Documentary: System of Visual Meaning

Author: Zhong Danyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: With the steps of entering the new century, China's media industry has also entered a period of intense transformation. Terms like media groups, capital operations, industrialization, and new media have continuously entered the field of media operations and media research. Among them, Chinese television has shown both vitality and wounds. Its vitality is reflected in the continuous pursuit of innovation as television is driven by new concepts such as branding, channel specialization, business models, and media products. Its wounds are manifested in the intense competition, ratings pressure, and profit targets that force television into a state of confusion in seeking survival. This transformation provides a more multidimensional perspective for television theory research. We divide television research into three levels:
First is cutting-edge research, which focuses on China's television during the period of change. It explores new television phenomena, forms, as well as new issues and trends through theoretical discussion. This is a functional research, characterized by exploration and instability.
Second is applied theoretical research, which emphasizes the study of the characteristics, laws, and operational rules of television as a medium itself. This is an ontological research, with relative practicality and stability.
Third is fundamental theoretical research, which focuses on studying the communicative attributes and functions of television from a macro philosophical perspective. This is a scholarly research, often carrying a metaphysical connotation. For television research, breaking the boundaries between these levels and ensuring that cutting-edge research is guided by foundational theory while foundational theory gains more practicality has always been an ongoing effort in television research and teaching. This book is divided into sections such as "Introduction," "Imagery Becoming Meaning," "Characteristics of Image Language," and "Narrative in Documentaries," introducing the imagery meaning system of documentaries.