International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

SOUND AND TALKING FILM I* to class courses, the mentality and psychology of the children, the subjects taught, the method of presenting and commenting on the films, and especially in relation to other visual aids, which were not taken into consideration, such as maps of the world, models, wall pictures, lantern slides, stereoscopic views, visits to places and so on. In order that we may have an exact conception of this subject, therefore, these comparisons should be made with a hundred per cent exactitude and parallel. It is only in this way that a real definition can be reached. These are problems that the Congress is once more asked to solve. But they must first be examined with the greatest care if the Congress is to be in position to fix the future of didactic methodology in regard to visual auxiliaries. It can do this only if its conclusions are deduced from facts, not from simple verbal assertions which have no real value. PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL TALKING PICTURES From the report of Mr. N. L. ENGELHARDT, teacher of Education at the Teachers College Columbia University. In a report on the subjects to be treated at the forthcoming Congress Professor N. L. Engelhardt, points out that the continuous development of supplementary instructional aids in oral and written teaching have made it necessary to enrich the didactic material possessed by the American schools. Auxiliary visual materials include stereoscopes, stills, as well as the silent and sound film. In the elementary schools particularly, the new movement in what is called " the activity program " has tended to bring into the schoolroom as much realism as could be done under the limitations of space, time, and the accessibility and availability of the materials in question. The marked tendency has been to provide these instructional materials as supplementary to the services and scope of the work rendered by the teacher himself. The talking educational picture is in no sense considered to be a substitute for human teaching service. It endeavors to render service in the field in which the classroom teacher naturally has limitations. In other words, in this program of realism the talking picture plays a significant part in transcending the limitations of time, space, and magnitude which circumscribe the work of the immediate human teaching service. What are the principal questions that arise from the introduction of films in their various forms into school life ? First of all, there is the question of the kinds of subjects for which the film can be considered as a useful or necessary adjunct in teaching. There is also the matter of the making of these scholastic films and their presentation to the pupils, for each picture has a character and style of its own different to all others. The film then cannot be a didactic unit of a free and autonomous character. In making any film, we must look at the subject which it is proposed to represent and the way it is to be represented. We must also consider if the film can really offer the teacher a greater advantage and help than other visual aids in general use in schools. It is only in this way by means of a careful comparison that we can take the exact measure of the value of our didactic material and establish definitely what the programs of study should be and what modifications existing programs require. There is also the matter of production which must be considered from the technical and not only the mechanical side. Technical in the sense that the film must be adapted to the understanding of the various scholastic grades, to special psychological conditions of pupils and to the acoustic condition of the class-rooms. All this goes to show that the making of a educational picture, especially if it is a talking picture, and its adaptation to a curriculum are not matters which can be lightly treated, but require, on the contrary constant research and a special attention to each particular case. It is significant to note that educational talking pictures have been in the process of production, over a period of four and one-half years in the United States, under the direction of Colonel Frederick L. Devereux of Erpi Picture Consultants, Inc. Working under this leadership, a group of educators of extensive training and wide experience has made