The Moving Picture World (1907)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

644 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. Selecting a Subject for Lectures. By Burton H. Allbee. Subjects for illustrated lectures are endless. They con- front one at every turn, but the man with wisdom enough to select the best is lonesome in this world. What may seem of vital interest to him and likely to command at- tention from almost any audience to which it might be presented will frequently fall flat Different men look at a subject from widely separated viewpoints and what interests one will not always interest another. In selecting a subject for development the lecturer should consider carefully how and where he is going to use it. If, for example, it is to be used in one of the free popular courses now so common in the large edu- cational centers, it ought to be of an educational char- acter and the illustrations should be of an extremely high quality. If the lecture is to be used on the road before varying audiences in varying communities it should be composed so as to provide numerous interested and lively climaxes, or points where the interest of both story and picture can be emphasized without seeming out of pro- portion. . The object of this'should be to increase the interest of the audience without really seeming to do so. Sometimes lectures are to be given before select audi- ences, that is to say, those interested in one particular phase of a subject of general interest. An example of this can b~e shown in the illustrated nature lectures which take . up some subject connected with birds or animals. While these nature lectures are all on one great subject, the, numerous subdivisions afford opportunity for the de- velopment of many interesting lectures which do not conflict with each other nor with the main subject. It will be found that the same, thing holds good of almost any other subject a lecturer may select. In history there are quite as many sub-divisions as there are in nature work and opportunities-for--extremely interesting and instructive lectures are unlimited. The great industrial world affords further opportuni- ties for development unequalled in their "wealth of inter- est and the instructive character of their matter. So one might go on enumerating different subjects-and their sub- divisions, but in the end no more information could be conveyed than has thus far been given. Perhaps one general principle will cover this whole matter of selecting a subject. It will be found that die subject upon which a man can-talk the best and can best hold the attention of his hearers will be one in which he is himself interested to a greater or less extent The more he is interested the better. He will be better able to develop a lecture like this and will be able to convey to his hearers something of his own knowledge of the sub- ject and will, therefore, bring to it that peculiar magnet- . ism which cannot be described, but which is felt by every audience and must be possessed by every lecturer to render him capable ol impressing upon his audiences- something of his own enthusiasm in and his own knowl- edge of the subject. . Sometimes one thinks when searching for a subject that it would- be better if the supply were not- so liberal. A scarcity would be better, one may think, for that would narrow them down to a comparative few. Where the world is full of subjects and one is more or less interested in each, or has more or less knowledge of each, the se- lection is difficult There isn't likely to be much in- tensity and the preparation may, under some conditions, be anything but satisfactory. .One'wonders sometimes when, listening, to the more. or. less! rambling talks upon different subjects if this wouldn't serve as ah explanation of the reason for the lack of interest in the lecture evinced by the audience. Of course good pictures will compen- sate in some degree, but an illustrated lecture is not a moving picture entertainment and the lecturer is sup- posed to do his part in interesting the audience. Another principle can be safely followed—select the subject which lies closest to the heart of the people to whom you are to talk. A more or less interesting and illuminating subject, dealing with something at a distance, and dealing with it in a machine way, will not be satis- factory. Something intense, something vital, something which will appeal to one's hearer will be the subject which will draw the biggest crowds and will command attention wherever it is presented. Sometimes the simple subject which can be selected about home and de- veloped from one's own personal knowledge will bring far greater satisfaction and financial returns than one which deals with something at a distance and which by no possible means can the bulk of the audiences ever know much about. Having selected a subject, for example something near home, begin to develop it along interesting and informa- tional'lines. The two forces should be invoked in every lecture. It must interest else it will not draw the crowds. It should instruct, else it misses a portion of its possi- bility. Perhaps of the two, interest is the more important With interest there must go much information. Without interest there may be information ', but it will be presented in "such a humdrum and unsatisfactory mariner that few will stay it out Therefore, emphasize interest. And this emphasis can be obtained legitimately. Sometimes it is possible for the lecturer to make long trips for the purpose of finding and developing subjects. Such a lecturer is fortunate and if lie does his work well he will be able to command large audiences and will be able to make money. Such men as Burton Holmes and Prof. Elmendorf prove this conclusively. They travel through the summer, select their subjects, developing and illustrating them according to their own ideas and they spend their winters giving them to the public. In both these instances the lecturer and the public are gainers. It would be difficult to discover anywhere better models for a lecturer to follow. But where one cannot go to distant and interesting countries he must, perforce, select somthing close at hand. Suppose he takes the work of a farmer from spring until fall. Can anything be made more interesting for an illustrated lecture? Can anything be selected which will interest dwellers in cities more favorably than this? Everyone consumes more or less of the products of the farm. Many thousands in the cities have grown up on the farms and will appreciate any lecture which will effectually describe and illustrate them. The things we have seen look best to us when they are thrown on the screen. In addition there will be great interest shown by those" who have never seen the different things growing, nor have they ever seen the operations required to pro-. duce them. If the lecturer can impress his hearers that j he is showing them what happens to their food product before they reach the consumers' table, he will arouse an, interest which could be obtained in no other way and the | fact that these articles are grown as shown in the illus- trations will bring about an interest not otherwise possi- ble and the audience will listen enraptured almost as the life story of this or that food product is described and illustrated. This hint might be worked out this year. So far as the writer know it has never been done. I" fact, the writer himself has begun such a lecture, but time and opportunity have never served to permit its finish. This is only one of those simple, home.subjects which