In the context of an ethnographic study of nonverbal communication within the Japanese home environment, issues in the use of videotape recordings for data gathering are discussed. The study investigated language use and behavior of Japanese host families in homestay settings, focusing on the use of nonverbal behavior to facilitate communication. The visual data in this study showed that the host families relied heavily on nonverbal cues during dinner table conversations. While this data was unobtainable by audio recording alone, researchers should be aware of issues in video recording in such field research, in three areas: data collection; data analysis; and reporting. Issues in data collection include: whether the researcher should be present at the time of the recording, or whether this presence creates a distraction confounding results; participants' awareness of the camera; privacy of the participants; quality of recording; and scheduling participant interactions. Concerns in data analysis include these: selection of typical vs. atypical discourse segment, and use of review sessions with participants, to gain further insight. Reporting issues include: acceptability of research results, and participant privacy. The author calls for development of guidelines for use of video recordings in ethnographic research on language use. Contains 30 references. (MSE)