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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores different practices of video editing as an analytical process through which to variably understand ethnographic importance of filmed moments. I explore how collage, either as montage or as non-linear collected film vignettes, helps me reinterpret and reveal aspects of my footage.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores different practices of video editing as an analytical process through which to variably understand ethnographic importance of filmed moments. My project began with footage shot collaboratively through an observational approach to explore a network of Black farm cooperatives in the US. The filming was designed to engage scenes as integrated and embodied moments that could not be parsed into sound bites or trite symbols. Yet, the edited scenes also were spatially and temporarily limited. Montage has more been theorized by ethnographers as a technique to uncover hidden, invisible, yet felt relationships that exist beyond spatial and temporal (and subjective) boundaries. I turned to collage in two ways to help reinterpret my material, perhaps revealing new realities while obscuring others. First, using a montage of sounds and images from my footage, I created a short piece to evoke generalized impressions from my fieldwork. Through the process, I inadvertently silenced and hid the essence of individuals by using disembodied voices, or silenced images. However, even as this process destabilized the individual, it also highlighted a different reality, that subjectivity, identity, and consciousness can be distributed, not bounded realities. Second, I created a digital gallery to non-linearly showcase my vignettes, thus creating a collage of short films. I will also showcase the montaged film in this gallery and link cut pieces to source footage, thus connecting differing approaches. This paper will explore these different choices and how these editing practices are themselves analytical processes with both theoretical and ethical implications.