Summary and Outlook

Abstract

This book suggests a method for film analysis which initially emanates from the preserved film prints. The investigation of the materials, which thus constitutes the starting point, is presumably also of interest to other researchers. This focus on the material ensures not only the comprehensibility and, ideally, the quality of the empirical data; the film print itself, as source material for the investigation, should thus take its rightful important place. As I have already explained elsewhere, this is an area in which catching up is necessary. It cannot be pointed out often enough that it is essential, for the presentation of the results of research in film scholarship – and even more so for problematic questions of film history – to know precisely which material it is that is being researched. This holds true no less for DVD editions, even though one must concede that it is frequently no simple matter to find out the provenance of the original analogue material.