Business screen magazine (1938)

GOOD SUBJECTS WIN APPROVAL BY HAROLD D. GRIFFIN Chttivman, Visttal Ef/nciilion Committee Ne/'riisl(it State Teticlieis College. • The ])ul)lic schools arc iihvays in search of suitable industrial films which broaden the contacts of pupils. Pictures which do not violate the ethics of good teaching and which adhere to pedagogical principles will always find a warm weleonie. In general, teachers do not object to the presentation of one specified article or tradename in a film anymore than they would hesitate to take their pupils on a school-journey to a factory that manufactured some one useful article of commerce simply because it bore a particular advertised name. It is the methods of presentation rather than the products themselves which have made some schools wary of industrial films in the aggregate, while extending a hearty welcome to particular productions. That is the reason school systems tend to repeat their calls for certain pictures year after year. Thus, we have had the American Can Company's Alaska's Silver Millions three times within one calendar year. We would rather repeat a picture of proved pedagogical value than experiment with an untried production. Under present methods of distributing films there is little opportunity for a teacher to preview a picture and organize a teaching technique around it. For a truly satisfactory learning unit, a teacher should be somewhat familiar with a picture, before it is presented to the students. \n adequate industrial film for school purposes must be adjusted to the educational level of the group to which it is presented. The documentary type of picture probably will have the most educational significance. Processes should be recorded in sufficient detail to make further steps intelligible, but ordinarily they should not be dwelt upon exhaustively. Commentators should employ chaste language, good grammar, be clear and precise, and avoid shouting. No matter how successful the methods of the circus-barker may be in selling a jjroduet to the masses, a film addressed to a school audience is no place to exhibit such techniques. "Go to your neighborhood dealer now," may bring in sales over the radio and in a public demonstration, but such an approach in a school picture will not bring a second invitation there. Primarilv then, the industrialist who would BETTER FILMS IN THE SCHOOLS ])ro(luce a successful film for educational distribution must please the teachers and the school administrators. If he doesn't, his picture will be stranded on first base. The manufacturer who cannot see further than today's .sales will undoubtedly find more profitable uses for his money than the production of schoolcentered films, but the alert business man of far-vision and prophetic calling who would build good-will for his industry will find no better medium than industrial films prepared upon sound pedagogical principles specifically for educational distribution. He who would be greatest among you will serve our children unselfishly with no thought of immediate profit. Yes, indeed, industrial films that tell their story in a simple, straight-jorirard. and courteous mariner have been, and will continue to be, welcome in our public schools. BUSINESS: TURN ON THE FACTS BV FANNING HEARON Executive Director, .-tssociution of School film Lihrnriei, Inc. • A non-profit educational motion picture corporation known as the Association of School Film Libraries, Inc. was chartered in the District of Columbia on June 17 and established its main office in the Time and Life Building, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, on July 1.5. The corporation is a direct result of the often-expressed desire of American schools and colleges for one central source to which they may turn for help and advice in securing the films they need in determining the value of motion pictures in education. The membership of the Association will be limited to educational institutions and noncommercial distributors serving the educational field. F'or these members the Association will obtain appraisals of films which are available and those which could be made available. The Association would then do what it could to help its members obtain such films. It will L'^a«JKiut;.:u n',1 k':u,«i'Ui»ifi<.-.UHrjp*!w«fjiM.(Sk>f<i Educational Survey Points Way to Improvement