Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER No. 5 1943 Film Progress in the Services (continued) concentrated on training, one sees in the Division a more intense development in this field than appears elsewhere. In general, these training films are made by outside commercial companies, but, on occasion they are made by the Royal Naval Film Section at Plymouth. This is the Admiralty's own training-film production unit, which supplements production carried on by the trade. Little information is available about its activities except that its personnel consists of a total of 30-40 people. It has grown in size, and the organisation from time to time has been adapted to meet changing demands. The film is considered as part of a procedure designed to impart, in the shortest possible time, the information a man requires to learn his job. Other training techniques must also be used with a full understanding of their capabilities and limitations. The film is one ; the film strip,* blackboard, and demonstration on equipment, are others. Film and film strips So that all these devices shall be used to best advantage, the functions and necessary qualities of the film and film strip are described in two documents — "Notes on the Design and Construction of Instructional Films", — issued by the Director of Training and Staff Duties. They are both outstandingly good compilations, and it is reassuring to know that they have been circulated to the other Services, to Government Departments and other interested organisations. They are "issued as a guide for those concerned in preparing and producing these valuable contributions to efficient training. They are based upon present knowledge, which is still in a theoretical stage : they should not therefore be read in a rigid sense but rather as a formulation of current opinion and, as such, liable to extension or revision as experience dictates." Part I is concerned with the film itself; an introduction says: "As a first and cardinal principle it must be recognised that the purpose of an Instructional film is to teach and, if it is to present a clear picture, it must be shorn of all extraneous material that is not essential to the subject. There is a tendency to blur the instructional value of films by building the subject round a story. The argument put forward to justify this practice hinges upon a plausible theory that men under training need a titivation of interest, It is, however, entirely wrong to attract attention to a manufactured story which purports to provide human interest if, in doing so, attention is distracted from the subject that is being taught. Mental alertness must be aroused by interest in the subject and it should be the main purpose of the designer of an Instructional film to see that the subject is made interesting." It is a pity that this sound sense had not earlier permeated the organisations concerned with Service training films. Part II deals with the 'still synopsis', a film strip which summarises a film in a number of still pictures with sub-titles. "The primary purpose of a 'still synopsis' is to recapture the salient features of instruction and rivet them on the memory. The criterion of its work is the amount of 'sticking power' it gives to the scraps of information that it imparts" ( — from the same document). Thus each still has to be carefully selected so that it will bring back to mind a key piece of information. This can act as a reminder of a sequence ol ideas w hich depended on and arose from that piece of information in the original film. The film strip is also— but less frequently — used as an entity in itself — i.e., not as a synopsis of a film but as an "Instructional still". It is. of course, fully understood that the film strip (used in either of the above ways) is definitely not a substitute for a film : it is made in a different way, from a different point of view, for a different, but important purpose. For example it cannot show essential movements * The "film strip" is a strip of cine film, a few feet long, which carries on its standard cine frames a series of stills and titles, ["hey are thrown on to a screen by means of a simple, specially designed pro.icctoi in the same way as lantern slides would be. Film strip projection has a great advantage over the irumic lantern in that the apparatus is tar lighter and more compact, and the stills cannot be projected in any other than the correct order. in an operation, nor can it effectively give that integration of one part of a process with the whole, so necessary with complex procedures. The film can do both. On the other hand, with the film strip, a class can take notes during its showing ; and it can be used effectively for revision purposes. The film cannot be so used. The two devices are complementary. Nearly every film used has its film synopsis, and those lacking one will soon have it. It is impossible to give exact figures, but roughly, the number of British made films in use is about 350, with something like 50 films in production. There are some 400 British made film strips and film synopses in use. A large number of American films are used too — about 1,100 film strips and film synopses, and rather fewer films. It must be remembered that these figures are very fluid, for films go out of circulation and fresh productions are continually being added (Continued on page 213) NOTES OF THE MONTH we hope that the Films Division of the M.O.I, is checking up the extent to which distributors are honouring their undertaking to show the new monthly 15-minute films. Some people believe that the change over from weekly 5-minuters to the monthly series was a retrogressive step into which the Films Division was tricked by Wardour Street at its wiliest. Regular cinema-goers in London's West End report that to see a M.O.I, film is an extremely rare experience. During the first week of release of a recent issue of the "Into Battle" series, the programme particulars of two of the biggest London cinemas showed that in one case the M.O.I, film was shown only at 1 1 .40 a.m. and the other cinema was not showing it at all, but nevertheless had found room to include in its programme a recuiting film for the U.S. Air Training Corps. The inclusion of this film in the programme seemed to demonstrate that there was no question of giving preference to a film with box-office appeal, for it proved on viewing to be unbelievably dull and completely without interest in this country. The cynical observer may be forgiven for frequently feeling that the war effort of the leaders of the exhibiting and distributing sides of the British film industry is more apparent in their speeches than on their screens. Yet if these films are not being widely shown, it is the Ministry of Information which must take principal blame. Ministry officials are much too timid in their dealings with the black sheep of an industry which on the whole is keen to pull its weight. Comings and Goings j. d. davidson has joined the Films Division of the M.O.I. Davidson is already proving as practical and tireless in his organisation of M.O.I, production as he was in the days when he was laying the foundation of Documentary's technical methods with the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Basil Wright has left for a six months' visit to Ottawa where he will assist John Grierson in the development of ambitious plans on behalf of the Canadian Government. Geoffrey Bell (director of Transfer of Power, Fire Guard, Control Room, and Secretary of the London Scientific Film Society) has joined the Board of D.N.L. Increased activity in the field of Documentary generally and the movements of key personnel are miking difficult the regular production of D.N.L. (for everyone concerned very much of a spare-time job). We shall continue, however, to publish as frequently as possible and we hope that our rea icrs will sympathise with us in our difficulties. You Have Been Warnered Airforce, Howard Hawks' large scale feature film for Warner Brothers, did not quite get the press it deserved in this country, and few critics noted the significance of its shape and method of treatment, both of which stemmed more from the documentary stable than any Hollywood script or show copy has done since the Grapes of Wrath. Airforce is not in the same class as the Stein epic, but it is