In the multimedia era, great changes have taken place in the way human beings live, see the world and even know themselves. Visual anthropology, as a subject with "people" as the research object, needs to sort out the development context, carry forward its own advantages and make due contributions to exploring the law of human social and cultural development.

Focusing on the development characteristics of visual anthropology under the new media environment, this paper analyzes the development opportunities brought by the transformation of communication methods in the new media era for contemporary visual anthropology, as well as some new developments and new signs of contemporary visual anthropology disciplines through the interpretation of the media environment and the combing of the characteristics of visual anthropology disciplines.

Keywords: visual anthropology; Ethnographic documentary; Multimedia era; National participation;

References:

[1] understanding new media: extending mcluhan, Fudan university press, plus Robert Logan, 20 12.

[2] Exploration of visual anthropology Theory, Nationalities Publishing House, Li Guangqing, 20 1 1.

[3] visual anthropology Principle, Yunnan University Press, Paul Hawkins, 2007.

⑷ Noisy-Personal Expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age, Hu Yong, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008.

1. The development of visual anthropology in China

Visual anthropology, translated as "visual anthropology" or "visual anthropology" in China, as its name implies, is a branch of anthropology, which uses film and television to conduct all-round observation and research on human behavior and culture.

The research object of this discipline is not only the same as that of anthropology, but also focuses on the role, nature and application law of film and television in anthropological cultural research, as well as the characteristics, classification and production methods of anthropological films.

From the creation of rock paintings in early childhood to the appearance of video carriers such as TV and movies, the development of visual technology has continuously enriched the form and connotation of this subject.

By 1970s, visual anthropology gradually developed and established his own theoretical system and research framework because of his independent theory, method and research system.

Second, the arrival of the multimedia era

The concept of new media was first put forward in 1967 by Gardmark, director of the technical research institute of CBS.

The development of media has experienced three stages: elite media, mass media and personal media. These three stages represent the agricultural age, industrial age and information age of communication development respectively.

New media is a media form that appears under the new technical support system, such as digital magazines, digital newspapers, digital broadcasting, mobile phone short messages, mobile TV, network, desktop windows, digital TV, digital movies, touch media and so on.

Compared with newspapers, outdoor, radio and television, new media is vividly called "the fifth media".

Today, with the rapid development of the Internet, the new personal-centered media has moved from the edge to the mainstream, and the new media era has arrived.

With the fierce confrontation between old and new media and the rapid development of online media, the real multimedia era is coming.

The New Changes of visual anthropology in the Context of Three New Media

When the mass media era and the self-media era come in turn, the fierce confrontation between old and new media and the rapid development of online media, coupled with the convenience of information dissemination on the Internet, make interest expression, emotional catharsis and ideological collision at all levels more confident and barrier-free. Visual anthropology has also ushered in new development opportunities.

Visual anthropology's research method is far from his early work Nanuke. Anthropologists carry heavy and old video recorders to another ethnic group far away from the city and describe their religious ceremonies and daily life in a nearly static way.

In addition, visual anthropology's research category, equipment technology and observation methods have opened up more diversified choices, richer contents and broader extensions under the new technical conditions and new context.

1 The multimedia era interprets and protects world culture with brand-new technical means.

Compared with the past habit of anthropologists to organize large-scale field investigations or write ethnography in words, it is undoubtedly a better way to record culture completely and understand culture from multiple angles with the help of anthropological ethnography documentaries, that is, movies and television.

In the multimedia era, brand-new technical means have opened up more possibilities for anthropological research. Internet technology, portable filming machine and transmission mode make field workers no longer subject to written records and single recording mode, but use all-round lens language such as images and sounds to restore the truest face of a group, which is specific to everyone's posture, mood and eyes.

At the same time, the multimedia equipment with continuous technological innovation has brought new changes to the development of anthropology. The storage and reproduction of video materials have become fast and private, and field investigation has become more and more professional and scientific. The vast amount of information and resources brought by the Internet also help anthropologists gain cognition in a cheap and quick way.

The multimedia era has enriched the communication methods of disciplines.

In today's human world where lifestyle has been changed by the media, all interpersonal communication and even mass communication know the world through mobile phone media and social networks.

Watching a lot of updated online videos every day and refreshing social networks to get information have become a completely subversive behavior pattern of human beings. People from different regions and cultural backgrounds are increasingly dependent on the changes brought about by the development of multimedia.

Therefore, from this perspective, the research results and cultural achievements of film and television anthropologists are no longer spread in a closed state. With the development of multimedia, the theme is spread out in front of the audience in a more interesting way, so the change of this mode of communication also makes visual anthropology films have richer themes and materials, and after being decoded by people with different cultural backgrounds for many times, they have gained more extended meanings.

3 the participation of the whole people to promote the development of disciplines

In the multimedia era, everyone is talking, everyone has a microphone, and everyone has the right to self-decode and self-interpret the content.

At the same time, combined with McLuhan's view that "media is information", when each individual presents his own short film on anthropological issues on the Internet and social media and causes a lot of exchanges and discussions.

The topics, methods, roads, approaches and new problems provided by this kind of national participation have become a new perspective and new proposition for anthropologists' research, which has continuously promoted the development of the discipline.

Four summaries

Visual anthropology is an ever-changing subject, because human beings never stop the pace of change one day, because technology and communication context are changeable. In the multimedia era, the new development of visual anthropology can't be summarized in a few words. At the same time, visual anthropology is also facing many opportunities and challenges, and its discipline development is also making great strides.