Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

NEWS LETTER ( ONTl NTS PRIOR] I > NOTES Ol i ill MONTH GETTING THEM SHOW N NEW DOCUMIM \l<1 I II MS FILM OF THE MONTH — ShorS INDUSTRIAL TRAINING HLMS IN I snui ISII ( I MKAI I ILM LIBRARY Mil GIAN1 SHINNIES DOWN I III BEANST/ 111! BRAINS TRUST ON PROPAGA sen mini FILM sim n i |l s SHORT 1 II M BOOKINGS FOR IAN FILM SOCIETY NEWS TECHNICOLOR BY A NEW PRO( I NATIONAL SAVINGS PUBLICITY PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY FILM CENTRE 34 SOHO SQUARE LONDON Wl PRIORITY there can be little doubt that the British Government is now making a more widespread use of the film than has ever been attempted 'oy any other public body in the world. For this condition of things the British documentary movement can take some part of the credit. After two and a half years of war and two and a half years of campaigning for the full recognition of the film as a war-weapon film makers may regard with some satisfaction the volume of official production now in hand. Films are being made or sponsored by the Army, the Navy, the R.A.F. The Ministry of Information is having films made on its own behalf and on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Home Security, the Board of Education, the Ministry of Food, the Mines Department, the Ministry of Labour, the Colonial Office and the National Fire Service. Films are being made by such semi-official bodies as the British Council and the National Savings Committee. In addition a number of other official bodies are making use of the film for private record purposes. Thus 1939, 1940 and 1941 have seen waged a successful campaign to promote the use of the film : 1942 should mark the opening of a second and a complementary campaign, a campaign for efficient, intelligent and co-ordinated production. It is not enough for the Government to produce a lot of films : it is necessary for the Government to ensure that the nation's film making power is directed into the most useful channels and that these channels provide for the national propaganda and instructional needs in the most efficient possible way. For the supply of films cannot be unlimited. Already there is competition amongst official sponsors for the services of the more efficient units, and it is not always the least valuable subjects which are abandoned because of lack of available production facilities. The crying need is for organisation and co-ordinating control. Film-workers everywhere are demanding that the Government take steps to make more efficient use of their industry. The recent publication by the Association of Cine Technicians of a report on how greater efficiency may be attained represents a step of considerable significance. The labour interests in the industry are not only anxious to pull their weight in the war effort : they are determined to do so, and they see no reason to remain silent in face of inefficiencies caused by employers or official sponsors. They see no good reason why units, facilities and materials badly needed for official films should be employed upon commercial advertising films ; nor do they understand why directors must stand idle for weeks ear-marked for the production of urgent official films whose Whitehall sponsors cannot decide upon the propaganda line to be followed. The Association of Cine-Technicians has listed its complaints and suggestions and most of these will come as no surprise to readers of Documentary News Letter. However strongly some sections of the employers may resent this tactless probing into the war effort, it is a significant and a necessary development that labour should play a more active part in the organisation of film propaganda. It is. moreover, a step in the direction of that socialisation of industry which must become more and more openly accepted as the war progresses. Yet labour must do more than demand increased efficiency from employers and sponsors. It must take a greater measure of responsibility for its own efficiency. In the studios the time has come for labour to question the national value of much of its work and to take necessary action to prevent the frittering away of production power. In shorts production labour must look more critically at its own professional contribution to the welter of films in hand. Many documentary film-makers have become so used to blaming their sponsors that they are frequently blind to production opportunities which they themselves waste. It is the task of the documentary movement continually to force up its standards of efficiency, speed and quality. It is the task of the competing host of official sponsors to see that national advantage is taken of efficiency, speed and quality and to see, moreover, that documentary's unique experience in propaganda and instructional method — as distinct from film-making — is fully utilised. The varied official demands will never be satisfactorily met without some means of co-ordinating competing needs. Already shortages not only of staff but of equipment are becoming serious. Already the Services are beginning to use their powers to commandeer production equipment and so put it beyond reach of Civil Departments a course of action which may well be against the national interest. Production bottle-necks at the labs, and in types of specialised film — such as the making of animated diagrams -are holding up important work. Who is to decide whether an instructional film for the Army or a propaganda film for the Ministrj of Information shall have priority? It becomes apparent that what is required is a co-ordinator of all film work undertaken in the national interest who will have power at least equal to that of an Under-Sccretan, of State. It would be his responsibility to review the film production machinery available, to co-ordinate and appraise the requirements of all official users, to establish production priorities and. by virtue of his control over personnel, equipment and raw materials, to ensure that approved production proceeds smoothly. Such a position can only be filled by an expert in the field of propaganda ; it is not merely an administrative job, but one which calls for creative ability backed by knowledge and authority.