Abstract

Few ethnographic filmmakers or practitioners of video-based methods are fortunate enough to find themselves surrounded by lots of like-minded colleagues, equally passionate as they are about technical issues surrounding the pre-production, production, and distribution of research-based video work. While it is possible to find occasional discussions of “behind-the-scenes” reflections in the pages of select journals, for the most part most of us work in silos from one another, unaware of how we carry out our work differently or, perhaps, in similar ways. In recognition of the fact that answers to practical issues are often impossible to find, I (Phillip Vannini) asked the contributors to this handbook a few questions that my students and I have always wanted to ask ethnographic filmmakers and that we never had the chance to ask.