Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

80 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER for distribution ; for the CFL has special facilities for distributing large numbers of copies of any one film (it is well to remember that they hold the largest collection of general medical films in Great Britain, for the Mol, MoH, British Council and ICI films are there). So much for distribution. No\ we nome to planning. First, a survey of the film available must be made; this is being done at thi SM as has already been mentioned. Next, thev must be reviewed and their teaching value assessed ; this task is already being undertaken by the SFA. After that, an attempt must be made to discover what subjects teachers most desire to be covered by films; this has been done by the Medical Committee of the Scientific Film Association, whose report has been published. Lastly, a system must be brought into being to ensure that, wherever possible, no two units are making a film of the same subject without being aware of each other's activities; this problem also is being tackled by the Medical Committee of the SFA who invite units contemplating making films to notify them well in advance; when two units are found to be overlapping on the same subject they are, if they agree to it, notified of each other's activities and so enabled to co-ordinate their production scheme to the benefit of both. That, very briefly, is the history of the medical teaching film in Great Britain. I have shown that it is only in the last few years that film has received more than our passing attention and accordingly the number of good films at present available for teaching is small. I have shown that, nevertheless, the demand is increasing from within the profession rather than from outside pressure, and that, indeed, outside production sources are so sporadic and uncertain that our profession is spontaneously setting up small production units of its own. It now remains to see how this experience compares with that in other branches of teaching and learning. It can be said immediately that our experience is not unique. Film as a method of teaching is in demand in all walks of life. It seems certain that the use of the film for teaching soldiers, fireguards, dockers and aeroplane builders in the war years has shown both teacher and pupil that here is a powerful technique. But it is equally certain that, whether the war experience has intensified this experience or not, it has certainly not caused it ; the demand from the public before the war years was steadily rising ; any factual film could be certain of enthusiastic reception from a rapidly increasing audience, and this demand is real and spontaneous to the extent that in spite of reaction from possibly a majority of teachers, the use of film in schools is now talked of as an accomplished fact, awaiting only the manufacture of sufficient projectors. There is, therefore, a wide field opening before us. In medicine the only subject on which there is already a usable selection of films is anaesthesia, so we start with a virtually clean slate. We should make sure that in our enthusiasm we do not respond with a flood of worthless films, many duplicating each other. The demand is great, the resources small ; we must use them to best advantage, We, should avoid dictation ; we should avoid the superplanners stifling our enthusiasm and initiative ; we should above all ensure that unpopular or unproven techniques can still be published in film form, we must in fact, maintain the 'freedom of the cinema'. But we should also be intelligent in our desire to maintain freedom; we must co-operate. We should pool resources, technical and financial, and we should make our results, the films, available to all who need them, regardless of whether they are a rich school or a poor one. We need a block government grant, administered by the teachers, to which is added the financial resources of smaller groups and from which any group may draw funds to finance a film programme which a majority agree is needed. It seems reasonable to do this on a regional basis ; for a given university to draw up a film programme covering a broad subject area — say, elementary midwifery or medical (as opposed to surgical) disorders of infancy; another university would draw up a complementary programme, e.g. advanced midwifery or surgical disorders of infancy : the two universities would criticize each other's, programmes, eliminate overlap, add sections that the other requires, and then these integrated programmes would be submitted for the approval of the financing body. They would be integrated on a broader basis, into obstetrics and gynaecology or paediatrics, and then the money allocated and production undertaken regionally by the University Film Unit for simple films or by a professional unit for the more complex films. Such a scheme would prevent much overlap, duplication and worthless production; but it need not hold up production; for it is immediately obvious that films on some subjects are imperative, and for these the finance body could alloate a grant immediately. Halas & Batchelor MEMBERS OF FEDERATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILM UNITS CARTOONS DIAGRAMS MODELS 1945 1946 HANDLING SHIPS TOMMY'S DOUBLE TROUBLE THE BIG TOP OLD WIVES' TALES TRAIN TROUBLE RADIO RUCTIONS BRITAIN MUST EXPORT EXPORT OR DIE EXPORT, EXPORT, EXPORT KEYS OF HEAVEN MODERN GUIDE TO HEALTH 10a SOHO SQUARE W.l GER 7681-2 THEATRE (continued from page 73) mentioning music I am reminded that Lucrece, the play from which this article started, gave the basic text for his most recent opera to Benjamin Britten, the composer in Coal/ace and Night Mail. The attempt to bring a wider world on the stage is the clue, I think, to the influence of documentary in the theatre. Just as the important effect of documentary on the feature film is seen best in films like Millions Like Us, The Overlanders and The Way Ahead, which bring new matter to the argument, new breadth to the camera's vision, new stories to the screen, so I suspect we shall see documentary's influence in the theatre in more subtle ways than the extension of the 'Living Newspaper' technique. My own guess for what it is worth is that the future is not with the 'Living Newspaper'; its weakness is implied in its name, it takes too general a pur\iew to be long-lived. Films and plays are long-term media : the short-term and the topical are best left to the radio, except in circumstances that may, of course, recur, like those in which the ABCA play-unit flourished. This unit has indeed been recently touring Reunion Theatre's generalized 'Living Newspaper." Exercise Bowler in Germany; and an ambitious company of players and dancers from the North, Theatre Workshop, has had some success with a dancemime and documentary plaj I 'ranium 235. Thus there is evidence against mj guess, but 1 stick to it. I believe the influence of documentary in the theatre and elsewhere is to turn the attention of writers to new stories and sharper ways of telling them, 'with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modest) oi nature".