Documentary News Letter (1944-1945)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER ARMY EXPERIMENTS IN FILM PRESENTATION how memorable is knowledge imparted through the medium of the screen? The educational value of the documentary film depends largely on the answer to this question. During the war the Army has carried out experiments which, if they do not give a comprehensive answer, at least throw some interesting sidelights on the subject. Learning depends on three main factors, Motivation, Understanding and Retention. A man goes to a cocktail party where he is introduced to several people, including an attractive girl and the director of a firm in which he hopes for employment. On leaving the party he remembers the names of these two and has forgotten all the remainder. That is learning due to motivation. All evidence shows that the film can be completely successful as an agent for motivation. Films such as The New Lot, The Way Ahead, etc., reconcile the recruit to anomalies of Army life and increase his training receptivity. A class which has seen the film Next of Kin will show a better learning curve in a lecture on security than one which has not. Motivation films, however, only open the way to learning, they attempt not to inculcate knowledge but to produce a favourable attitude of mind. They can achieve their full effect by a normal showing in the way of an entertainment film. The film which is concerned with Understanding and Retention of knowledge, however, demands a drastic difference in treatment. These films called for convenience factual films, have two main factors which limit their success. The first is retroactive inhibition. Even with an attentive audience, in a 30-minute film of concentrated fact, indigestion occurs after the first 10 minutes ; the matter absorbed in the last 15 minutes drives out the facts assimilated earlier. The second factor is the lack of class activity. Investigation shows that an average class of students attending an instructional film in a day of high mental and physical activity record the following reaction — "Thank God, now I can relax. Enjoyable or not, this film will at least give us time to sit back and rest, safe from the instructor's probe." The association of the atmosphere of the film with entertainment is hard to break. It is fair to say that on a plain factual subject no efforts of the director or camera-man will counterbalance forty minutes of unbroken warmth and darkness in the middle of an active day's instruction. The technique in use in the Army was to show a factual film through, to discuss it and then to show it through a second time. This entailed a certain amount of class activity, but in many cases the amount of knowledge retained was still low. Many different techniques were tested, the one described below emerging as the most successful for general application. (1) The film was previewed and carefully studied by the instructor, who broke it up into convenient sequences of not less than two to three minutes showing time and not more than ten. (2) Before showing, the object of the whole period was explained to the class. (3) A set of two or three questions on the first sequence was dictated to the class, and they were warned that they would be expected to supply the answers. by J. D. Forman (4) The first sequence was shown in the normal way and at the end the instructor stimulated a discussion amongst the class on the answers to the questions, being careful not to lay down any opinion or solution of his own. (5) The first sequence was shown a second time with the instructor answering each question as it was on the screen. A microphone linked with the speaker was used, the operator fading out the sound track when necessary. (6) The instructor gave a short summary of the sequence either orally or visually on a blackboard. (7) Subsequent sequences were treated in the same manner. (8) Three days later a quiz on the whole film was set for the class. This technique has many advantages. At the film shows, the student is mentally on tip-toe, the first time to find the answers to the questions, the second time to hear if his answer was correct. There is complete class-participation and classactivity. Instead of the impersonal commentator giving the period (for whom the student does not give a damn) it is done by his own instructor (for whose good opinion he gives a great deal). Retroactive inhibition is avoided, each phase is thoroughly digested. Each lesson is driven home by the instructor as it is actually on the screen. Finally, the considered summary of the instructor drives home with overbearing conviction after the usually inadequate student discussion. It has disadvantages too. Only fifteen minutes of running time can be shown in a forty-five minute period. The instructor must be good, and he must devote a great deal of time to preliminary study. The subject of the film must be sufficiently important and the film itself must be of sufficient value to merit such an intensive study. Assuming, however, that it is important for the matter of the film to be thoroughly assimilated, there is no doubt that this new technique succeeds where the old one failed, as can be seen from the results of the following test. A film of concentrated fact dealing with the organisation and duties of a military formation, which ran for twenty-five minutes, was selected as the subject. Two samples of forty students of the same age, training, experience and ability were shown the film. Class A saw it the old way — once through; discuss; once through again. The same instructor presented the film to class B, using the new technique. In this case the discussion between the showings in the old method had to be so exhaustive that the respective experiments both covered two periods of fortyfive minutes. Three days later an examination paper on the film was set to both classes. Class A scored an average percentage of 28.6 marks. class B scored 78.3 marks. The treatment of highly technical films may have to be even more intensive. In some cases (e.g., the action of the 4-stroke engine) it may be wise to run a film loop in constant repetition until the class, by concentrating on one feature at a time, has mastered the several and distinct processes at work. Other experiments have aimed to lift the film down from its pedestal of self-sufficiency and to bring it to the aid of the instructor wherever it can usefullv serve him. Thus short Film Flashes form an integral part of many lectures. They can be used to motivate, to explain or demonstrate. In an introductory lecture on Artillery the period is started by a three-minute sequence of the barrage before Alamein from the film Desert Victory, ending on the line — "The Infantry reached their objective, the barrage hac done its work." The lights go up, the lecturer picks up his cue "The barrage had done its work. — Gentlemen, the Royal Artillery is the Infantryman's greatest friend. . . ." The class are in the right frame of mind. Again, in a lecture on Tank-Infantry Co-operation, the lecturer explains the somewhat confusing terms Hull-down and Turret-down by showing the diagrammatic and live sequence from the film The Single Track. The film is used, in fact, as an animated visual and aural aid. Enough has been said to demonstrate the Army's approach to the subject. Unfortunate!} the experiments were carried out only at the presentation end. Similar experiments in civilian educational films embracing both production and presentation have great possibilities. Fortunately there is no place in educational films for the whims of the professional critic. The film sets out to do a job. Its success can be gauged b> the statistician and the psychologist in hard figures. URGENTLY NEEDED: "D.N.L." copies of No. 5, Vol. 4, and Nos. 3, 4 and 5, Vol. 5. We shall be glad if subscribers who have the above copies will sell them back to us (at 2/ per copy) as we need them to complete sets for binding. SIGHT and SOUND A cultural Quarterly MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN appraising educational and entertainment values Published bv : The British Film Institute, 4 Great Russell Street, London, W.C.I. :