Research Fields

In research, the Film University pursues a variety of topics, approaches and projects that can be assigned to seven major research fields:

We explore the content and compositional styles of audiovisual works (e.g. topics, narratives, image and sound design) and gain an in-depth understanding of cinematic meanings and effects through exploration, theory, and analysis.

Select projects from this field:

• Cinepoetics
• Die Verarbeitung der Arbeit im Film 

• Cinematic Discourses of Deprivation

We research how audiovisual works are perceived, experienced, processed and used, what thoughts, feelings, and actions they evoke in their users and in what ways they achieve this. The study of different media practices of reception, use and appropriation also forms a basis for understanding social relations and processes.

Select projects from this field:

• Norms of Visual Self-Representation in Adolescent Identity Construction
• The Cinematic Face of Cities
• Pedagogical Relationships in Digitally Supported Educational Processes 

We examine the diverse social roles of moving images to understand their influence and promote their reflective, competent use. Audiovisual and digital media intervene in culture and society by conveying emotions, education, and social interventions, they communicate knowledge and scientific findings.

Select projects from this field:

• Research Ethics in Communication and Media Studies 
• Attention Strategies of Video Activism 
• Camilla Plastic Ocean Plan

We investigate the modes of production and distribution of audiovisual media and their organizational, economic and practical underlying conditions (e.g., through practice-led research, production studies, media industry studies and festival research).

Select projects from this field:

• Film Circulation on the International Film Festival Network
• Online platforms and film circulation

We reflect on and help shape current developments in media technology and media practice. This includes new ways of audiovisual storytelling and representation that arise from technological innovations and the digital transformation in media (e.g. VR/AR, interactive films, social videos, AV apps, transmedia constellations).

Select projects from this field:

• Volumetric Testimony of Holocaust Survivors

• Virtual History

• dwerft - linked metadata for media

We safeguard and research the cultural heritage of film as an object, source and medium of knowledge and as an essential part of cultural memory that is significant for the present day. The Babelsberg Studios with their complex history provide an obligatory context for this, the press archive of the university library and the collection of the Filmmuseum Potsdam provide important resources.

Select projects from this field:

• Images with Consequences – An Archaeology of Iconic Film Footage from the Nazi Era
• Collisions - Colliding media forms as a new way to access digital heritage
• Jewish Film – What is it? An Approach Through Festival Programs and Reception Attitudes

We explore the relationship between film, gender, and diversity with an attentive and critical eye, reflecting on issues of gender and other categories of cinematic representation and production, analyzing the power of collective images, and thereby supporting diverse views of a diverse world.

Select projects from this field:

• Gender Equity Policy (GEP) Analysis