Page - 33 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

Documentary Media and Religious Communities | 33www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 31–35 Each space raises specific questions. For the space of production we might ask: Who are the producers? What kind of representational strategies are deployed and why? for the space of media communication, we might ask: for which audience is the source intended? Which communicative goal do the media pursue? There are several spaces of media communication when a single source of representation received by many different spectators in a plurality of contexts. One noteworthy situation in which this is not the case is with pictures or films shot with mobile phones. The pro- ducer and the receiver overlap when the material is kept private in the “ego space of communication”.2 Then the whole process of media transmission is considered in the space of the distribution network and the institutional framework for circulation. such networks are examined by asking where and by whom the media sources are distributed. And finally, stylistic and narrative questions interrogate the representa- tion: from which perspective is the story told? What kind of stylistic means are used? How is the sound? How are gender differences depicted? Neither the questions nor the situations are predetermined by this model with its four spaces; they can be ad- justed and extended. But something that touches every space is that in each space people are involved as active agents. as soon as media sources are produced, distributed, circulated and received, they become into a phenomenon under constant construction. The active agents include the media sources, which participate in diverse meaning-making com- munication processes. And the different spaces overlap: production and circulation often take place within the same institutional framework; producers may also take part in the reception process; the audience may influence production and circulation processes. But the differentiation of these spaces on a systematic level makes it pos- sible to compare the individual sources with one another and to identify the commu- nication and construction strategies employed with regard to religion. Nevertheless, the focus on communication spaces of religions raises the need for further diversifica- tion. as soon as we consider a concrete example in the realm of religion, the discus- sion becomes even more complex. Specific cultural settings, sources and, therefore, methodological approaches need to be taken into account because of the variety of institutions and agents involved. To address some of the issues raised by case studies, i will use the example of the commercial series entitled I’m a Mormon. The series has been distributed – and produced – by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints (lDs) since 2010. initially, these 174 single commercials were part of a bigger image campaign in which the church was relaunched in the media with a new and refreshed appearance. The distribution of this campaign has been focused on the internet in particular3. 2 Odin 2014, 21. 3 Goodstein 2011, haws 2013.