ABSTRACT
THE VILLAGE was a collaborative venture between Mark McCarty, a film professor, and Paul Hockings, an anthropologist, carried out when both were teaching at U.C.L.A. and trying to develop a new style of anthropological filmmaking. Their efforts, first in a Gaelic-speaking village and later in an editing room, led to a 70-minute documentary that was an early example (1968) of Observational Cinema. This project developed through several stages, each sketched out in the article, and each guided by the supposition that Gaelic-speaking peasants could explain themselves to the audience without the intermediary of a commentator. Methods of winning local co-operation, structuring an unscripted film, and elucidating the social structure are discussed, as well as the general rationale for making a documentary in this manner.
