Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

30 REEL and SLIDE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE SCREEN ADVERTISERS* ASSOCIATION OF THE WORLD OFFICERS JOE BRANDT President New York R. R. Hollister 1st Vice-President Dayton, Ohio Tirey L. Ford 2nd Vice-President W. F. Herzberg Secretary and Treasurer BY HARRY LEVEY (Manager Industrial Dept., Universal Film Mfg. Co.) Modern industry is dramatic. Its dramatic elements are its magnitudes, its mighty battles against material obstacles, and its conquest over convention, tradition and prejudice — the great sloth gods. Hem and Haw — who say "It can't be done." Its achievements lead to splendid and triumphant climaxes, while the onward march of progress gives an essentially dramatic sweep to its story. From these factors the industrial producer who has an inner vision draws his inspiration. As visualized by him on the screen a great plant and a great machine have all the "punch'' of a highkeyed drama. Now "punch" is but the sharpest possible expression of dramatic quality. It is the end and aim of every printed advertisement, and since pictures are but the short cuts to mental expressions, printed advertisements are illustrated and punch illustrations have been highly developed. Whether or not the punch in an advertisement represents the truth about a commodity depends, of course, on the honesty of the advertiser. At all events it represents what the advertiser wishes the consumer to believe about his product. For this reason it is better to say that the punch is intended to carry conviction rather than to convey the truth. No slur upon advertisers is intended here. For the purpose of clarity we adopt the better word to express the object of every character of advertising. While the printed illustration has a wide and more general appeal than the printed word, since it is universal language, it is obvious that it cannot carry absolute conviction to the mind of everyone that sees it. Like' the printed word it cannot command concentrated interest unless the beholder's mind is almost immediately receptive. It is motionless, still, dead. It lacks life and movement, the most attractive of visual qualities. It is on a tiny scale. It can present but one phase of anything. It is not, cannot be, fully efficient. * * * Yet, strangely enough, while lacking in efficiency itself, printed salesmanship attempts to teach the consumer that efficiency of production means the maximum of value to the purchaser; to preach efficiency in an inefficient way. Obviously there is something lacking in a method of publicity that is less efficient than the efficiency it attempts to portray. Modern industry admits no permanent limitations. It not only seeks but finds — "a way out." In its groping toward 100 per cent efficiency, punch is put into advertising illustrations on the theory that "seeing is believing." And the theory is sound — unassailable. Carry illustration on this theory to perfection, therefore, and you will have the 100 per cent efficiency punch. The motion picture is this perfect medium that expresses and puts over the 100 per cent punch. The advertiser could convince everyone if he could take them through his plant; if he could let them see the sanitary methods, or the economy of production, the super-quality of his raw materials handled by highly skilled labor, the purity, practicality and generous value of his finished product. But the public cannot be taken through all the factories, and here the advantage of the motion picture is supreme. The motion picture takes the factories to them. It does more. It visualizes for them not only all that they could see by personal inspection, but it dramatizes in the most effective way and with a universal appeal. Now, the moving picture is but a tool. Its proper or improper employment must rest with the degree of skill possessed by the producer of motion pictures. In this it does not differ from any highly developed industry whose almost human machinery would be useless without the guidance of human intelligence. * * * This marvelous development in industry is due to efficiency, and the successful advertising or industrial motion picture is equally the product of efficiency. Thus we have, in contrast with the non-efficient printed advertisement, a medium fully as efficient as the commodity it exploits. To depict on the screen the activities of a great industry in full size and motion necessitates the guidance of a highly skilled intelligence — a specialized intelligence that is trained to grasp and express the dramatic in terms suitable to the medium an"d to the ultimate object. Without the combination of imagination, talent and training that makes efficiency engineers in every industry; without a force of technical genius and an array of resources that can make ideas real, the moving picture is but a mechanical toy. Industrial pictures, be they_ ever so interesting, must always be so entertaining as to stand comparison with current dramatic pictures. If this were not so, the fact that anyone can buy a camera, anyone can turn a crank, and anyone can show the resulting film through a projecting machine, would deny the need of efficiency, talent, training and dramatic skill in their production. The possibility of the production of industrial pictures by incompetents is the only objection that can be asserted against them. In this they have merely to meet the same competition that exists in every line of manufacture. Fortunately there is one absolutely sure and certain way to get an industrial picture that measures up to the "100 per cent efficiency standard"— one way to avoid "taking chances"— one way to insure an adequate representation of an industry and almost unlimited distribution of the completed industrial film drama. » * » W. F. Herzberg of the Camel Film Company announces that his company has purchased the Diamond Film Company of Chicago. All processing and studio equipment has been taken over by Camel, as well as the Diamond business. The Diamond Film Company is one of the pioneer producers of commercial advertising film in the West. The Camel Company has just despatched five operators to South America to produce 30,000 feet of scenics and travel subjects, which will be released under the general series title of "World Wide Travel Films." These will be educational in treatment. * * * The Screen Advertisers' Association loomed large at the War Emergency and Reconstruction Congress, held recently at Atlantic City and attended by fully three thousand of the nation's captains of industry. Being commanded by the United States Government to attend there were few absentees, and the roll looked like "Who's Who" among the great of the earth. Mr. Harry Levey, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Screen Advertisers' Association, headed a delegation from New York and made an address on the newest form of the new art of screen advertising. Mr. Levey said that the motion picture was destined to play a very important part in the task of readjustment and reconstruction. He said in part: "The results ascertained in the accomplishments of the motion picture industry as an arm of the government in the time of war and as an art requiring freedom from all restrictions in times of peace, have been summed up in a resolution already submitted and adopted by your body. I wish to give full credit to the officers of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry for accomplishing this. Our president, Mr. Joseph Brandt, has been active in the National Association and at all times in the van in fighting for the democracy of the screen. I, too, am a member and a strong believer in the National Association of the industry. Of course, I am here in Atlantic City to especially educate the business men here assembled to the doctrine that screen advertising is the very best medium. Replying to those skeptics, who were stung in the early days of the business of industrial picture making, I have only to point with pride to the long list of firms who now include the screen in their annual advertising budget. "All you may think you know about motion picture advertising may be wrong. The world's greatest period of destruction is ended. The world's greatest era of construction is here. "Literally thousands of manufacturers are planning for the future of their business. We are making an industrial picture for a huge national concern that for over a year has devoted itself to the making of shell fuses. Its nationally known and used product has been produced on a very limited scale in a small corner of their big plant. How are they going to get back to normal? They are coming back. After investigating all other mediums (and they have spent millions in advertising) they have chosen an industrial picture to get back in the quickest and most forceful way." APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP Screen Advertisers' Association of the World Harry Levey, Chairman Executive Committee, Care of Universal Film Mfg. Co., 1600 Broadway, New York Kindly send me the Pledge of Standards of Practice and all particulars necessary for my Advertisers' Association of the World. becoming a member of the Screen Nature of Business