Business screen magazine (1938)

SPEAK YOUR AUDIENCE'S LANGUAGE IT'S NOT YOUR OPINIONS BUT THOSE OF THE PUBLIC THAT COU NT by J. W. C AF I LL • A script writer recently spent several weeks in the dead of winter riding with the salesmandriver of a rural oil supply truck, calling on farmers. He learned the fuel requirements of the farmers, the sales methods of the driver, and gave an attentive ear to the talk of both. Back in the office he wrote a motion picture based on the approved sales procedure of the oil company, and rendered it human and interesting by his first hand knowledge of the subject. The film was a successful stimulant of sales. Its success was attributed to the fact it spoke the language of the group of men it was aimed at. These salesmen-drivers recognized themselves and their problems in the film, and were therefore open to its teaching. This and many other important films have proven the success of the medium depends to a large extent upon knowing the audience and discovering the film patterns that please and move them to take the desired action. This problem of fitting the film to the audience is simplified by the fact that audiences may be grouped. That they may be grouped as housewives, salesmen, merchants, farmers, debutantes. That they may be grouped by occupation, sex, age, and nationality; by the periodicals they read and the neighborhoods they live in. And being grouped may be known more intimately, and more easily sold. Therefore we establish the central fact that customer audiences go by groups, may be sold by groups, and that the successful film should talk the language of the group. But group interests change with time and place. A film selling cosmetics to housewives is out of place at a meeting of women voters. While at a department store it is well received by the same group, produces results. Doctors are glad to look at a film selling sterilizing equipment in their hospital or office. They resent having the same film shown them at a fraternal meeting. So we find that when it is aimed at the group buyer, talks his language, and is given a timely showing, the business film offers a streamlined selling medium. A medium from which waste circulation has been eliminated. A medium which gives a deeper penetration of the prospect, reaching him where his interests lie. We don't butter the whole loaf of bread when it's only a slice we're eating. And we don't i)ay for general exhiliition when it's only women buyers we're selling. Thus with group showings, picture circulation can be controlled and its results checked. Narrowing our auilicncc .-illows us to know them better. We can avoid their foibles, study their habits. From our salesmen, dealers, and the customer himself we can gather a world of intimate information for use in our films. The smaller the group the more personal the approach. A film maile to sell one man could do a correspondingly better job than if it had to meet the potential interests of a thousand possible buj'crs. With group pictures business puts back the personal element into selling. FILMS NEED A PATTERN ♦ To crash audience inertia the film must have a pattern, a design. The simplest sequence of scenes must have a beginning, middle, and a conclusion. That is simply showmanship. Shakespeare, Barnum and Billy Sunday held their big stuff for the last act. Often it was the build-up that made it appear big. Barnum brought on his elephants, ponies, and trained seals a few at a time until all the rings were whirlpools of action,. In short, these top salesmen maintained suspense, planned surprises, and kept the audience guessing. Today the salesfilra is learning these ABC's of showmanship. The advertiser is learning that even if his film is only a traveling show-case for the product it .should open with interesting scenes giving a general over-all of the action, then move into closer views in sequence. The concluding scenes should show a finished product or operation. The camel is a handy shape to check the movie against. It has an interesting beginning that says 'stop, look, and listen'. Then the camel obliges us with a nice hump, indicating a minor climax. Then the back line falls away only to rise to another climax, which should be slightly higher than the first. And finally we are presented with a surprise (?) conclusion. When planning a sales picture it sometimes helps to keep in mind the advice of the old negro preacher, "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em; then tell 'cm; then tell 'em what you told 'em." If properly planned, when the room goes dark and the picture flashes on the screen it commands attention. It becomes a train with the buyer on board, and gains momentum as it goes, carrying the buyer's mind from where it is to where we want it to be. It hauls the sales freight because it has pattern, becau.se the pattern fits the audience, and because it is given a timely showing. So much for the importance of planning the film. What specific patterns have sold group audiences? TELL, don't sell. IN SCHOOLS ♦ Young people, school age, influence the buying of motorcars and are themselves potential buyers. They constitute a group audience. School, where educational subjects are up permost, offers a splendid place to exhibit to this group. Therefore an educational film is devised which gains admittance to the school because it is acceptable to the authorities. This pattern has been called high pressure education, low pressure selling. Here it is: Hydraulic brakes, the construction of the frame of a motorcar, its sound-proofed body are fit subjects for educational films. Proceeding from general laws of physics, chemistry, hydraulics, the educational film gives specific examples of the correct application of these laws. It uses brakes, the valve-in-head engine, the sound-proofed body, for illustrations. To achieve its visual explanation the film uses mechanical animation, miniature models, and often a lecturer. It treats the subject in the manner of a popular science story, frequently ending with a thrilling demonstration of how the part correctly constructed will stop the car, eliminate sound, or enable it to travel over a rough road at high speed. Another pattern used successfully for "educationals" is the "let's you and I build it together" pattern. Here the narrator, in effect, asks the audience to join with him in constructing a machine. First he describes the conditions the machine must meet. Then step by step, on the screen, by means of mechanical animation, is added each part necessary to fulfill those conditions. Here the unspoken consent of the audience is gained by giving logical reasons for the special construction used. When the machine is completed the audience feels as if they had built it themselves and thoroughly approve of all parts of its construction. WHAT DO FARMERS LIKE? ♦ So much for telling youth in public schools. And now how about the buyer who has more than a third of the national cash income jingling in his pockets? Is there a film pattern that will please and sell the farmer. Says he: "I like drama. Homely, salty, down-to-earth situations. We don't get the movie habit, and during the winter we've more leisure to get interested in folks." Sales films most successful in selling farm audiences have been dramatic. Back To The Old Farm, the first dramatic sales film, proved the value of drama for this group. Then for several years there was a detour into films (Please turn to page 36) 18 Business Screen