Business screen magazine (1942)

• These motion pictures were made to assist teachers who are charged with the task of training the men needed in the defense industries. Little needs to be said about the staggering proportions of this task. The problem of defense is essentially a problem of production and the problem of production, to a considerable degree, is a problem of securing the skilled men necessary to maintain it and to increase it. To have more tanks, more planes, more guns, and more ships we must have more men. trained in the production of tanks, planes, guns and ships. Training Methods Unchanged The methods by which these implements of modern warfare are produced have changed greatly in the last decade, but the ways by which we train the men who produce these implements have changed but little in a hundred years. The development of motion pictures specifically designed to assist instructors is an endeavor to apply to the problems of training the techniques of motion picture presentation. These techniques have proved their effectiveness in oilier areas of use. The utilization of motion pictures in education and more specifically, in training, is not as new as is generally suppo.sed. Large industrial concerns have for many years had a definite program of motion pictures and allied visual aids to as.sist them in the training of men who were ncces.*ary to the successful carrying on of their business. Foreign nations, such as England. Germany. Russia. France have for many years developed films and used them extensively in the training of men and women. An interesting sidelight on this fact is thai in 1939 Germany, with half the population, had four times as many sound I6mm. projectors as the United States and more than five times as many motion pictures specifically designed for instruction. Arm\ An Early Pioneer The U. S. .\rmy, during World War L developed some 117 films specifically designed for the instruction of the armed forces. These films cover such things as aerial map reading, the operation of the Stokes mortar, and the correct use of the Y-gun. It is a logical development that with the increased mechanization of modern warfare, the .\rmy should in World War IL embark on an even more intensive and concentrated use of motion pictures for the training of men. The Navy likewise has a program NEW TOOLS of INSTRUCTION — producing the Victory Training films of motion picture production lor use in training. Nor is the success of motion pictures wholly a matter of conjecture. In addition to the experience provided by commercial concerns, foreign nations and the armed forces there is the experience provided by the public schools. Well authenticated research carried on by some of the leading educators of the country indicate that motion piclures are some 309f more effective than traditional methods of instruction in putting across facts and their percentage of superiority is even greater when it comes to shifting attitudes and developing appre cialions. The acceptanci by leaclier> of motion pictures as teaching tools is indicated by the fact that in a national survey conducted as of January I. 1936. only 453 sound 16mm. projectors were in the schools of the entire United Stales and a similar survey conducted as of January. 1930 — four years later — indicates that there are better than 6.500 .sound 16mm. projectors in the secondary schools alone. Office of Education Progrw Therefore, to assist in the training of men and of women, as such training becomes necessary, the United Slates Office of Education has engaged in the production of =-$M*^^ THE BEGINNING OF INCREASED PRODUCTION MORE EFFECTIVE SELLING BETTER CUSTOMER RELATIONS WEST COAST'S L |i-tu-<ljlt -ludio fucililie^ and loiip experience in iirtMliuiiie effective motion pictures for ex:utitip client--, jre at \%ork in these war times, lielpinf to >lep-up the nation's industrial efficiency. We>t Coast Sounii StuiHos. Inc.. is pniducin^ Machine Shop Work training filni> for the Unite.! State> Office of ^,<=)—^ )7^ Education. ^S'.-JdC^'^^^ »^et a West Coast Sound ^"^"-Wr "" Movie he the BEGINNING of ^--fip ^ the END of ViUir training TKAiNtNo roM VICTORY prohleiiis. WEST COAST SOUND STUDIOS, INC. .')l(l WEST 57th ST.. NEW YORK CITY motion pictures and other visual aids. These are motion pictures specifically designed to utilize the techniques of the motion picture in clarifying, explaining, and demonstrating the basic principles of machine operation and other skilled work. They are high quality motion [lictures made under the guidance of competent specialists experienced in every phase of machine shop and ship construction work. They are teaching films specifically designed for teaching, whose organization was checked by men experienced in the |)roblems of teaching skills and who are familiar with the prolileni> of motion picture presentation. They are designed to help the instructor by providing a demonstration in which all students see eipially well the intricate aspects of every job operation: by providing clarifiaclion of cutting tools; and by givsuch motion picture techniques as animation, slow motion, and magnification to such tilings as basic principles of the micrometer, the calculation of speeds and feeds, the action of cutting tools: and by giving to the student an over-view of an entire job operation on a typical 7nachine with a skilled explanation ot the "\\h\s and wherefores" of each operation as it is performed. Hki.p Understanding of Job It is expected that these motion jiiclures will provide students with a basic familiarity and understanding of the job, the principles involved, and the manipulation required: that they will assist in the development of an appreciation of skill and precision that is required in the competent mass production of modern implements of warfare and that they will give the student a sense of familiarity with the physical operations that he must "ape'* in order to do them himself. These presentations bring all the impact of a motion ()icture in a darkened room to emphasize the necessity tor such things as safety, cleanliness, and good craftsmanship. They may be used in such instances as the motion picture "Fixed Gages" to familiarize students with tools that are not available in their own training .situation. (^\n"t Replace Instructor These pictures are designed to assist instructors. They cannot take the place of the instructor any more than a machinist's handbook can take the machinist's place. But like the machinist's handbook, they have a place and will assist. They depict typical jobs on typical machines for the purpo.*e of demonstrating and clarifying basic principles of 30 BuHinvHH Serp«'m