ABSTRACT

Traditionally, the objective of documentary filmmaking is to look and to teach—to add perspective on, by way of building knowledge about, issues of public concern. Cinema and media studies scholarship on that enterprise typically focuses on its audio-visual content, what is seen and heard on screen. Much less scholarship is concerned with what is not, or cannot usually, be said and seen in the cinematic space of the documentary screen, such as the process of making documentary films and videos. In contrast to the former tradition of scholarship, this article focuses on the decision-making process involved in the practice of making documentary films. Drawing on interviews with professional documentary filmmakers in Israel conducted over a 10-year period, the article identifies 8 major decision-making issues common to documentary filmmaking. We contend that reflection on those 8 image-making decisions, as demonstrated by media professionals reflecting on them, is a core ethical process.

摘要

传统上，纪录片制作的目的是进行观察和教学，以便通过积累有关公众关注的问题的方式来增加观点。该企业的电影和媒体研究奖学金通常集中于其视听内容，即在屏幕上看到和听到的内容。很少有学者关注在纪录片屏幕的电影空间中什么不是或通常说不出的东西，例如制作纪录片和录像的过程。与以前的学术传统形成鲜明对比的是，本文重点介绍了制作纪录片的实践中涉及的决策过程。通过对以色列十年制的专业纪录片制片人的采访，本文确定了纪录片制片中共有的8个主要决策问题。