1 more than just a picture : creating and using visuals in social science research jennifer cool...
TRANSCRIPT
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“More Than Just a Picture”: Creating and using visuals in
social science research
Jennifer Cool [email protected]
M.A. Visual Anthropology, 1993
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology
University of Southern California
www.cool.org/visualworkshop
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Talk Outline
o Workshop Purposeo Definitionso Representation Across Media
o Rhetorico Filmmakingo Informaticso Documentary / Visual Anthropology
o Putting it all into practice: “Home Economics”o Practicum in documentary video
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Workshop Purpose
o The proliferation of digital technologies has increased the ease with which graduate students use self-made still, moving, and interactive images to support their research.
o Despite this trend, images are often added to dissertations, presentations, and publications as an afterthought.
o This workshop will encourage us to think critically and creatively when we use visual images — moving, still, and interactive — in our research by exploring the use of photography, film, and interactive media.
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Information Hypermedia– Stable, established
– Mature
– Relatively centralized
– Formal
– One-to-many
– Top-down publication
– Unified layers (bits linked to atoms)
– Writing presented per publication
– Largely mono-media (text) with separate repositories for different media/genres (pictures, artifacts)
– Unstable, emerging
– Immature
– Relatively decentralized
– Informal
– Many-to-many
– Distributed publication
– Discrete layers
– Write once publish anywhere
– Highly multimedia & intermedia (text, image, audio, video, multiple document formats; multilingual, modular)
Digital technology
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By “Visuals” I Mean
o Photographs, film/video (sound and image), any recording made with a camera as data to be studiedo Research media
o using (audio)visuals to record datao Still images, films, videos, PowerPoint
presentations, any visual media made to convey or illustrate the insights and analyses of academic research.o Rhetorical media
o using (audio)visuals to make argument
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Research & Rhetorical Media
o Can the boundaries be traversed?o Absolutely. Two modes are mutually informative.o But important to consider each mode separately.
o Research media fall under methodso Generally, these are techniques, forms, and
norms of data capture established within disciplines and sub-fields.
o Rhetorical media fall under___?
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Basic Premise of this Talk
o No image is understood outside a discourse.o Discourse/Context may mask itself (art)o Discourse/Context may be explicit (newspaper)
o The question is, how to craft your images so they are consistent with the discourse in which you operate?
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Representation Across Media
o As scholars, you already have mastery in certain forms of communication, in particular, reading and writing texts.
o Whatever the medium, thoughtful acts of representation begin with these basic questions:o What do I want to say?o Who is my audience?o What is the best way to say it?
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What do I want to say? (Content)
o What’s my main message, or thesis?o What’s my goal or purpose in making these
photographs; this video, slideshow, webpage, or other media presentation?
o What’s my investment in the subject?o With what authority do I speak?
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Who is my audience?
o What knowledge can I assume of my audience?
o What ideas/information need to be presented explicitly?
o What issues or objections might they have to my argument?
o What are their values, goals, and interests? o How do might these relate to my message?
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What’s the best way to say it? (Form)
o Choose medium, genre, format:o Oral: lecture, discussion, informal speecho Written: essay, book, email, lettero Pictoral: photos, illustrations, diagrams, graphs o Mixed & multimedia: PowerPoint presentation,
film, video, website, other new media
o Match tone & formality to audience & content.
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My Frameworks
o Rhetorico Filmmakingo Informaticso Documentary / Visual Anthropology
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Drawn from my experience
Visual anthropologyo M.A. Visual Anthropology, USC, 1993o “Home Economics: a documentary of suburbia,” M.A. Filmo “The Experts of Everyday Life: "
The Experts of Everyday Life: Cultural Reproduction and Cultural Critique in Antelope Valley," M.A. Thesis
Film, documentary multimedia, Internet and web production:
o Synapse Columbus project & Computer Curriculum Corp.o Cyborganic, Netscape, Disney/ABC Cable Networks
Teaching film production, written, oral, and graphic communication:
o Assistant Lecturer, Freshman Writing, U.S.C.o Lecturer, Cinema Dept., San Francisco Stateo Lecturer, Information & Computer Science, U.C. Irvine
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Rhetoric
Representation is a rhetorical act
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Rhetorical in a classical sense
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Rhetoricalin a modernist sense
o It’s never just a pipe.o The images you make are
not prima facie evidence. Even the most straight forward illustration involves interpretation and construction.
Although we often hear that data speak for themselves, their voices can be soft and sly.— Frederick Mosteller, Stephen E. Fienberg, and Robert E.K. Rourke,
Beginning Statistics with Data Analysis, 1983, p. 234.
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Rhetorical in a postmodernist sense
Viewers make meaningo Reception, cultural construction
The treason of imageso A picture may be worth ten thousand
words, but…o You, the producer, don’t get to choose
any of those wordso They may not even be in your language
Power/Knowledgeo All acts of representation are partial,
situated, interested, and occasionedo Creating, using, and reading visuals in
social science requires attention to these contexts
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Filmmaking
Two parables, an aphorism, and three aspects
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Kuleshov Effect
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Cocktail Party Effect
o The ability in perception to select one desired sound from a background of ambient noise. E.g., at a party, where many voices speak simultaneously, we can 'focus' our ears on one conversation and ‘filter out’ voices and sounds which are equally strong.
o A microphone cannot ‘filter’ noise from signal thus and, placed at the party, records a babble of sounds.
o Perception is interpretation.
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“You’ve got to have a reason”
o Apply Dmytryk’s aphorism to every :o Cuto Frameo Shoto Choice of media (film stock, video, etc.)
o Contrast with:o Laying down music and cutting to the beat.o Deciding you must cut to a new image every x secondso Shooting footage without a clear purpose, shooting
everything in master shots, just “getting coverage.”
“Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason.”— Edward Dmytryk, On Film Editing
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Intersecting Aspectso Technical
o Subject is in frame, in focus, and well illuminatedo Camera, sound, and editing as crafts that support
narrative and aesthetic aspects.o Narrative
o Film time is not clock time. It is story time, time is condensed, expanded, elided.
o Narrative time is configured. Time governed by plot.o Plot: drawing a “sense of whole” out of a chronologyo Characters: agents who both act and suffero Classic Three act structure: beginning, middle, and end
o Aesthetico Technical craftsmanship does not detract from message.o Form and content work together o Be especially aware and reflexive of the aesthetic to
which you appeal.
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Informatics
Tufte: Scientific principles of Information design
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Edward Tufte
o Professor emeritus of statistics, graphic design, and political economy at Yale University
o Expert in informational design & graphics
1983 1990 1997 2006
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Information Graphics Greatest Hits
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Tufte: clear and precise seeing, thinking, saying
“if displays of data are to be truthful and revealing, then the logic of the display design must reflect the logic of analysis.
Visual representations of evidence should be governed by principles of reasoning about quantitative evidence. For information displays, design reasoning must correspond to scientific reasoning. Clear and precise seeing becomes as one with clear and precise thinking.
— Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations, 1997, p. 53.
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Tufte: Scientific Principles
Displays should be documentary, comparative, causal and explanatory, quantified, multivariate, exploratory.
o Document sources and characteristics of the data.o Insistently enforce appropriate comparisons.o Demonstrate mechanisms of cause and effect.o Express those mechanisms quantitatively.o Recognize the inherently multivariate nature of
analytic problems.o Inspect and evaluate alternative explanations.
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Documentary & Visual Anthropology
The documentary traditionEthnographic film
Image ethics and epistemologies
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The documentary tradition
o Some of the first films were ethnographic (1890s-1930s)
o City symphony films (early 20th century)o Portable Sync Sound 16mm (1960s),
technology gets smaller, more automatico Cinéma verité, direct cinema
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Ethnographic film
o Positivism & scientific filmso Observational cinemao Anthropology’s Crisis of Representationo Reflexivity, beyond observational cinemao Ethics
o Rights of the subjecto Questions of audience, royalties, etc.
o Politics and epistemologies of representationo The New Ethnography and “New Wave” in
Ethnographic film.
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New Ethnography
o Dialogism, dialogic relationship between ethnographer and informant(s)
o Ethnographies of the particular (present ethnographer and subjects as specific individuals in specific social contexts
o Reflexivityo Subjects speak for themselveso Conscious focus on narrative structure (e.g.
Geertz’s “fictions”, anthropological representations are made not found)
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Putting it all into practice
“Home Economics”
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Home Economics as response to “Crisis of Representation”
o Choice of subjecto the domestic and everyday, rather than the exotic other.
o Subjects addressed, not describedo No voiceover narration, no explanatory titleso Filmmaker’s questions includedo Real time takes, no “cut away” shots in interviews, whole
replies included, not sound biteso Authorship acknowledged
o Reflexivity (inclusion of filmmaker in the frame)o “Slow down I want to get the billboards”
o Clear narrative arc (constructed nature of representation)o Montage (portraits and landscapes)
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Home Economics Picture/Camera
o Filmmaker in the frame, but off to the side, not at the center
o Framing of whole bodies in the environmento Set camera up, off to the side, so anthropologist
and informant can talk face to face.o Keep the equipment in the backgroundo Create casual atmosphere, kitchen conversations
o Juxtaposition of interview (portraits) and montage of the build environment (landscapes)
o Hand-held shots of home interiors, emphasize domestic, everyday life.
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Home EconomicsSound
o Inclusion of long takes presents subjects as “expert witnesses”
o Music played in model home sequences is the actual music played in the models.
o “Hard” cuts on audio in these shots.o Music played in scene of low-income
housing was actual sound from the footage.o “Hard” cuts on audio in these shots.
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Home Economicsethics & politics of representation
o Key informants saw final cut of film before they were asked to sign release formso Goes against what they teach at the Cinema School. It’s
risky and can backfire, but also builds trust.o Permission to film models and construction site
came from the housing developero Workers not asked to sign a release
o “Guerrilla filmmaking” o Billboards shot without permissionso Low income housing in long shot, reflects social distance
between filmmaker and these subjects
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Home Economics as a work in the Anthropological
Traditiono Examines the ideals and norms of
homeownershipo Explores specific cultural meanings of home
o “What the native thinks he’s up to” (Geertz)o Seeks to show the logic and validity of a
particular way of life
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Home Economics as Cultural Critique
o Homeownership in contemporary American society is often achieved at the expense of the very values a home is said to represent.o Informants as expert witnesses who testimony
show both the values and meanings of homeownership and the ways those values are undermined by commuting, work, and other structural forces of the society.
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Home EconomicsAsch’s Ethics of Ethnographic Filmmaking
Applied (in some way)• Know your subjects• Reflexivity (backgrounded)• Shoot whole events• Support film with
documentation• Seek feedback from subjects• Seek feedback from sample
audiences• Distribute film properly• Publish guide/monograph to
distribute with film
Not Applied
• Reflexivity (foregrounded)
• Make an uncut version for scholarly research
• Make royalty agreement with people filmed
• Shoot whole events (focus was on discourse, not events)
• On-going commitment to indigenous population
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practicum
Documentary Motion Pictures
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Pre-production
o Crew or one-man band?o Practice. Video tape is cheap.o Choose a cinematic subjecto Audience, genre, format, medium
o The more you know about the final destination, the better you can shoot for it.
o Camera (and other equipment) size and “footprint” in relation to filmed event and logistics “in the field,” or “on location.”
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Shooting
o Focus, exposure, and composition o These all need to be intuitiveo Auto-focus: “set and hold”o Play with focus, exposure, composition.o Fold out LCD screens are great for composition, but no use
for exposure or focus.o Frame your subject tightly enough so it’s clear where the
viewer should look. Crop out moise. o Use a tripod whenever possible
o Camera movement can be hard to intercut.o Other benefits? (Face to face communication)o If shooting handheld, bone-to-bone contact or shoulder
brace?o Good sound (professional mic)o Always shoot for real.
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Shooting
o Let takes run long, heads and tailso Log and label all footage on the spoto Let moving objects exit frame before you cuto Practice as though tape were cheap, shoot
as if it were very expensive. o “Hang around and shoot a lot of film.”
o Invisibility via ubiquitous presence (of camera)o Don’t try to sneak shots!o Do put tape over red “camera rolling” lights
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Editing
o Creating film time and spaceo What one thing are you trying to say?
o Images denser and more concrete than text.o Story and charactero Build your story in sound and image (rather
than voiceover and inter-titles).o The clearer your aims in shooting, the easier this
is to do in the editing room.
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Examples for Discussion
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Miles Coolidge
• Safetyville
• America by Numbers
• Garage Photos
• Associate Professor, Studio Art, U.C. Irvine
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Michael Wesch
o YouTube video by Anthropology Professor
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
o Wired Rave Awardo http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyl
e/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7
o Entirely word-driveno Cut to music