Business screen magazine (1938)

The Objective of the Petroleum Industry in its exhibit at the New York World's Fair is to point out to the great masses of visitors that the Industry has done a good job. The purpose is typical. It is the objective of every big industry today to tell the story of the good work it has done, not only at World's Fairs, but year in and year out; and how to tell this story is a major problem of every big business executive today. The story of oil — or of steel, or lumber, or coal, or railroads — is epic. Each is as exciting, as colorful, as dramatic as an Arabian Night's Tale. But the story of accomplishment that industry wishes to tell is also a story of service and public relations; and here we get into a maze of statistics and complex literary ideas. To tell these requires words and facts and figures which the public will not read. This problem leads inevitably to the motion picture as a medium, either alone or in combination with other dramatic techniques. Such a form gives, first of all, the spoken word, but most important, it is completely fluid — it provides literally unlimited scope for the imagination — dull facts can lie clothed in exciting and amusing form. The need for such a versatile form was immediately recognized in the case of the Petroleum Exhibit; and since the telling of the story of service is the major objective of the exhibit, this dramatic performance was given the position of major importance. An entirely new dramatic form based upon the motion picture was developed for the purpose, more flexible and dramatic than any form ever before conceived, the character of which cannot, of course, be revealed at this time. The case of Petroleum is cited merely as typical. Since the objective of the industry and the problems of the service story are identical with those of other industries, the prediction is made that other designers directing other exhibits will also make important use of dramatic form and that the World's Fair may disclose nearly as many new and imaginative variants of the motion picture as there are important industrial exhibits. One thing is certain — that the pictures to be shown at the World Fairs will open new horizons for the motion picture for entertainment, educational, or commercial purposes. Exhibit technique will be greatly enriched by the application of this dramatic form, but the importance of the new revelations will far transcend their immediate value as Fair exhibits. A new fornuila will be disclosed for advertising and selling, for education, and for public relations purposes that merits the attention of all agencies interested in these activities. As new powers of the mo tion picture are disclosed, new uses will be realized. I think that the motion picture will be taken as a matter of course in selling in the future. No one will think of planning an office without a projection screen in comforl able view of the executive's desk. The office >hown on these pages represents the exhibit I am arranging for the San Francisco Fair's own exhibit. Its plan emphasizes the importance of the motion picture in the business world. Business executives may be skeptical of these forecasts of the importance of the motion picture. When "commercial pictures" are mentioned, they throw up their hands in dismay. "What! you mean one of those things like that salesman's picture we made? I fell sound asleep at that. Who vi'ants to see a lot of pictures of how our pipe is made?"; or "Ah, you mean one of those little boxes with those films that repeat? Yes I saw one at the auto show. It showed an automobile skidding, or something. No, I don't think we want that for our exhibit." As it began in the classroom, the motion picture was at first intended to be merely a statistical record of a physical event in motion. This beginning, in which emotional values had no play, seems to have established the idea that the educational picture couldn't be different — and thus the development of a medium of unlimited dramatic potentials was stultified from the beginning. To gain a glimpse of the potentials of the motion picture at this time — before the Fair pictures are disclosed — we must forget all "commercial" or "educational" pictures that we have ever seen. The only thing that can give a suggestion of the latent dramatic values is a "documentary" film such as Pare Lorentz's "The River" which sends shivers down your spine without the use of a single professional actor. Compare this to the usual "educational " film. For a suggestion of imaginative possibilities — but just the barest suggestion — we can point only to one or two Russian and Hungarian films. Yes, that the business man does not show interest when we mention motion pictures is no mystery. The mystery is that they have remained undiscovered as an educational and advertising medium for so long after they were developed to a highly finished form as entertainment. But the prediction is that they are on the threshold of discovery as a new medium. * Gilbert Rohde is designing tlie Petroleum Industry Exhibit at the New York World's Fair, the focal exhibit for the Fair's own Shelter Building, and several others at the New York Fair, as well as an invitation exhibit for the San Francisco Fair.