A Screen New Deal and Ökologische Mindeststandards: A Discourse Analysis of Environmental Sustainability in the British and German Film Industry

Abstract

Focusing on one best practice guide document from both the United Kingdom and Germany as case studies ("A Screen New Deal" and "Ökologische Mindeststandards"), the thesis investigates how the British and German film industries conceptualise environmental sustainability issues in film production; what they identify as problem areas, what they suggest doing about them, and whether there are any recurring elements in these texts. The thesis merges environmental sustainability studies with film production theory and practices, while uses discourse analysis as a method to examine the language of the two selected texts in terms of word choice, structuring, intended audience, and persuasion. The two case studies show that when discussing environmental sustainability, the primary concern is climate change. The problem areas in the two documents are very similar, since most film productions have similar needs, but what differs is the amount of details given and the way the information is organised. In terms of the language of the texts, the British document uses both technical details and emotionally charged language to convince the reader about the importance of sustainability, while the German case study is tonally neutral and limited to information and recommendations. The findings also suggest that there is a significant difference between how Germany and the United Kingdom perceive their film industries’ stage of development when it comes to environmental sustainability.