The characteristics of a particular style of
documentary filmmaking are discussed, my own experience in applying this
style to ethnomusicology described briefly, and some observations about film-
making as musical ethnography put forward.
1. 1 The Uses of Motion Pictures in Ethnomusicology
Before getting down to details it is useful to identify three general areas for
the use of motion pictures within ethnomusicology:
1.1.1 Pure Research
The use of film or video as a research tool is unproblematic in terms of legiti-

macy, though there may well be technical problems with camera angles, light
ing, microphone positioning, etc. Kubik has outlined four types of research
carried out with film (Baily 1988:194-5), viz.
Motional Transcription
The researcher starts with a specific research problem and film is used as a
means to collect the data appropriate to the solution of that problem.
The Ethnographic Notebook
Film is used to record ongoing events, most typically rituals and ceremonies
these informationally rich audio-visual documents can be replayed at one's lei
sure, assisting the fieldworker in overcoming human limitations of taking in and
storing information in complex and often "high energy" situations.
Intra-Cultural Field Feedback
The film is screened back to the people of the original community in order to
elicit further data about actions and events that took place during the period of
observation and filming.
Inter-Cultural Experiments in Perception
The footage is shown to members of other societies to investigate aspects of

cross-cultural perception and interpretation.
1 .1 .2 Demonstration/Teaching
Sequences of film or video are often used as illustrative materials in lectures,

colloquia, seminars, and conference presentations. It is often an advantage to
show such materials, the visual image contains so much information for the
human observer. Notwithstanding Feld's remark that "a thousand words can
not only equal but greatly surpass the information level of the still or moving
image" (Feld 1 976:300), we derive a very precise kind of knowledge through the
visual system and visual information has a certain compelling persuasiveness.
1 .1 .3 Making Audio- Visual "Texts"
There are a variety of text models from which to choose, from the illustrated
"lecture" delivered by the usually never-seen narrator, to the type of "observa-
tional documentary" which is conceived of as a work of cinematic art. Let us call
such texts "documentary films." The two extremes of the continuum of ethno-
musicological documentary film derive from different backgrounds.
(a) Coming from the direction of ethnography, documentary film is regarded as
an extension of the use of film for demonstration purposes in lectures, collo-
quia, seminars and conference proceedings. This kind of documentary film
is often like an illustrated lecture delivered by an invisible and unidentified
narrator. It is in some ways equivalent to a book or article, a scholarly exe-
gesis with audio-visual illustrations and an obviously didactic intent. It pur-
ports to contain all the information you would expect in a scholarly discus-
Sion and is couched in terms that let you know it is the work of an "expert."
This type might be best labelled the "educational film."
(b) Coming from the direction of filmmaking, where documentary film is com-
monly regarded as "the creative treatment of actuality," in Grierson's cele-
brated phrase.5 From this perspective ethnographic film is part of the docu-
mentary film tradition, stretching back to the time of Flaherty's "Nanook of
the North," and carries with it all the political commitment and belief in the
power of film to change things that many documentary filmmakers brought
to their work. Ethnomusicologists cannot afford to ignore that documentary
film has its history and phases of development as a creative form, some of
them directly linked to technological developments (such as the invention of
the synchronised portable camera/audio recorder unit, mentioned above).
While the educational film has its uses, it is unsatisfactory for a variety of rea-
sons, some of which are mentioned below. It is the second approach that I want
to examine here.
1.2 Studying Ethnographic Filmmaking
The "text-model" for the documentary film under discussion comes from the
National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK, one of the leading nation-
al film schools in the world, well known for its concern with documentary film-
making in general, and for anthropological or ethnographic film in particular.
The director of the school is Colin Young, formerly Chairman of the Department
of Theatre Arts at UCLA, who moved to the NFTS in 1971. In the late 1960s
UCLA pioneered a new style of 16mm ethnographic filmmaking in its
Ethnographic Film Program, which was transplanted to the UK with Colin
Young and further developed there.6 We may call this the "NFTS ethnographic
film style," because that is how it is often referred to in the UK, without implying
that this style is exclusive to the NFTS. From 1 984-86 1 held an anthropological
filmmaking fellowship at the School.7 This is the style I learned to work in during
my training as an ethnographic filmmaker under the tutelage of Herb DiGioia,
Head of the Documentary Department, an alumnus of the old UCLA Ethno-
graphic Film Program. The NFTS is not specifically concerned with document-
ary films about music (though one such would be Mark Brice's "Sacred Harp
Singers"8). The two 16mm documentary films I directed and edited during my
training, "Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life in Peshawar, Pakistan"
(Baily 1985, 1989a) and "Lessons from Guiam: Asian Music in Bradford" (Baily
Amir Mohammad (harmonium), John Baily (rubab), and Wali Jan during the shooting of "Amir" in
Peshawar, 1985
1 986, 1 989b) can be regarded as experiments in applying the NFTS document-

ary film style to ethnomusicological subjects.
2. Some Characteristics of the NFTS Style
The NFTS does not consider there to be a clear distinction between fiction
film and non-fiction film; some of the principles for this style of documentary
filmmaking have been adopted from the fiction film. In part this is because the
apparent objectivity and truthfulness of documentary film is an illusion, so that
much of what goes into creating a documentary film is the same as for a work
of fiction. Moreover, when one is looking for "good cinema" one naturally turns
to the area in which most discoveries have been made: fiction film. Likewise, in
the domain of writing we are concerned with "good writing" per se, not with the
fiction/non-fiction dichotomy.
The main characteristics of the NFTS style can be outlined under twelve
headings. Although these general principles have been developed primarily
with respect to 16mm filmmaking, they are also applicable to work with video.
At the moment 16mm film still has certain advantages in terms of quality of
visual image and greater flexibility for editing, especially sound editing. Much of
what we see on television today is shot and edited in 1 6mm.9
2. 1 Narrative Form
Cinema is essentially a narrative form, a way of "telling a story." Narrative is

the basic feature of the fiction film but has an important role to play in the ethno-
graphic documentary film, too. However, this does not mean that the docu-
mentary film has to have a dramatic plot.
The details of our films must be a substitute for dramatic tension, and the film's
authenticity must be a substitute for artificial excitement (Young 1975:74).
There are many ways to tell a story, and many kinds of stories to be told.
Documentary film narrative may be characterised by a sense of gradual dis-
covery and revelation. Such films rely on a form of cinematic engagement in
which we are caught up in the world created by the film, absorbed and gripped
by it. Often there is a slow build-up to a "moment of truth," in which the protago-
nist reveals something otherwise normally kept well hidden, usually an area of
personal vulnerability or deep conviction.
2.2 Portrait Film
The portrait film provides a particularly successful cinematic approach in

documentary filmmaking. In concentrating on one or two central characters it is
obviously close to the approach of the fiction film, which is, above anything
else, about people. The portrait film follows the same person in many different
situations, allows the audience to build up an acquaintanceship and creates an
empathy. The question of casting becomes crucially important. This means
choosing an appropriate person/people as protagonist(s) who will come over
well on film.
2.3 Not Scripted - Film as a Mode of Inquiry
A great deal of flexibility is essential so that the filmmaker can deal with the
unexpected. One should not go out with a shooting script, a shopping list of
shots, or with very rigid ideas about the film to be made. On the other hand, one
should certainly have some ideas, and it may be helpful to write one or more
imagined scenarios. The making of the film is a mode of ethnographic inquiry in
its own right, and as new information is gathered the direction of the inquiry
changes. When filmmaking serves as a medium of discovery there must be
constant reviewing of what has been shot. The filmmaker sees how the material
fits the scenario and how it might suggest modifications or even a new sce-
nario, which may be radically different from that previously envisaged. There
should be constant questioning of the nature and progress of the enterprise.
2.4 Access and Participant Observation
The way that the NFTS considers documentary filmmakers should approach
their work has many points in common with ethnographic fieldwork, through
that essential but obtuse and ill-defined methodology known as "participant
observation." The great problem is gaining access to the people you want to
make the film about and establishing a relationship where you can film the kind
of scenes you need but without being exploitative. Filmmakers often seem very
insensitive to the interests of the people they make their films about: too often
the motto seems to be "Shot to kill!" One of Flaherty's best pieces of advice
was that one should "know when not to film" (Dufaux 1 986:33). It is important to
minimise the extent of intrusion and the number of people in the film crew
should be kept to a minimum. You need only two persons to handle the equip-
ment: one to operate the 1 6mm camera, another to operate the Nagra. This is
the "short crew," which causes minimal physical disruption of the actuality
being recorded. Two people take up less room than eight (the usual crew for
British television documentaries), and are less likely to form a competing social
group.
2.5 Role of the Director
In the purely observational style of shooting the role of the film's director, who
will usually be either the camera or tape recorder operator, is to direct these
visual and sound recording units rather than the action. However, although
ideally one should film things as they happen, without provoking or in anyway
controlling them, in my experience this ideal is often very difficult to achieve.
Only certain societies or situations are conducive to the success of the obser-
vational approach. Expensive film equipment is not usually available for the
extended period needed for occasional shooting over the course of a year of
ethnomusicological fieldwork. Familiarity with the subject will suggest types of
scene to be sought out, which may be passively awaited or more actively pro-
voked. Any forward planning, such as arranging to film in someone's house, is
likely to arouse certain expectations on the part of both filmmakers (who will
feel frustrated if nothing is shot) and actors (who may be mentally preparing
themselves to be filmed). Thus the director inevitably exerts some control over
the actuality recorded.
2.6 Being Unobtrusive
The extent to which shooting becomes a dynamic interaction between film-

makers and actors depends very much on the type of subject being shot. In
crowded, "high energy" events, such as festivals or public spectacles, the film-
makers will often be ignored; too much else is happening. In intimate domestic
situations the activities of the filmmakers may be the most interesting things
going on. It is helpful to avoid procedures which announce too obviously that
shooting is about to commence, such as switching on lights, or using a clap-
perboard. For 1 6mm work the NFTS has developed the use of the "bloop box,"
a device strapped to the sound recordist which simultaneously lights up and
lays a tone on the sound tape when a switch is pressed at the start or end of a
shot, with the camera directed towards it. These signals are used later in syn-
chronizing the image and sound in the cutting room.
2. 7 Reflections on the Filmmaking Process
Many films made in the NFTS style could be described as "reflexive observa-
tional films:"
. . . characterised by the presence of the film-maker or a surrogate on the screen, the

use of first person narration, and the frank admission that this is a film. The form
resembles a kind of ethnography, in which the ethnographer defines his observa-
tions as occurring within a spatial and temporal framework and admits his cultural
10
biases and the nature of his interactions with the group being observed (Breitrose
1986:47).
The filmmaker is not pretending to be the proverbial "fly on the wall," but
rather, as Breitrose (ibid.) puts it "the fly in the soup . . . visible for all to notice."
Filmmakers have a very real presence and effect on the actuality recorded, and
that fact must be taken into account, often by exposing the filmmaking process
itself. It may help the audience to know the role and status of the filmmaker in
relation to the society in question, so we can decide what to believe and what
not to believe. The film will usually present the point of view of the filmmaker,
and to that extent will try to avoid so-called "privileged camera positions" and
feats of humanly impossible observation (MacDougall 1982).
2.8 Sequence Shooting
The NFTS film style emphasises the importance of the "sequence shot," the
long continuous shot where the hand-held camera explores different aspects
of the scene in turn (Zemp 1 988a:397-8). The sequence shot's spatial conti-
guity and temporal continuity provide a kind of evidence which is lacking in a
highly edited sequence. So far as possible the NFTS style advocates the use of
uncut sequence shots in the final edited film. The hand-held camera is used in
an active process of interaction with surrounding actuality, it explores the
scene rather as the human observer would (though the analogy between the
human eye and the camera "eye" should not be carried too far). It is for these
reasons that we avoid the tripod and the so-called "locked off" (completely
immobile) camera position (Feld & Williams 1975:25-8). The sequence shot is
clearly essential for filming musical performance, where we want to see, as far
as possible, complete and uninterrupted sequences of performance, just as
when recording music we want complete performances. Video, with its 60 or
1 20 minute tapes and extremely low running cost promises to revolutionize the
practice of sequence shooting.
2.9 Reordering of Time
Film editing is a big topic and detailed discussion is outside the scope of this
article. However, one important point about editing should be made at this
stage: it is legitimate to manipulate time, to use shots in an order which is differ-
ent from that in which they are shot. In this way it is possible to construct a
11
seemingly coherent sequence of actions from shots made under quite different
conditions. This treatment of time is anathema to those who think that film
should be used simply to make an "ethnographic record" and differentiates the
documentary film from "pure research footage."10 In response, the ethnograph-
ic filmmaker points out that in writing anthropology we are not obliged to follow
the order in which the data were collected. Some further aspects of film editing
are mentioned below.
2.10 Use of Voice-Over Commentary
Voice-over commentary, or narration, must be used judiciously. While voice-

over may be necessary to provide crucial information it must be used sparingly,
and the authority and "right to speak" of the narrator must be clarified, or one is
in danger of creating an illustrated lecture on film, which is not the object of the
NFTS exercise. One should avoid a situation where an impersonal and authori-
tative voice tells the audience what is really happening, which may be at odds
with what it sees. If narration has to be employed it is best to use the voice of the
filmmaker, speaking in the first person as a participant in the action presented.
2.11 Search for Native Explanations and Conversations
One should use "native" explanations as far as possible: get the people
themselves to explain, a strategy that accords with a principal tenet of anthro-
pology, which is to reveal the social construction of reality. Conversation is
seen as the ideal, and the interview as second best, though it can be edited to
cut out much or all of the questioner, so it does not seem like an interview. Mac-
Dougall's films with the Turkana people of northern Kenya are called "Turkana
Conversations," a point whose significance is discussed by Young (1 982:5-6).
2. 12 Subtitling
There are good reasons to avoid dubbing the dialogue into, say, English. So
much information is contained in the sound of the voice, the way people talk;
even without understanding the language one derives a great deal of informa-
tion from paralinguistic features. This may seem obvious today, but in its time
the use of subtitling was a great innovation of the UCLA Ethnographic Film Pro-
gram (Young 1982:5). It allowed the people to speak for themselves, a radical
change of approach and of power relations.
12
3. The Status of Film as Ethnography
Up to this point we have discussed the characteristics of a documentary film

style which has sometimes been applied to ethnographic subjects, although
usually by people who are trained as filmmakers rather than as anthropolo-
gists.11 How can this style relate to and serve the interests of ethnomusicolo-
gists?
This is not the place to go into great detail concerning my own experiences in
applying these principles to ethnomusicological filmmaking at the NFTS. The
process of filmmaking - shooting and editing - for "Amir" and "Lessons from
Gulam" is discussed in two lengthy study guides (Baily 1 989a, b).12 1 certainly do
not argue that this is the only kind of ethnomusicological documentary worth
serious consideration, but there is no doubt that it is very effective in showing
music in context; in dealing with the lives of music makers and with the ethno-
graphy of musical performance. It is not so good for communicating musical
analysis.
Of my two NFTS films, "Lessons from Gulam" is in some ways the more
"ethnomusicological,'" containing more technical information about the music
itself, conveyed largely through verbalisations by the participants. In "Amir,"
which is much concerned with the plight of refugees, there is little talk about
music as such, and musical performance is treated rather as the professional
occupation that Amir and his associates happen to follow. Nevertheless, the
film is rich with information about Afghan music. "Amir" was in many ways a
much easier film to shoot and edit than "Lessons from Gulam." The films are
reviewed by Zemp (1 988b).
Besides giving background information, the study guides provide shot by

shot analyses of both films. They describe the decisions made in shooting and
editing, and explain why one alternative was selected over another. Very often
this involved choosing between conflicting ethnographic and cinematic con-
siderations. The guides therefore make the filmmaking process explicit and ex-
plain the strategies used for coping with particular problems. By revealing the
ways in which the films may be said to knowingly mis-represent the data, in
comparison to how the data might be presented in written form, these studies
are intended to throw light on filmmaking as a form of musical ethnography.
The rationale and objective of the NFTS approach is to get away from the
illustrated lectures, educational documentaries, and television programs with
13
which we are generally so familiar, and to use documentary filmmaking as a
way of producing ethnographic text with data collected and edited in the
medium of film (or video) rather than the medium of the written/printed word
(field notes and monographs). If the commentary-heavy educational documen-
tary corresponds to the learned article, what does this type of documentary film
correspond to? There is no precise equivalent; it is neither the novel nor the
short story (which find their equivalents in the fiction film); it is a unique kind of
ethnographic text constructed through "the creative treatment of actuality,"
Feld's "new level of communication" par excellence. My experiences as an
ethnomusicologist making films leads me to offer the following preliminary
observations about how a film ethnography differs from the written version.
3. 1 The Editing Process
In written ethnography it is possible to go far beyond the data from which the
text is composed, indeed the data themselves are frequently buried beneath
generalizations and abstractions and are not available for inspection and evalu-
ation. In the case of film ethnography, on the contrary, the ethnographer is limit-
ed to the actuality which is recorded on celluloid and/or tape during the shoot.
Through the editing process this raw material is used to create a highly struc-
tured communication in a manner which is not so very different from the way
macro-units of written text are used to construct a conventional ethnography.
I take it for granted that the filmmaker in person will edit the film, perhaps the
most important part of the whole filmmaking process. This is because the
ethnomusicologist-filmmaker is the author of the work and because the editing
process itself is a form of data analysis. Decisions about what shots to select
from the raw footage ("the rushes"), and about precisely where to make the
cuts from one shot to the next, have to be made on the basis of an intimate
familiarity with exactly what has been captured on film or video during the
shoot. The searches through the rushes that editing requires often throw up
previously unnoticed aspects of the data. It is largely through editing that the
ethnomusicologist-filmmaker discovers the properties of what is in the can.
Film editing is a highly developed form of text manipulation. Progressing

from the first assembly, through a series of rough, then fine cuts according to
which the final form of the film is constructed, the material is submitted to a
whole series of transformations. The sequences of shots within scenes are
tried out in different orders, and whole scenes move about within the frame-
14
work of the film. Through trial and error one discovers how the shots and
scenes can be cut together. One tries putting the beginning at the end, and the
end at the beginning. Certain scenes emerge as particularly dynamic; they are
hard to get in place and are moved around a lot in the course of editing. They
create problems but also suggest new avenues to explore. Whole scenes are
dropped, reinserted, dropped again. In the early stages one is not too con-
cerned with the precise details of cutting from one shot to another, but difficul-
ties of this sort may result in shots or scenes being eliminated in the final stages
of the work. In the editing process one builds up a delicate web of internal
cross-references, part of the underlying structure of the film. Changes in any
one part now have reverberations over the whole structure.
3.2 Contextual Information
One of the main problems in the construction of film ethnography concerns

contextual information. This is one of the chief areas in which a conflict of cine-
matic and ethnographic considerations may arise. The documentary film (as
opposed to the educational film or the illustrated lecture) is not a good medium
for developing a complex analysis or for developing an argument. "This kind of
film is very good at being specific - no good at all at making generalisations," as
David Hancock, a noted exponent of the NFTS style, once put it (Young
1975:74). Young (ibid. 69) further advocates that a film should "show rather
than tell." This is really a difference in editorial stance, deliberately avoiding
what is sensed to be an authoritarian approach.
A film cannot contain all the information that the ethnographer and the spe-
cialist audience of other ethnographers consider to be relevant in the broader
sense without diminishing the status of the film as a film, i.e. sacrificing cine-
matic considerations to ethnographic ones. We have already discussed the
care with which voice-over narration or commentary must be used. In order to
avoid confusions it is often necessary to simplify the situation depicted in the
film. Simplification is in any case an important principle of written ethnography;
the author omits many details which confuse the underlying pattern. The dra-
matis personae of the film must be introduced one by one and as clearly as pos-
sible in order that the audience can remember who they all are. One of the
advantages of the portrait film is that by focusing on an individual one can avoid
too much confusion of this sort.13
15
Related to the problem of limiting the amount of extraneous information
needed in a film is the idea that written texts (like the study guides mentioned
above) should accompany such films. It is certainly liberating for the filmmaker
when it is not necessary to give all the relevant information in the film itself. We
need to find further ways of integrating film and written texts. Filmmaking
should be regarded as only part of the research, and the film as only part of the
product, to be used to communicate the kinds of information that film does well
and that writing does not. Film and written texts should be mutually illuminat-
ing ; the written text enhances our understanding of what we see, and the visual
image makes what we read more comprehensible and meaningful.
Although film may not be a good medium for making generalizations, the way
the film is edited embodies the ethnomusicological analysis. There is an argu-
ment but it is covert and lies in the choice of scenes the filmmaker selects from
the rushes, and the order in which they are put together. It is this thinking, the
conceptual scheme "behind the film," which I believe distinguishes the "ethno-
musicological film" from the "documentary film about music" made by a film-
maker with no special training in or knowledge of ethnomusicology.
3.3 Reflexivity
Filmmaking raises many of the same questions that have been discussed in
the last few years about the status of written ethnography (for example, Clifford
& Marcus 1986). Some of these concerns were raised for ethnomusicology by
Gourlay (1978) in his critique of Merriam's vision of ethnomusicology as
"science," and with the ethnomusicologist as "omniscient" and "non-existent,"
knowing everything yet not affecting anything by being present in the fieldwork
situation.
Filmmaking raises these issues in an acute and particularly interesting form.

It is clear that in most situations the presence of the film crew, even if it is only
one person (such as the solo ethnomusicologist-video operator) changes the
situation, just as the presence of the ethnographer does. Hence the arguments
for adopting the "reflexive observational approach" discussed above. Field-
work should not be understood as the documentation of some external reality,
not because that reality does not exist (clearly it does), but because the ethno-
grapher is unable to record that reality objectively and reduce it to communica-
ble dimensions. An ethnography is the creation of the ethnographer, a highly
personalised, non-objective, non-scientific account of other people's lives.
16
This is much clearer in the shooting and the editing of a film than in more "tradi-
tional" modes of data collection and ethnographic writing, with its claim to be at
least quasi-scientific, objective, and replicable.
4. Some Conclusions
Evaluation of the worth of the documentary filmmaking enterprise de

very much on how the audience for which films are made is specified. If the
ed purpose is for the ethnomusicblogist to address the non-ethnomusico
then ethnomusicologists in general will probably approve of filmmakin
form of applied ethnomusicology, something that ethnomusicology can
well, even measured in idealistic terms such as improving race relation
promoting international understanding. This is also good public relatio
ethnomusicology itself, showing to the wider world that the academic
pline has practical uses. Zemp (1988a:422-5) has argued that a film can b
different things to a variety of different audiences.14 If "a fundamental pur
of an anthropological communication is to make scientific/humanistic
ments about culture"15 there can be little doubt as to the usefulness of film for
this purpose.
It is when the argument that documentary films are a legitimate form of

musical ethnography worthy of the same kind of serious consideration given to
more conventional and traditional forms of scholarship is put forward that diffi-
culties are encountered. I know of no way to prove the value of filmmaking as
musical ethnography except through the results achieved by ethnomusicolo-
gists who have taken documentary filmmaking seriously. This is why the pio-
neering film work of Hugo Zemp is so important for ethnomusicology as a
whole.16 Others need to be persuaded of the need to follow his lead. The ideal
ethnomusicological film may be one in which film is used as an integral part of
a broad research methodology, and in which research footage is integrated
into the film component of a final product that might include written text, film
and audio examples. We are now at the point of being able to realise such ambi-
tions, and finally do justice to Hood's vision of the motion picture as the most
important form of documentation available to the ethnomusicologist.
17
Notes
1 Hood updated his discussion in the second edition of "The Ethnomusicologist" but this remains a key statemen
of the role of film in ethnomusicology (Hood 1 971 ).
2 Feld's 1 976 article discusses many crucial issues concerning film and ethnomusicology and remains highly rel
vant. What I have to say is not always in accord with Feld's views. In particular, the approach I advocate borrow
more from fiction film than Feld would seem to deem acceptable. His article also provides a very useful biblio
graphy. Many of the ideas expressed in the present article can be found in International Journal for Film and Tele-
vision Schools 2(2)[1 986] .
3 On the contrary, there are many situations in which one camera is better than two or three. For a discussion of the
use of two cameras in ethnomusicological films cf. Zemp 1 988a: 398-401 .
4 Certain confusions arise with the use of the terms "film" and "video" and it is necessary to state clearly how the
are used in the context of this article. Thus the noun "film" can mean (a) a strip of celluloid with a moving imag
chemically etched onto it, (b) a type of edited document which normally conforms to some notion of how a docu
ment should be structured, with a beginning and an end and embodying other formal conventions. "Video" de
scribes the medium of electronic image making, but when it is used to produce a document like that just de-
scribed for film it will be called "film" rather than "video." By analogy, the term "film making" will be used to de-
scribe the activity of making such a film product, even if the medium used is video.
5 Grierson is regarded as the father of British social documentary film. He was the first to use the term documen
tary about film in English. His ideas and theories had a profound impact on the history of the documentary as
film genre.
6 The history of this documentary movement deserves at least an article of its own. The Ethnographic Film Pro-
gram at UCLA was established in 1 967-8 with a grant from the Ford Foundation for the purchase of film equip-
ment. Anthropological input came from Walter Goldschmidt and Paul Hockings, amongst others. The first film
produced by the Program, which drew many of the stylistic characteristics together was "The Village," filmed in
the Dingle peninsular in Ireland. Amongst the leading ethnographic filmmakers to come out of the Program were
David and Judith MacDougall, James Blue, David Hancock and Herb DiGioia. All of these filmmakers later used
the editing facilities of the NFTS in the early 1 970s. Cf. Young 1 982.
7 The Leverhulme Film Training Fellowship Scheme was established in 1984, when the Royal Anthropological
Institute invited applications for two training fellowships for anthropologists in the making of anthropological
films, tenable at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield (just to the west of London). The aim of the
scheme, made possible by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, was to train anthropologists with an aptitude for
visual anthropology, in the use of film, and to enable them to make at least one documentary film during their
year's work. The intention of the scheme was to stimulate the tertiary education sector to provide facilities and
finance for filming of this kind. The scheme ran for three years; the first two successful candidates were accepted
for a second year of training, while in the third year two new fellows were selected.
8 Cf. Bendix 1 987 for a review.
9 It is important to note that while excellent Video 8 camcorders with digital stereo sound are now available for less
than US $ 2000, editing equipment in this and .1/2" formats is rather limited in editing versatility. This is no doubt
one reason why ethnomusicologists have been discouraged from editing their video research footage. For
example, this equipment does not allow for the complete separation of sound and image that film editing often
requires. Video inserts cannot be made without cutting the sound track at the same time. It is therefore recom-
mended to shoot in Video 8 and to transfer image and sound to 3/4" video tape for editing.
10 Cf. Baily 1 988:1 95 for a discussion of this point.
11 It is this fact which made the Leverhulme Film Training Scheme so special, for it was an attempt to bridge the
dichotomy between filmmakers and anthropologists, and to allow anthropologists to become makers of their
own films.
12 The films (in video) and study guides can be obtained in Europe (PAL format) from the Royal Anthropological
Institute, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1 P 5HS, and in the USA (NTSC format) from Documentary Educational
Resources, 101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 021 72.
13 This was especially important when one could assume that an audience would probably see a film only once.
Video playback has changed all that and the film text can now be examined and re-examined in as much detail
as the written text.
18
14 Cf. also Baily 1988:197.
15 Adapted from Ruby 1982:122.
16 Zemp's four inter-related films Jüüzli' of the Muotatal" are models for the use of film in ethnomusicology. They
show how an ethnomusicological analysis can be presented in a series of films: setting out the issues as per-
ceived by informants ("Yootzing and Yodelling"), giving an analysis of the sonic phenomenon using an innovative
film animation technique in which time-pitch graphs are drawn as the song is sung ("Head Voice, Chest Voice"),
and showing the music making we have been learning about in the context of a wedding ("The Wedding of
Susanna and Josef") and during pastoralist activities ("Glattalp"). The last two are very much in the documentary
style of the NFTS, whose tenets Zemp understands well.
References
Baily, John
1985 Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life in Peshawar, Pakistan. 16 mm film, colour, 52 minutes.
Produced by the Royal Anthropological Institute and the National Film and Television School.
1986 Lessons from Guiam: Asian Music in Bradford. 16 mm film, colour, 52 minutes. Produced by the
Royal Anthropological Institute and the National Film and Television School.
1 988 Report on the 7th ICTM Colloquium "Methods and Techniques of Film and Videorecording in Ethno-
musicological Research." Yearbook for Traditional Music 20:1 93-8.
1 989a The Making of Amir. Boston: Documentary Educational Resources.
1 989b The Making of Lessons from Gulam. Boston : Documentary Educational Resources.
Bendix, John
1987 Review of "Sacred Harp Singers," produced and directed by Mark Brice and Chris Petry. Ethno-
musicology 31 (3):525-6.
Breitrose, Henry
1 986 "The Structures and Functions of Documentary Film." The International Journal for Film and Televi-
sion Schools 2(1 ):43-56.
Clifford, James & George E. Marcus (eds.)
1986 Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Los Angeles: University of California
Press.
Dufaux, Georges
1 986 "The Documentary as an Instrument of Knowledge." The International Journal for Film and Televi-
sion Schools 2(1 ):32-3.
Feld, Steve
1976 "Ethnomusicology and Visual Communication." Ethnomusicology 20(2):293-325.
Feld, Steve & Caroli Williams
1975 "Towards a Researchable Film Language." Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication
2(1):25-32.
Gourlay, Kenneth
1978 "Towards a Reassessment of the Ethnomusicologist's Role in Research." Ethnomusicology
22(1 ):1 -35.
Hood, Mantle
1 971 The Ethnomusicologist. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia
1 989 "Visual Anthropology at the Zagreb ICAES." Anthropology Today 5(1 ):25-6.
MacDougall, David
1 982 "Unprivileged Camera Style." Royal Anthropological Institute News 50:8-1 0.
Ruby, Jay
1 982 "Ethnography as trompe l'oeil : Film and Anthropology." In A Crack in the Mirror. Reflexive Perspec-
tives in Anthropology. Jay Ruby, ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 121-31 .
19
Young, Colin
1975 "Observational Cinema." In Principles of Visual Anthropology. Paul blockings, ed. Mouton: The
Hague, 65-80.
1 982 "MacDougali Conversations." Royal Anthropological Institute News 50:5-8.
Zemp, Hugo
1988a "Filmina Music and Looking at Music Films." Ethnomusicoloay32l3):393-427.
1 988b Review of "Amir" and "Lessons from Gulam." Yearbook for Traditional Music 20:257-60.
John Baily
Filmen als eine Technik musikalischer Ethnographie
(Kurzfassung)
Erläutert werden einleitend die verschiedenen keit beim Filmen, Überlegungen zum Produk-
tionsprozeß, Aufnahmesequenzenen, Umstruk-
Anwendungen von Film und Video in der musik-
ethnologischen Forschung und im Anschluß
turierung der Zeit, Gebrauch von unterlegter
daran die Charakteristika eines Film-Stils, derSprache,
an Suche nach Kommentaren durch Ein-
der Nationalen Film und Fernseh-Schule in heimische und nach Gesprächen mit ihnen und
Großbritannien entwickelt wurde, an derUntertitelung.
der Au- Schließlich wird der Stellenwert
tor sich der Herstellung zweier musikethnologi- des Films als einer Form ethnographischen Tex-
scher Filme widmete. Dieser Stil wird unter zwölf tes erörtert. Die Hauptintention des Autors ist es,
Gesichtspunkten diskutiert: Erzählform, Por- Ethnomusikologen zu eigenen Film- und Video-
traitfilm, Filmen als Untersuchungstechnik, Her- Produktionen als einer Technik musikalischer
angehensweise und teilnehmende Beob- Ethnographie zu ermutigen.
achtung, Rolle des Regisseurs, Unaufdringlich-
John Baily
Le cinéma au service de l'ethnographie musicale
(résumé)
Après un bref commentaire sur les différentes du metteur en scène, la discrétion, réflexions sur
utilisations du cinéma et de la vidéo dans la re-
le processus de réalisation du film, le tournage
des séquences, la réorganisation du temps,
cherche ethnomusicologique, nous examinons
dans cet article les caractéristiques d'un style ci-
l'emploi de la voix off pour les commentaires, la
nématographique mis au point au Royaume-Uni recherche d'explications données sur place, par
les autochtones, et de contacts avec ces der-
par le National Film and Television School. Nous
l'avons appliqué pour la réalisation de deux niers,
do- le sous-titrage. Cet article se conclut sur
cumentaires ethnomusicologiques. Le styleunci- examen du statut du film en tant que docu-
nématographique est examiné sous douze ment ethnographique. L'intention générale de
l'auteur est d'encourager les ethnomusicolo-
aspects: la forme narrative, le portrait, la réalisa-
tion de films en tant que moyen d'investigation, gues à recourir au cinéma et à la vidéo pour leurs
l'accès et l'«observation-participation», le rôle
travaux d'ethnographie musicale.
20

BAILY - Filmmaking As Musical Ethnography

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Filmmaking as Musical Ethnography

The fact that ethnomusicologists largely Ignored the implications of Hood's

1. 1 The Uses of Motion Pictures in Ethnomusicology

1.1.1 Pure Research

The use of film or video as a research tool is unproblematic in terms of legiti-

The Ethnographic Notebook

Intra-Cultural Field Feedback

Inter-Cultural Experiments in Perception

The footage is shown to members of other societies to investigate aspects of

Sequences of film or video are often used as illustrative materials in lectures,

1 .1 .3 Making Audio- Visual "Texts"

1.2 Studying Ethnographic Filmmaking

1 986, 1 989b) can be regarded as experiments in applying the NFTS document-

2. Some Characteristics of the NFTS Style

Cinema is essentially a narrative form, a way of "telling a story." Narrative is

2.2 Portrait Film

The portrait film provides a particularly successful cinematic approach in

2.4 Access and Participant Observation

2.5 Role of the Director

2.6 Being Unobtrusive

The extent to which shooting becomes a dynamic interaction between film-

2. 7 Reflections on the Filmmaking Process

. . . characterised by the presence of the film-maker or a surrogate on the screen, the

2.8 Sequence Shooting

2.9 Reordering of Time

2.10 Use of Voice-Over Commentary

Voice-over commentary, or narration, must be used judiciously. While voice-

2.11 Search for Native Explanations and Conversations

Up to this point we have discussed the characteristics of a documentary film

Besides giving background information, the study guides provide shot by

3. 1 The Editing Process

Film editing is a highly developed form of text manipulation. Progressing

3.2 Contextual Information

One of the main problems in the construction of film ethnography concerns

Filmmaking raises these issues in an acute and particularly interesting form.

Evaluation of the worth of the documentary filmmaking enterprise de

It is when the argument that documentary films are a legitimate form of

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