Business screen magazine (1938)

equipment and, finally, the large fields of "plus" circulation possible through film libraries accepting prints for circulation. This last group includes the state visual service libraries which supply schools and farm bureaus, etc. and private national distributing libraries. Companies such as Standard Oil, International Harvester and other concerns having large field organizations put on their own shows with traveling representatives. The performance is staged in the dealer salesroom, in a rented hall or in an open-air park (in the summer) . Needless to say. such showings are usually packed to capacity. The services of professional projection organizations, on the other hand, facilitate the distribution of pictures before many <lul) and other prospect groups in distant towns and enable the sponsor to put on uniformly perfect performances in many cities within a definite time period. The costs of both methods depend on the size of program desired. For one type, the ownership of projection equipment, supplemented with a schedule of other showings may do the required job. In another case, the quality of the film and the demand for showings may be so great that the sole distribution expense is that of expressing and print mainte nance. Economy in cost-per-person has lowered the cost of professional projection services; the improvement of .sound projection equipment has raised its quality. Again, recent price economies in the sound projector field have again aided the important cause of distribution. Principal Retail Market Abeas Served ♦ One interesting summary furnished to Business Screen recently shows the efficiency with which projection services now operate in almost every principal retail market area. Only a few of the principal market centers are not served by some form of operation, either 35mm. or 16mm.. and even in these it is possible to have professional showings scheduled. The important conclusion is simply this: whatever its form or the nature of the production, some form of distribution must be accounted for in the plan of production. Certainly no picture can be intelligently planned without consideration of its potential audiences. That fixes the field of distribution. Then the cost of that distribution must be squarely and honestly faced by the producer, the agency (if one is involved) and particularly by the sponsor. If that cost involves the purchase of projectors, of an adequate number of prints for all fields of possible use. or of the services of profe.ssional projectionists, it must be a part of the first and of the final budget. There is no possible escape from this responsibility. If the producer seeKs to escape it, he relegates his organization to the position of the printer or the photographer in the production of advertising. It is not the client's responsitiility. particularly if the client is not a long-established user of the film medium and therefore unfamiliar with its phases. For a commercial film without a tvell-determined course of distribution aimed at the right prospects for its message is like a magazine without circidation or a radio program without listeners. 110,000 SHOWINGS: 100,000,000 PEOPLE attended rcporifrf sponsored film performances in 1938 and the totals ruse sharply as millions more were recorded at dealer meetings and conventions; attending theatres showing entertaining, well-liked sponsored "shorts"; and visiting Fairs and exhibits where films were the favored means of capturing visitors" attention; "capsulizing" otherwise impossible sales messages. Selling the business of America to Americans; explaining beneficial products and processes; teaching the way to a better living for salesmen, clerks and their bosses — the film's job is a big one — which it does better than any other form of idea communication known to man. Number Seven 13