Visual and Sound Recording Apparatus in Ethnographic Fieldwork

The purpose of this paper is to acquaint fieldworkers with some of the general characteristics and capabilities of several types of apparatus, such as magnetic tape recorders, still and cine cameras, and sound film and videotape systems, and to suggest circumstances in which they may be useful. It is hoped that it will stimulate interest among those whose fieldwork could benefit from such apparatus. Little has been written for anthropologists on these matters, which have perhaps been considered as not quite worthy of serious attention. Besides this, new types of apparatus are continually being introduced, and useful records can be obtained with apparatus which is becoming cheaper, lighter and simpler to operate. This paper can in no way act as a buyer's guide or provide detailed advice on the vast array of available apparatus, neither does it attempt to consider the value of audiovisual records in understanding the phenomena to which they refer. Recording apparatus has a high rate of storage and information capacity, with complete and repeated recall facilities. It is therefore most useful in studying "once only" events, and in behaviour studies, but least useful in elucidating concepts and relationships. The records produced are objective within certain limitations. Disadvantages of apparatus are cost, need for maintenance, weight and the effort of operation. In some circumstances it may disturb the subjects of study, though this of course can be done without apparatus! It is important that the apparatus should be competently handled, and used for adequate reasons, otherwise human and material resources will be squandered. The detailed study of complex behaviour involving movement and sound needs both pictorial and sound recording methods. Where more than one channel is being used to collect information, it is important that some system of cross-referencing be used which will allow integration of all records. The ideal method is to record all types of information on a single piece of impressionable material. Thus with a stereophonic tape recorder the sounds of an event can be recorded on one channel, while all observations made by the observer can be recorded simultaneously and independently on the other channel. Integration of moving pictures and sound records using synchronous sound filming apparatus has been almost prohibitively expensive and complicated until the last few years. Where the highest-quality recording is not required it is likely to be largely superseded, on grounds of cost and simplicity of operation, by portable self-powered videotape apparatus which has just become available. The purposes of field recordings considered in this paper are research, where the records constitute primary evidence used by the investigator, and communication with colleagues, students and the wider public. Records produced for these purposes differ somewhat in the standards required. Thus research records require a maximum of documentation and a minimum of recording quality, which needs only to be sufficiently good to provide unequivocal evidence. The larger the group with whom communication is intended the less the need for documentation and the greater the need for high recording quality.