Bernward Wember

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bernward Wember (* 1941 in Berlin-Charlottenburg ) is a German media scientist , book author and filmmaker ; He developed the definition of image-text scissors from his media analysis forms for the first time .

Life

Bernward Wember is the son of the art historian Paul Wember and his wife Tomma Wember . He studied philosophy and media education at the University of Munich . Between 1964 and 1969 he made his own documentaries and short films , including for ARD and ZDF . Until the mid-1970s he was also a research assistant at the Institute for Pedagogy II at the University of Munich.

As a media scientist, Wember dealt with the supposedly neutral documentation and methodically researched the possibilities of “pure” objectivity in documentary films . With his results, Wember refuted the myth of value-free reporting and formulated the claim that the attitude and motivation of the authors and filmmakers should be immediately recognizable and thus part of the work itself.

plant

With his analytical work on conveying information a. a. Objective documentary? In 1972 Wember caused a sensation in specialist circles when he first coined the term image-text scissors . At the same time he questioned the contradicting divergence between the image content and the spoken text as a creative tool in documentaries, news and educational films .

Wember's criticism of the image-text scissors was far more radical, in that he described its unmotivated appearance as a cinematic mistake on the part of the makers. As evidence for his analysis, he used the supposedly excellent documentary Miners in the Highlands of Bolivia 1966 by the Institute for Film and Image in Science and Education (FWU).

As a pioneering ZDF film in its own right, Bernward Wembers' film How does television inform? Understand circumstantial evidence . As part of the ZDF television series Subject: Television (1974–1984), and based on the reports on the Northern Ireland conflict, Wember examined the information published on television and found a blatant contradiction to the clarification achieved with it. His analysis of the audio-visual processing of information was broadcast for the first time on December 11, 1975, with great public response.

From 1981 onwards, Bernward Wember held the chair for “Theory of audio-visual communication ” at the Berlin University of the Arts (HdK), and since November 2001 Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), in the department of social and economic communication .

It was during this time that his most critical television film, with the laconic title: Poisoned or unemployed? 1982 for ZDF. Using the dilemma between environmental protection and economically oriented food production, already indicated in the film title, Wember described the conflict of interests between the chemical industry and organic agriculture . In his cinematic clarification, he consistently applied the communication science research results he had gained for the reception-oriented processing of information for the television viewer. In the same year he received the German Critics' Prize in the "Television" category.

Furthermore, Wember dealt with forms of communication on television before, during and after the establishment of the German dual broadcasting system . Due to the increase in documentary entertainment formats in German-speaking private television and deliberately as a follow-up model to his “picture-text scissors”, Wember developed the term “belly and head scissors”. He thus defined the dramaturgical interplay of addressing emotion and reason in the audience.

The subject of his investigation was the extent to which documentary films contain a balance between the generation of consternation and clarification about the background or context, and what consequences arise for the audio-visual processing of information, on the one hand to convey it sustainably, on the other hand for the desired Entertainment value not having to forego generating empathy or identification .

In 1989, with his film Elektro-Paralumung - A film against powerlessness , Wember worked on the conflict to what extent the human need to act is blocked by his need for security.

In addition to his scientific analyzes and consistently high demands on their practical and creative applicability, the renowned media scientist was committed to quality assurance in university teaching . Bernward Wember's professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts ended in 2000.

Late work

In March 2007 his book Grosse Steine ​​auf Rügen was published: Stone myth and megalithic culture . A treasure trove of the Stone Age . Wember's journey of discovery into human history 4,000 years ago is supplemented with the latest research results.

In May 2015, Wember presented another work on megalithic culture: "Menhirs of Brittany. The riddle of standing stones". The book shows two sides of Wember's working method: On the one hand, it shows the meticulous researcher and, on the other hand, an aesthetic of photography that succeeds in simultaneously making the essence of the object visible with the image.

Fonts

  • Objective documentary? - model of an analysis. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-7678-0323-2 .
  • How does television inform? List, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-471-79120-5 .
  • Poisoned or unemployed? A picture book on the dispute between environmental protection and economic interests, The case: ZDF - Wember - Chemie. Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8218-1707-0 .
  • Big stones on Rügen: stone myth and megalithic culture. A treasure trove of the Stone Age. Reprint-Verlag Rügen, Bergen 2007, ISBN 978-3-939915-00-3 .
  • Menhirs of Brittany. The riddle of the standing stones. Reprint-Verlag Rügen, Bergen 2015, ISBN 978-3-939915-05-8 .

Television films

  • Why then ideologically? An analysis of cinematic failures 1972, ZDF broadcast
  • How does television inform? Circumstantial evidence 1975, ZDF
  • Poisoned or unemployed? 1982, ZDF
  • Electro-paralysis - A film against powerlessness 1989

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wember, Bernward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German media scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Charlottenburg