Review: Edmund Ballhaus (Ed.) (2001). Kulturwissenschaft, Film und Öffentlichkeit [Cultural Science, Film, and Public]

Abstract

In 18 separate contributions, arranged into four thematic blocks, this book outlines central practical and theoretical issues about scientific film and filmmaking. The scope and diversity of the issue is highlighted by employing a variety of perspectives on the subject. In a range of theoretical evaluations and examples of the filmmaking process, the practical, stylistic and aesthetic conventions of scientific filmmaking are scrutinised. With this evaluation, the authors critically interrogate and question scientific film's dual aspiration of being an entertaining and scientific media at the same time. Ranging from the personal account of filmmakers and their experience of co-operating with broadcasters to the analysis of different aspects and developing standards of scientific film, different types of readers are addressed. While integrating external discourses about authenticity and the possibility of visualising societal issues in a world that is more and more dominated by media content, the individual contributions are aimed at TV journalists, filmmakers and researchers or students in the area of cultural discourse. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs030232