Think/Point/Shoot: Media Ethics, Technology and Global Change

Think/Point/Shoot gives students a thorough overview of the role of ethics in modern media creation. Case studies emphasize the critical issues in global media ethics today in all stages of media creation from preproduction research and development, to production and post production. This volume features practicing filmmakers, journalists, and media creators who provide insight into dealing with real-world ethical dilemmas. For this era, digital imagery, sounds, and web communication have opened doors to sharing thoughts and ideas instantaneously to potentially vast audiences. This presents exciting opportunities, but also serious ethical, legal, and social challenges. The cases and exercises found in this book are applicable to the current media field while still remaining grounded in strong ethical theory. Think/Point/Shoot explains the challenge of communicating a story to a worldwide audience while maintaining ethical standards. A companion website provides additional resources for students and instructors: media ethics game chapter summaries and case studies important forms Instructors will also find: classroom exercises PowerPoints video from the "Global Media Ethics" Conference from March 2013 Preface. Section I: Think 1. Target Audience: Selecting a Concept and Style 2. Funding and Agendas 3. Framing 4. Wide Shot vs. Close Up 5. F-Stop: Power Differentials 6. Identities: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Class Privilege Section II: Point 7. To Zoom or not to Zoom? 8. Rack Focus 9. Hidden Camera Section III: Shoot 10. The Ethical Cinematographer 11. Sound Recording and Ethics Section IV: Thoughts on Post Production Ethics 12. The Muscular Editor 13. Distribution Ethics 14. Copyright and the Right to Copy. Conclusion Documentaries have ethical, moral, and social implications. What we shoot, how we shoot it, can lead to painful or dangerous consequences. As makers, we focus on our aims and are apt to miss what is unseen or unimagined, especially when working under pressure. But audiences and participants see our work from a multiplicity of perspectives, and quickly spot our lapses. Think/Point/Shoot is the collective experience of filmmaking, journalism, and academic professionals. It offers a lifetime of hard-won knowledge. So, if you work in actuality filmmaking, or want to, make use of the book and prepare for the pitfalls and creative possibilities of the media currently in use. Michael Rabiger, author of Directing the Documentary "... manages to prov