Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

AV in IRAK fey Dr. Don G. Willian Director, Syracuse University Audio-Visual Cent EDUCATIONAL motion pictures were totally unknown in Iran until just eight years ago. Today, these specialized films penetrate almost every corner of the country, and this fall Iran will dedicate a $1,500,000 audiovisual center for the continued production and utilization of educational films and other audiovisual aids. What sensitized a country almost completely unaware of audiovisual techniques to the tremendous potential of educational films is the story of eight years of cooperative effort on the part of the U. S. Federal government, Syracuse University's Film Unit and the government of Iran. This unique overseas venture in mass education through motion pictures began in 1950, when at the invitation of the State Department our Audio-Visual Center set up its first overseas film project. Under the conditions of that contract, administered through our Research Institute, we agreed to produce informational films in Iran, using villages as settings, villagers as actors and colloquial language on the sound track. The whole project was based on the conviction that films made in Iran's own back yard would succeed in communicating with audiences better than American-made films, which with all the splendor of skyscraper settings and mechanized farm locales, had done more to fascinate and confuse than to inform unsophisticated Iranian audiences. As a first step four film crews were formed, two from Syracuse University and two on subcontract to the university from the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California. Each crew consisted of a team of six — script writer, director, assistant director, cameraman, assistant cameraman and technical adviser. When the first crews left in the spring of 1951, it marked the first time that an educational institution had ever become an overseas producer of educational-informational films under U. S. government auspices. Later the university sent film crews to Turkey and Greece for similar film production work. Once launched, the scope of the project rapidly expanded, and in three years over 100 16mm motion pictures were finished. Most of the films produced were specifically tailored for use in the Point Four program, and were chiefly concerned with agriculture, health, education and sanitation. Although a film might take only 25 minutes to show, it frequently took six months to twelve months to produce. While all the shooting was done in Iran, mostly in villages on the outskirts of Tehran, processing of films was done in the States and editing and finish-up was done right on the Syracuse University campus by an audiovisual production staff of twelve. Production manager was Eliot Cooley, assisted by production supervisor Luella Snyder. The stateside staff was also responsible for servicing contracts, and shipping supplies and equipment. In order to use the Iranian locale to the best advantage in shooting, the film crews had to be mobile. They jogged from village to village in trucks equipped with two motion picture cameras, portable lighting apparatus and an electric generator. Rough roads made traveling difficult, sometimes even hazardous. There were other obstacles, too. Production was sometimes slowed down when Iranians didn't understand what the crew was doing or why they insisted that actors repeat a scene several times for a shooting. This reserve and even suspicion was not unwarranted, since many of these villagers had had absolutely no contact with a motion picture until suddenly they foimd themselves acting on one! Still another impediment to production was the language handicap. Wherever the film crew went, an interpreter had to go along to give instructions and directions to Iranian actors. As the number of film productions increased and as Iranians saw more and more films, their original reluctance not only vanished but was replaced by a whole-hearted enthusiasm for the project. Sometimes, though, this enthusiasm was almost explosive. Once during the showing of "How to Bathe a Baby" the entire audience disappeared. All the mothers had rushed home to give baby a bath just as they had seen it demonstrated in the film. Often an entire village would turn out when a U. S. government mobile imit or a technical assistance specialist arrived with films showing how to care for cattle, control flies, improve cotton production, store food and use irrigation 12 EdScreen & AV Guide — January, 19f