Abstract
The current research is an effort in the field of providing the ideal model for making documentary films in the field of water consumption. In the past few decades, IRIB has produced many documentaries about the water crisis in the direction of cultural development; Understanding how the crisis is addressed and the culture of water consumption in these documentaries is essential in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, to achieve this goal, in-depth interview methods and qualitative content analysis have been used, which are actually types of qualitative research methods in social sciences and communication. Examining the opinions of media and environmental experts, the optimal indicators of payment and problems in the water sector have been extracted. Finally, by comparing the extracted topics with the topics discussed in the documentary films, we have provided a suitable content model. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with 13 experts and 10 documentaries from two different periods (60s and 90s) were examined. The results of this research showed that to successfully address the water consumption crisis in documentary films, a three-stage model must be followed, which is: the first stage; awareness-raising, preventive, predictive; the second stage; educational and confrontational, engaging thoughts; and the third stage; mobilizing, revealing, speed, and urgency.