ABSTRACT
The observational style—the most common style of anthropological film and classically defined ethnographic film—has long been closely associated with classic disciplinary concerns and realist ethnographic practice. Observational films privilege first and foremost the seemingly unmediated exposure of naturally unfolding action and interaction through extremely long camera takes, exclusively diegetic sound, and the absent presence of the camera and filmmaker. There are two dominant types of ethnographically inclined documentary films: observational and participatory. The act of filming allows for these encounters to come to life before the spectator's eyes and ears in all their partiality, contingency, and complexity. Shots range the gamut of the filmmaker's arsenal: extreme close-ups, medium close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots. Film is most obviously a visual and aural medium, but it is also perfectly adequate for depicting sensations of touch, smell, taste, pain, movement, and balance.
