Business screen magazine (1944)

The Story of Navy Training Films by Orville Uoldner, Lt. Comdr.. l'S>R CONSIDERED realistically, Nav> photography in all of its aspects contributes in large and important ways to war operaions that take place ever) hour of every day and night. Without military photography over ;nemv territory before, during, and after batde action, and detailed interpretation of the results. Host campaigns would be much more costly in Tien, materiel, and time. .And without motion pictures and still pictures specifically for trainiTiij, Xa\-y men and women would be less skillful md less prepared for the NaN-y's complicated ■var job. It is safe to conclude that the record jf Xa\-v photography on both of these major tasks in the war effort speaks for itself. Most of the Xa\'\'s photographic needs are met in the Photographic Division of the Bureau af .Aeronautics. The work of the Division in:ludes. among other things, the intricate aspects of militarv' photography, the procurement of photographic equipment and material, and research and development of new techniques and devices. The activities of the Division's Motion Picture Stock and Historical Section are of special importance at this time inasmuch as its responsibility is that of reviewing and cataloging the thousands of feet of combat film arriving Jaily from the Pacific Theater of Operations. However, in this issue of Business Screen we ire concerned with the training film work of the Photographic DiNision. It must bp pointed out that although the Photographic Division is located in the Bureau of .Aeronautics its activities are not limited to training film and motion picture requirements of this Bureau. The reasons for establishing these responsibilities in the Photographic Division, of the Bureau of Aeronautics, are simple. As originally conceived, photography in the Navy played its most important role in aerial reconnaissance. As a result, military photography developed with aviation, and the making of training films and all other motion pictures were considered largely photographic problems. Where else should these photographic responsibilities be placed if not in the Division and bureau having the most experience in photography? Perhaps it is oversimplifying to say that the precise location of the training film and motion picture responsibilities within the Navy is of little real importance as long as the job of procurement, production and distribution of films is being done effectively to meet the needs of the total naval establishment. This subject, of course, could be highly controversial and frequently is ; but regardless of the decisions reached the facts about the job are significant. At the outset it must be stated that the motion picture and film strip requirements of the Navy for training purposes are many and various. In some instances they fall into clearly defined categories and in others they do not. -As an example, a motion picture to teach men about the use of a gun or aircraft instrument falls naturally into a group of skill films. On the other hand, a film that is to give a man an orientation to an operation under combat conditions and show his relationship to a specific segment of the operation and its part in the total cannot be categorized easily. Inasmuch as it may be necessary to show at length the need and importance of adequate skills in the operation, the mental attitude that is required toward surrounding activity, and other aspects of the job, such a film inevitably will be an orientation, indoctrination, skill and morale film all-in-one. Regardless of the motion picture and slide film requirements of the Nav-y and the categories into which they fit, the Training Film and Motion Picture Branch of the Photographic Division is prepared to initiate their production. .And well ov-er a thousand civiUans, enlisted men and officers are in or responsible to the Photographic Division for this work. In the Photographic Science LaboratoryBranch of the Division, personnel engaged in the production of high priority, highly classified training films number in the hundreds. The Coast Guard and Marine Corps have many additional skilled personnel working on training films which also come under the cognizance of the Bureau of .Aeronautics. The Bureau's facilities in New York and Hollywood carrv on special important training film activities requiring technicians of all types. In the Training Film and Motion Picture Branch approximately two hundred persons carrv on their duties in the Project Supervision, Procurement, Cataloging, and Distribution Sections where the patterns and policies for the Navy's training film work are established no matter where it is done. The largest seel ion is that of Project Supervision which is responsible for the initiation and follow-through of all training film production. This Section docs the research and planning for production and aligns production with the training job to be accomplished. Obviously, there must be ever-present in the minds of those concerned the sharply defined objectives to be met by every film production. And every detail that is reducible to explanation and cl;\rification on paper in words, in photographs, or drawings, must be so handled to insure that all those involved in production understand and hew to the line. Work of this kind requires close cooperation and coordination between Project Supervision personnel and the technical advisers assigned by the agencies requesting film production. How this is done in its many diverse aspects, and about the never-ending problems, you will learn from articles that follow. As has been stated, the Project Supervision Section is concerned largely with production. How much is produced and what is implied? Consider for a moment these statistics: in approximately three and a half years a total of 1. 100 Nav-y training motion pictures, averaging two reels each, were produced. In the same period 2.200 slide films were produced. Besides using the facilities of commercial, industrial, and Hollv-vvood producers, the effective topnotch facilities of the Photograpfuc Science Laboratory Branch were used for highly specialized secret and confidential productions. What about the subject matter? It could not be less intricate than the latest battleship, or plane, or amphibious barge, or the deadUest torpedo, or rocket, or naval gun. Nor could the subject matter be less compUcated than the tactics involved in using these weapons of technological warfare. To get footage for the Navy's motion pictures. Branch personnel have supervised photography in the cramped quarters of submarines, in blimps, in the booming turrets of big guns aboard warships, and in dozens of other locations in and on the sea. on land, and in the air. In fact, personnel at work on research and production for the Navy's films have covered half the earth from forward areas in the European Theater of operations to the far reaches of the Pacific Theater. Now, research, vv-riting good scripts, actual photography in the places and under the conditions indicated, and all the other work that goes into getting a story-telling photographic image on film, are difficult enough in wartime. But there are a myriad of time-consuming, and often frustrating, related details with which the production of every Navy film must be interlocked, and by which it must be controlled. Imagine for a moment, if you can. tlie number of agencies concerned and the volume of correspondence necessary to guarantee as far as is humanly possible that every civilian working for every producer of every film is a loyal United States citizen ; and further, that every inch of film, sheet of paper, still photo and drawing, which relates to \Turn to page 52] *•* ■»««««««««•» ■»'»t>««^«i'» UHlfMMti A REPORT ON NAVY TRAINING FILMS 29