Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1921)

IS MOVING PICTURE AGE February, 1921 The Place of Motion Pictures in Education (Continued from page 12) has been so meagre that producers have not found it worthwhile to give much thought to it. When a sufficient number of educators throughout the country have a vision as to the possibilities of the film to supplement and vitalize classroom instruction and influence Boards of Education to appropriate money for the rental and purchase of films the same as text books and other school equipment are supplied, then there will be another angle to the situation and producers will sit up and take notice. It is not beyond the realm of possibility for Boards of Education to take a hand in production. 5. In supplying films for educational use will there be a tendency to make them too pedantic? Very few films, so far, have been produced primarily for school use. There is a cry far and near for this type of film. Are we sure we know just what we want, and in supplying this need will there be a tendency to include in the titles and pictures all of the points involved in teaching the subject illustrated by the film, or do we want the type where the pictures and titles flow along in a perfectly human way? How Far Can Films Be Used? It is assumed that the film is only one of many sources of information to be used in taking up a subject and that it will supplement and vitalize the text book. In my judgment, the use to which a film may be put depends more upon the vision of the teacher than the character of the film itself. For some time I have made a practice of reviewing all films and assembling their titles in what I call a "digest" and sending this digest to the schools two or three days before the films are shown. In addition to the titles the digest gives the length of the film, approximate time of showing, what subject or subjects it links up to and six or more suggestive questions. I realize that each film will appeal differently to each teacher viewing it, and that some teachers in their classroom reaction on the film will frame up a set of questions much better than those contained in the digest. The principal of the school keeps on file in his office the digest and supplies his teachers with as many copies as they need. I have watched with a great deal of interest the development of teachers in charge of auditoriums in our alternating schools. In these schools comparatively few teachers outside of those having charge of the auditoriums see the films. So it rests upon the auditorium teacher to create the most favorable atmosphere for the film showing. Some teachers equally successful in apparent results do it one way and some another, and some are more successful than others who work along the same lines. I have always been skeptical of a text book that set apart so many lessons for this chapter and so many for that and one that gave too much detail to the steps to be followed by the teacher. This type of text book may be necessary for some teachers but certainly not for the great majority. The skilled teacher organizes her subject matter and is by no means confined to one source of information or one text book and presents this matter in such a way that nothing is told a pupil that he can find out for himself with reasonable effort. Now the film if rightly used will constitute but one source of information. The subject matter of the film must be assimilated by a proper class room reaction. This will require thinking, both on the part of the teacher and pupil. After seeing the film the pupil will be able to read into the text something he had not before. The best films for educational work will be those that stimulate the greatest amount of thinking. The educational film must be good in photography as applied to both pictures and titles. The titles should be the guide posts of the film, turning the traveler here and there to the road that leads to the destination. Along with the film there should be available for the teacher a digest or pamphlet containing the tiltles, the teaching aims, and suggestions how best these aims may be realized. Opinions will differ as to what constitutes a good film for instruction. Those who are at work in trying to supply the schools with films that link up to the subject matter of the curriculum are entitled to the support and co-operation of educators whether we agree with them in all points or not. 6. In short, will the film prove to be a panacea for many of our educational ills? There are many extravagant claims made as to what will be accomplished through the use of the film in education. First of all we must master our tools. We have the problem of training our teachers how to use the films in their classrooms. I want to emphasize this point. This training can't be done in a day. It requires vision, experience, and growth on the part of the teacher. There are those who claim the film will reduce retardation to a minimum in our schools. Others claim its use will shorten the course for elementary and secondary schools at least two years. I appreciate the fact that it requires optimism and enthusiasm to carry out any plan, and particularly this plan of harnessing the film for educational use, but let us not allow our enthusiasm and optimism to warp our judgment, so that our expectations reach beyond the bounds of reason. Let us keep in mind that the film, if used aright, will become an efficient aid in the school, that it will bring to our pupils the atmosphere of distant people through picturing their habits and customs and that it is already a powerful medium for propaganda work in health and Americanization. It gives a touch of reality to many of our great industrial processes and shows the wonders and beauties of nature in animal and plant life. The Film Trailer and What It Will Do (Continued from page 11) Now, every dealer knows the value to his business of direct advertising, wherever possible. The average dealer spends a good deal of money right along in keeping the business he has, and reaching for more. His business requires that he be known, and favorably known, to as many "ultimate consumers" as he possibly can reach, and also that the supplies he deals in be widely and favorably known. That's that. On the other side of the equation, the motion picture theatre in Mr. Dealer's immediate community is filled several times a day with the representative families and heads of families in that community, and among them are a splendidly high percentage of just the people Mr. Dealer most wants to be known to, and patronized by. They are in the theatre because they want to be there, they have paid to be there, and they are in the sort of mood expert salesmen hope for when they take prospects out to expensive eat-fests. They are wideeyed and open-minded to welcome every subject offered them in attractive form, and their mood might well be called absorbent. Right with the feature photoplays along comes the dealer's trailer, with its real idea and its pleasant taste, and when the audience as a whole (composed of just so many individual "ultimate consumers") is thoroughly tickled with enjoyment of the comedy, and interest is thoroughly aroused at the climax of the action — Bingo ! the name and address of the very one who specializes in what was all the time being so subtly, and so irrevocably, injected into the receptivity of little Willie Au