The Art of the ‘Fieldwork Movie’: 35 Years of Making Ethnomusicological Films

Abstract

This short article traces the author's work as an ethnomusicological filmmaker from 1973. Starting with very basic equipment, and using an 8mm camera as a research tool during his fieldwork in western Afghanistan, the author describes his discovery of the joys of editing his field materials to create The Herat Trilogy. These films led him to the National Film and Television School, where he imbibed the stylistic principles of observational cinema. At the NFTS he directed two 16mm ethnographic films, Amir and Lessons from Gulam. In 2000 he embarked on a series of field trips to explore the situation of music in the Afghan transnational community. In this new context the author developed further the use of the video camera as a research tool, editing selected research footage into ‘fieldwork movies’ which remain faithful to many of the principles of observational cinema.

Keywords:

• Afghanistan
• Diaspora
• Observational Cinema
• Fieldwork Movie
• Music

Notes

1. I am grateful to the editors of this special issue on screened musics and the moving image for inviting me to write a short piece on my experiences as an ethnomusicologist who makes films.

2. For example, a protagonist walks upstairs in his house. Fade to black. Then a thin crack of light appears as the trapdoor to the attic is slowly opened and the protagonist climbs in. The camera is already there, lying in wait.

3. For subtitling I rely on the skills of former NFTS fellow-student Susi Arnott.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Baily

John Baily is Professor Emeritus of Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he has taught since 1990. He worked for many years with John Blacking in Belfast, and for two years at Columbia University. Most of his ethnomusicological research has been conducted in Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora. His special interests are in the biology of music making, learning to perform as research, music and migration and ethnomusicological film