This seminar introduces students to the tools necessary for making anthropological films. Students will conduct fieldwork and make a film on some aspects of the social and cultural behavior under investigation. Emphasis is placed on developing the critical skills needed for resolving some of the ethical, technical and aesthetic problems that may emerge during the documentation of social and cultural behavior. At the end of the semester the class will host an anthropological film and present them to the larger academic community.
Because of the vast amount of time and skill necessary in producing an ethnographic film, projects will be done within a group. While individuals within a group may specialize in a particular aspect of the project, I will expect everyone to have a strong working knowledge of all the various aspects of research and production. Much of the work for this course will be conducted outside the Connolly Media Lab and not during seminar meetings, especially in the latter half of the semester.