Abstract

Most of the ethnographic film projects discussed in either this handbook or the rest of the scholarly literature are the result of scholarly work by professional academics with access (albeit variable) to time, equipment, funding, and assistants. In some cases, these scholars can also benefit from the job security afforded by tenure. But what happens when an ethnographic film project is undertaken by a graduate student as part of their MA or scholarly work? Do differing resources impact the quality or ambition of the work? Do doctoral committees shape the nature of the output? In this chapter I discuss the use of ethnographic film and video as the main “deliverable” of a graduate project.