Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1921)

March, 1921 MOVING PICTURE AGE 17 How Our Company Uses Motion Pictures Practically every industrial concern can make advantageous use of moving pictures similar to that described in this article By Harlow P. Roberts, Advertising Manager, Emerson-Brantingham Implement Co., Rockford, III. IN our work at Emerson-Brantingham Company, we use moving pictxires for two separate and distinct purposes — for sales promotion and for educational work among our employees. These it seems to me are two big fields in which almost any factory can use films. In our case the sales promotionaluse of films was taken up several years ago. Our first films took up the various steps in the manufacture and assembly of our equipment. They consisted of views taken in our shop. Our idea was to impress the viewer with the quality of workmanship and material going into the tractors and gain a confidence in our institution. This, I might say, was the "style" of industrial pictures during that period and served a very good purpose. At that time the public was just beginning to get interested in industrial or factory scenes. How a big factory worked, the complicated machines, and the accurate results obtained were revelations to the uninitiated. These films were very satisfactory and we still use them some. Our next films took up the way the tractor can be used. This was done by taking pictures of a tractor actually at work and was a convincing argument against skepticism or doubt as to the salesman's arguments. Of course the ideal way is to take Williams over to see the tractor at work on the Jones farm, but when he gets there the tractor is doing only one thing — perhaps hauling. Williams wants to see the tractor plowing, but Jones has no plowing to do or it may be in the winter time when the tractor is in the shed and not at work. Thus what might seem to be the ideal situation is in reality complex and may not fit at all. With a film, however, the salesman can show pictures of plowing and other field activities as well as the miscellaneous odd jobs such as hauling, threshing, corn shelling, hedge or post pulling which the tractor may be called upon to do at any time, but, of course, is not engaged in when a prospective customer wants to see it perform. This type of films, I believe, is our best real selling help as it shows the prospective purchaser just what the machine can do. We have two reels showing the tractor in action and are constantly adding to them. Much of this work I take myself as we have a Universal motion picture camera. Whenever I hear that one of our tractors is engaged in some special work somewhere in our neighborhood, I drive out in an automobile with the camera These three illustrations from the three reels on "The Operation, Care and Repair of the Tractor" show a tractor user or prospective user: the animated cross section which explains how the gas engine and carburetor works, how to tighten the crankshaft bearings, and how to grind a valve and "shoot" 50 to 100 feet or so of film. If I had to send to Madison for the man who does most of our work to Chicago for a photographer, the job would probably be finished before he arrived. These jobs are not staged but taken as they come up and often we do not know about them until after the job is well under way. I think that our having this camera is a big advantage to us and would most heartily recommend the practice to other concerns desirous of getting the occasional novel "shot" of their equipment or who want work under actual conditions. If a man is fairly expert in snapshot work he can soon learn to operate a moving picture camera under good outdoor conditions. You will notice, however, that I have not advocated that we take all of our film pictures, and we do not. We take only the outdoor specials, just the same as we would take snapshots instead of going to the photographer. We just made three reels on "The Operation, Care and Repair of the Tractor." The first is an animated cross section of a gas engine and carburetor. The air and gasoline are represented by white dashes and dots which move through the carburetor, valves, and into the cylinder, are exploded and driven out through the exhaust. This diagrammatic explanation of how the gas engine operates is much appreciated by tractor or even automobile users who have never realized its simplicity because it appeared complex when all the operations are hidden. The second reel emphasizes points about the care of the tractor, such as oiling the out-of-way places, changing the oil, checking up details before starting, and other things which have an important bearing on the life and successful operation of the tractor. The third reel deals with simple repairs to the tractor. Some parts in a tractor seem difficult of access unless one knows how to get at them. This film "shows how to take off the cylinder head, how to grind the valves, how to tighten crank shaft bearings, and other repair operation which every tractor user should know how to do himself. Incidentally, this is of interest to men who do not yet have tractors because many of the ideas may be applied to the care and repair of their automobiles. We expect big results from this film. The tractor idea and incidentally the Emerson-Brantingham tractor, are suggested while the viewer is being entertained instructively. No great