This document discusses image ethics and realism in media production. It notes that learning media production gives the tools to clarify, intensify and interpret events for different formats, effectively teaching how to manipulate people's perceptions through major aesthetic elements. As media consumers largely trust the professional judgment and intentions of media producers, all aesthetic decisions in media production must be made within an ethical context that holds the dignity and well-being of humanity as the supreme priority.

1. Image Ethics

2. Realism: Is it true to life?

3. “Only realism can be
achieved through artifice.”
Andre Bazin

4. Starving Child and Vulture, Kevin Carter, 1993

6. 6

7. 7

10. 10

12. 12

30. [Learning media production] gives you the tools to clarify,
intensify, and interpret events for television, computer,
and film presentation. In effect, it teaches you how to
apply major aesthetic elements to manipulate people's
perceptions. Because media consumers are largely
unaware of the power of media aesthetics, they must and
do trust your professional judgment and especially your
good intentions. Irrespective of the scope of your
communication—be it a brief news story, an
advertisement, or a major dramatic production—your
overriding aim should be to help people attain a higher
degree of emotional literacy, the ability to see the world
with heightened awareness and joy. All your aesthetic
decisions must ultimately be made within an ethical
context, a moral framework that holds supreme the dignity
and well-being of humankind.
- Herbert Zettle