John Bishop
8378 Faust Ave West Hills, CA 91304
(818) 704 9538
jbishop@ucla.edu
Education:
B.A. Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley
1968
Teaching Experience:
1995 – present Visiting Assistant Professor (75%) (1995-1999), Adjunct Assistant Professor (1999-2003), Adjunct Associate Professor (2003-present) Department of World Arts and Cultures, UCLA; courses taught: Video Production; Advanced Video Production; Choreography and the Camera (with Victoria Marks; Sharon Kinney); Ethnographic Film; Visual Thinking; Field Projects: supervised 14 students’ video and research projects at the 1996 Pacific Arts Festival in Western Samoa and 8 students at the 2000 Pacific Arts Festival in New Caledonia.
1999-2002 Video Director Center for Digital Arts (25%), UCLA. Designed, built and maintained four tape editing systems, and 20 non-linear editing systems, integrated video production, post-production, and integration with the internet for the School of Arts and Architecture.
2002-present Director of Video Lab for the School of Arts and Architecture (25%), UCLA.
1994 – 1998 Lecturer (part-time), Department of Anthropology, California State University at Northridge: courses taught; Ethnographic Film; Field Study in Cultural Anthropology: Ethnographic Video Production
1990 – 1991 – Lecturer (part time), Columbia College (Hollywood); courses taught: Film Production; Beginning Script Writing; Advanced Script Writing.
Other Recent Employment:
1982 – present Media-Generation I own a film and video production company which produces and distributes documentaries and has in the past provided freelance camera, sound, and editing services and equipment to other producers. I have worked on contract for the Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Arts Commission, National Council for the Traditional Arts, California Arts Council, and others.
1984 – 1987 Documentary Educational Resources I was contracted by DER to manage the consolidation, restoration, and accession of a major ethnographic film collection for the Human Studies Film Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, specifically John Marshall’s footage of the Ju’hoa Bushmen of Namibia (500,000 feet of film shot between 1950 and 1978).
1990 – present I have presented one and two day workshops on aspects of film and video production for groups including the Los Angeles Arts Council (1997), the American Anthropology Association (1990, 1992), and the Boston Film & Video Foundation (1985).
Films:
Principal Credits -- producER, CinematographeR, editOR
Oh, What A Blow That Phantom Gave Me! Edmund Carpenter (2002) Feature length program about Edmund Carpenter and the field of ethnographic film and visual anthropology. Includes previously unedited footage by Adelaide de Menil from Papua New Guinea in 1969. Funding: Rock Foundation Festivals:
2003 Beeld voor Beeld Ethnographic Film Festival, Amsterdam
2003 Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival,
Durham, England
2003 Media Ecology Conference, New York
2003 American Anthropology Association,
Chicago
2003 Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival, Taipei
2003 forumdoc.bh.2003 – 7th Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival of Belo
Horizonte – Brazil
2004 7th Göttingen International Film Festival
2004 John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in the Field of Media Ecology
Cambodian Court Dance: The Next Generation (2001) Eleven dances (2 hours) shot with multiple film cameras in 1995 in Cambodia and the United States and released on DVD. A documentary based on this material plus footage I have been shooting from 1984 to the present will be edited as a documentary in 2003. Funding: National Initiative for the Preservation of America’s Dance.
Hosay Trinidad (1998) Ethnographic documentary about Islamic religious practices in Trinidad, for the Smithsonian Institution. Funding Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife. Festivals:
2000 Ethno Filmfest Berlin
2000 5th Göttingen Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany
1999 Religione oggi (Religion Today) Festival , Bologna
2000 Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, Manchester, England
Himalayan Herders (1997) Feature length ethnographic documentary of life in a Himalayan village. Shot in 1986 and 1989. Funding: National Geographic Society, Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological research. Festivals:
1999 Ethno Filmfest Berlin
1999 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
1999 Mostra International Film festival, Rio de Janiro
1999 18th Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Musee de l’homme, Paris
1998 12th Parnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival,
Estonia
1998 Beeld Voor Beeld Film Festival, Amsterdam
1998 4th Göttingen Ethnographic Film Festival, Germany
1998 Black Maria Film Festival, New Jersey
1997 Film South Asia, Kathmandu
1997 Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, New York
1997 Society of Visual Anthropology, Honorable
Mention
The Industry Marketplace (1995) Produced a 15 minute nightly show on the film and television business broadcast in Los Angeles on KDOC-TV for its initial six week run.
Faces Of Culture (1994) Producer/editor for a revised edition of a 26 part telecourse on anthropology for Coastline Community College and KOCE-TV.
The Fandango Project (1993) Museum installation tape for exhibit on son Jarocho music workshops involving Veracruz musicians and inner city youths. Shot in Hi-8. Funding: The Fund for Folk Culture.
Paper Flowers & Papal Picado (1993) Bi-lingual program about the traditional paper crafts of a Mexican altarista living in San Francisco. Shot in Hi-8. Funding: The Fund for Folk Culture.
Khmer Court Dance (1992) Studio production about Cambodian classical dance. Produced with Sam-Ang Sam, Ph.D. Funding: The National Endowment for the Arts.
A Place For Jazz (1992) Documentary about Boston's legendary 1369 Jazz Club. Co-produced with Cine Research Associates.
The Last Window (1989) Documentary about the Charles J. Connick Associates stained glass studio in Boston. Funding: National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Council for the Arts and Humanities, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, Bank of Boston Foundation. Festivals & Awards:
1989 American Film
Festival, Red Ribbon
1989 Society of Visual Anthropology,
Award for Excellence
1990 4th Annual festival of American Folk Cultural
Films, Citylore, New York
The Art Of Saving History (1988) Commissioned documentary about the conservation of painted murals, bronze statues, and historical flags in the Massachusetts State House. For the Massachusetts Art Commission.
Preserving Our History (1987) Commissioned documentary about the renovation and restoration of the Massachusetts State House.
Hand Play (1986) Documentary about minkeys and lurmeys, a menagerie of hand creatures created by a nine-year-old boy.
New England Fiddles (1984) & New England Dances (1990) Ethnographic documentary about traditional fiddle and dance music in New England and a companion film about the survival of French, Scots, and Yankee dance traditions in the Northeastern United States. With a 20 minute video appendix of additional tunes. Funding: The National Endowment for the Arts. Festivals:
1985 Royal Anthropological Institute
Film Festival, London
1985 Melbourne International
Film Festival
Choose Life (1984) A film celebration of anti-nuclear action.
The Land Where The Blues Began (1979) High-end video documentary about the musical and socio-economic origins of the blues. A collaboration by myself, Alan Lomax, & Worth Long, Ph.D with the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television for PBS broadcast. Rebroadcast in 1990 as part of the PBS AMERICAN PATCHWORK series. Funding: The National Endowment for the Arts. Festivals & Awards:
1980 Gabriel Award,
1980 Houston International Film Festival
Golden Medallion
1980 American Film Festival Blue Ribbon
1980 Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York
1980 1st Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Musee de l’Homme, Paris
1985 Melbourne International
Film Festival
Yoyo Man (1978) Ethnographic documentary about how a traditional Filipino toy became part of American children's repertoire through the work of one of the first Duncan yo-yo demonstrators. Funding: The National Endowment for the Arts, the Duncan Yo-yo Company. Festivals & Awards:
1978 CINE
Golden Eagle
1978 Connecticut Film Festival, Best of the
Festival
Rhesus Play (1977) A film description and analysis of play in free-ranging rhesus monkeys. Funding: The Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation, the Harvard Film Study Center. Festivals & Awards:
1977 American
Film Festival
1977 1st Margaret Mead Film Festival
1977 Robert Flaherty Film Festival
Additional Credits -- DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
1-800-LAWYER (1999) Situation comedy pilot.
BUSHWICK (1996, in production) Feature length documentary.
RHINOSKIN: THE MAKING OF A MOVIE STAR (1993) Narrative feature.
MEDEAFILM (1990) Experimental drama.
A KALAHARI FAMILY (1989) Television series about the Ju’hoasi (!Kung Bushmen) people produced by John Marshall and Documentary Educational Resources. Released 2003.
SATCHMO (1989) Feature length documentary for PBS & international TV.
HELLO BABY (1989) Childbirth film.
SONGS OF THE TALKING DRUM (1989) One hour music documentary for television.
PRESENT MEMORY (1988) Feature-length documentary.
LOVE STORIES: WOMEN, MEN & ROMANCE (1987) Feature-length documentary.
SHOES (1987) Half-hour drama, aired on WGBH-TV (Boston PBS) and A&E Network, and winner of multiple awards.
Additional Credits -- EDITOR
Ghurbal (1993) Ethnographic film.
SECRET OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE (1991) Children's action-adventure feature film for Western LA Films.
THE PEARL FISHER (1985) Half-hour documentary.
SAY OLD MAN, CAN YOU PLAY THE FIDDLE (1974) Half-hour documentary.
OTHERS OF ELSEWHERE (in preparation) A book about doing ethnographic filming and anthropological fieldwork in Mississippi with folklorist Alan Lomax, the Kalahari with ethnographic filmmaker John Marshall, and the Nepal Himalaya with anthropologist Naomi Bishop.
California Artists: AT THE CROSSROADS (Media Generation for the California Arts Council 1990) A book of narrative text and photographs of thirty-six traditional performing and material artists in California.
MAKING IT IN VIDEO (McGraw-Hill 1988) An overview of the video industry.
HOME VIDEO PRODUCTION (McGraw-Hill 1985) A how-to book on consumer video.
MAKING HOME VIDEO (Wideview Books 1980) A how-to book on the use of small format video for personal documentation.
AN EVER-CHANGING PLACE (Simon & Schuster 1978) Non-fiction about the people and monkeys in a remote section of the Nepal Himalaya where I participated in research during 1971-72. Continued work in this village lead to the film Himalayan Herders finished in 1997.
MUSIC OF A SHERPA VILLAGE (Ethnic Folkways FE 4320, 1974) Folkmusic from Melemchigaon, a Himalayan village.
Edmund Carpenter: Explorations In Media & Anthropology, (with Harald Prins). Visual Anthropology Review, 17,2, Fall-Winter 2001-2002.
Alan Lomax (1915-2002): A Remembrance. Visual Anthropology Review, 17(2), Fall 2001-2002.
Film Review: Herdsmen. (with Naomi Bishop) American Anthropologist, 104(2), June 2002.
Life by Myth: The Development of Ethnographic Filming in the Work of John Marshall, in Origins of Visual Anthropology—Putting the Past Together, IWF Knowledge and Media, Göttingen, in press.
Alan Lomax as Builder and User of Ethnographic Film Archives, in Origins of Visual Anthropology—Putting the Past Together, IWF Knowledge and Media, Göttingen, in press.
The Camera as Choreographer in Documentary and Ethnographic Film, in Envisioning Dance on Film and Video (ed. Judy Mitoma), Routledge Press, 2002.
Alan Lomax and Choreometrics, in Envisioning Dance on Film and Video (ed. Judy Mitoma) Routledge Press, 2002.
Film Review: A Dream of Kabul, American Anthropologist, 103(4), December 2001.
Planning and Budgeting A Video Or Film Project: One Filmmaker’s View, in Frames of Reference: A Resource Guide from the National Initiative to Preserve America’s Dance, Washington: Dance/USA, 2001.
Review: Documenting Ourselves-Film, Video, and Culture, Western Folklore, 59(1), Winter 2000.
Review: Journey With Flies. Religious Studies Review, XXVI(4): 357-358, 2000.
Making Himalayan Herders. (with Naomi Bishop) Beeld Voor Beeld, Amsterdam, 1998.
Crew Videomaker, IX(9), March 1995.
Video Self:!Kung and Khmer. in Eyes Across The Water Two: Essays on Visual Anthropology and Sociology (ed. Robert Boonzajer Flaes, Douglas Harper), Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis 1993.
Film Time Code. International Documentary, October 1993.
The First Steps. Videomaker, VII(9), March 1993.
Hot Footage/Cold Storage: The Marshall Ju/'hoa Bushman Archive. in The Cinema of John Marshall (ed.. Jay Ruby) (Visual Anthropology; v. 3), 1993.
Every Picture Tells a Story. Videomaker, VII(6), December 1992.
Pens, Pencils, Plots: The Fine Art Of Storyboards. Videomaker, VI(9), March 1992.
Sound Raves. Physician's Video Guide, II(8), March 1987.
Winter Shooting. Popular Photography, XCIV(2), Feb. 1987.
Changing Point of View. Popular Photography, XCIII(11), Nov. 1986.
Indoor Lighting for Video. Physician's Video Guide, II(3), Sept. 1986.
Film Review: Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together. Video, X(4), July 1986.
Make a Music Video. Videomaker, I(1), June/July 1986.
Shoot to Thrill. Physician's Video Guide, I(11), May 1986.
Splice 'N' Dice. Video, X(2), May 1986.
Conversation Pieces. Video, X(1), April 1986.
Video Versus Malpractice. Physician's Video Guide, I(4), October 1985.
Film Review: Yang Style Tai Chi & Its Applications. Video, IX(7), October 1985.
They'll Want to See More- If You Edit. Popular Photography, XCII(5),May 1985.
Through The Lens Lightly. Video, IX(1), April 1985.
Character Building: The Ons & Offs of Title Generators. Video, VIII(12), March 1985.
Go Macro: Take a Closer Look. Popular Photography, XCII(2), February 1985.
Snow Shoots. Video, VIII(10), January 1985.
Lens Add-ons Take You Beyond Reality. Popular Photography, XCI(12), December 1984.
Welcome to the Transfer House. Video, VIII(5), August 1984.
Video Decathlon: Ten Feats of Shooting Skill. Video, VIII(4), July 1984.
Sweet Stereo Sounds in the Field. The Independent, VII(4), May 1984.
How to Make a How-to Tape. Video, VIII(2), May 1984.
Video Framing. Video, VII(12), March 1984.
Video Valentines: Five Easy Pieces. Video, VII(11), Feb. 1984.
Sound Practices. Video, VII(10), January 1984.
Lights !. Video, VII(8), November 1983.
Editing Made Easy. Video, VII(6), August 1983.
Film Review: The Klan - A Legacy of Hate in America. Video, VII(5), July 1983.
Continuity. Video, VII(3), June 1983.
Video Family Album. Video, VI(9), December 1982.
Shopping for Your First Video Camera. Video, VI(7), October 1982.
The Camera Has Its Own Point of View. Video, VI(5), Aug. 1982. (reprinted in VIDEO Buyer's Guide 1983.)
Basics: Tips on In-Camera Editing. Moving Image, I(7), June 1982. (reprint from Making Home Video)
Making Sense of Your Camera Controls. Video, VI(3), June 1982.
Video Where the Blues Began. Society for the Anthropology of Visual Communication Newsletter, X(1), 1982.
Sports Video: How to Shoot a Winning Tape. Moving Image, I(6), May 1982.
Basics: Using a Video Camera-Part II. Moving Image, I(6), May 1982. (reprint from Making Home Video)
See the Music, Hear the Light. Video, VI(1), April 1982.
Basics: Using a Video Camera-Part I. Moving Image, I(5) March/April 1982. (reprint from Making Home Video)
How Do Your Tapes Sound. Video, V(12), March 1982.
Hot Shot: Bill Sebastian. Moving Image, I(4), Jan./Feb. 1982.
Film Review: Shooting Home Video & How to Set Up Your Own Video Business. Video, VI(9), December 1982.
Pro Techniques for Amateur Producers. Video, V(5), August 1981.
Let Video Make Your Point. Video, V(6), September 1981
Getting Close to Your Subject. Video, V(3), June 1981.
Almost Independents' Day. Video, V(1), April 1981.
The Land Where The Blues Began. Filmmakers Monthly, XIII(9), July 1980.
Film Review: Traditional Music & Dance of Sikkim. Ethnomusicology, XXI(3), September 1977. (with N. Bishop)
Tracking the Langur Monkey. Backpacker-13, IV(1), February 1976. (reprinted in The Whole Hiker's Handbook (Wm. Morrow 1979).)
A Field Guide for Filming Birds. Super8Filmaker, II(4), August 1974.
From Kathmandu to Your Local Zoo. Super8Filmaker, II(1), January 1974.
The Himalayan Langur and Super-8. Society for the Anthropology of Visual Communication Newsletter, V(2), Winter 1973.
Praken Sahibs. Swatantra Vishwa, X(5), June 1973.
Temple Rhesus. Swatantra Vishwa, IX(5), Feb. 1972.
Filming the Himalayan Langur. Program in Ethnographic Film Newsletter, IV(1), Fall 1972.
Photography and Primate Studies. Program in Ethnographic Film Newsletter, III(1), Fall 1971.