Documentary News Letter (1942-1943)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER No. 5 1943 NOTES OF THE MONTH (Cont.) significant in the brutal casualness of Dudley Nichol's story, which, by and large, keeps very much to the hard realities attendant on flying a bomber across the Pacific Islands immediately after Pearl Harbour. "Love interest" and "story value" have both been jettisoned, with the result that there is a mounting instead of a diminishing sense of realism. This is thrown all the more into relief by the final reel, apparently added by a tycoon with cold feet, in which a batch of Flying Fortresses sink every ship in the Japanese Navy and Merchant Fleet twice over and are patted on the back by Hollywood, Abraham Lincoln, Elmer Davis and Uncle Tom Okum and all. But despite this, Airforce may well be seen as an encouraging portent of things to come. Films in the Services the article on Film Progress in the Services which we publish in this issue is the first attempt at a complete and authoritative statement on this subject. It is based on official statements made to our representative and we do not claim it to be exhaustive. There is, for example, no reference to the film activities of the Army Educa tion Services which we know to be most enlightened and forwardlooking. We hope in the future to carry our present survey one stage further by viewing a representative collection of the Services films which are being made and by investigating the conditions under which they are being shown. In the meantime our readers in the Services will know best what divergencies exist between theory and practice. Science and the Films the formation of the English Scientific Film Association, announced on another page, is a step forward in the interpretation of science to the public. An organisation such as this can do much to give a new meaning to science, showing it as something of interest and value to the ordinary man, rather than the cult of veiled and often harmful mysteries which he is often led to suppose constitutes the meaning of "science". The recent increase in the number of Scientific Film Societies has shown that a focus of interest exists which is capable of great expansion if given organised expression. We wish the English Scientific Film Association every success in its aim to develop this healthy interest in the world of real things. FILM PROGRESS IN THE SERVICES (Cont.) It is most satisfactory to note that experiments have been carried out to find something of the relative value of these visual aids. Details are not available for publication until full confirmation of the validity of method is forthcoming, from its application in normal use. One can say, however, that the experiments were carried out in collaboration with Admiralty psychologists, and that 700 pupils were used. As regards proposals for the immediate future the Division plans to get every Naval Training syllabus covered by films and film synopses. Air Force Films Film production in the Royal Air Force lays relatively less ejnphasis on the training film than do either of the other two Services, though the pattern of organisation is broadly similar to that of the Army. (The parallel of small beginnings holds good too; R.A.F. film production started simply as an historical record-keeping establishment.) As in the Army, there is a Public Relations branch, this time called P.R.I, which deals with films; in charge, is Wing Commander Twist. Cameramen send in from the battlefields of the Middle East, to Pinewood, their war front rushes. Pinewood distributes the material to its users. These include the newsreels and M.O.I., the R.A.F. Film Production Unit and "T films" — the branch of the Air Ministry Training Directorate concerned with getting films made by outside concerns. One valuable use of film has been in training for aircraft recognition. Particularly when the Americans came over with numbers of new aircraft types, speedy instruction in recognition became pressing. As we have seen before, the internal "morale" film is linked to the training film, though here some are made by the R.A.F. Film Production Unit, not exclusively, as in the Army, by the Training Department. An example is a film called Jumps Ahead, intended to prepare paratroops for action. The film shows what paratroopers are going to go through in their training, and generally gives an impression of the way of life peculiar to this new activity. The film has the job of cultivating the paratroopers' outlook. Since they carry out paratroop training, the R.A.F. produced the film. Another interesting use of the internal "morale" film is the monthly cinemagazine — called "The Gen" — which gives a picture of what different parts of the Air Force are doing. It is valuable for showing at stations posted in outlying parts; personnel are kept in touch with what is going on in the organisation as a whole, and can feel they are part of a group who breathe the same air. The R.A.F. Film Unit works at Pinewood under the operational direction of P.R. 1 . (It may be a pointer to the importance attached to films by the R.A.F. that the film work of Public Relations is handled by a department so numbered.) It is found convenient for the catering and other ancillary services at Pinewood to be run by one organisation, so such work is done by R.A.F. personnel, for the Crown and the Army Film Units, as well as for the R.A.F. Unit itself; thus there are at Pinewood appreciably more R.A.F. than Army personnel. One major occupation of the R.A.F. Film Unit arises from the fact that film records are made of most of the important operations, with the exception of those exclusively invoking fighter 'planes. It is interesting to see how the special character of air warfare demands extensive use of film. The highly technical nature of Air Force operations means that results of all kinds — bombing, strafing, air combat — must be scientifically analysed by skilled men. They cannot observe results directly except possibly on rare occasions ; and in any case direct observation would give very inadequate data owing to their instantaneous nature. So the cine camera is used to bring back a permanent record which can be studied in full detail. One fact arising from this is that people in responsible positions in the R.A.F. have grown to appreciate the value of film as a war weapon. Another point of interest is that many of these film records, or stills from them, have been released for publication, and by them the general public have been given a striking picture of modern aeronautical developments. (Stills are commonly taken from films ; in most R.A.F. photography it would be difficult to select the best moment for a still shot, and the increased "picture value" of a still, taken from the right moment in a film, easily makes up for loss of quality.) Because of the value of their time to the community, it is usual for highly placed statesmen to travel, on matters of political significance, by air. As security in these circumstances is also of vital importance, it happens that the R.A.F. cover such news items both for record and news value. This was the case on the occasion of Molotov's visit; because of the need for full secrecy, as well as continuity in treatment, the same unit covered later incidents connected with the visit. This again is an indication of the increasing importance of the air as a new sphere of social movement. The film, from its nature of being essentially an expression of modern life follows closely in the track of developments in the air. The General Trend To summarise. We see, in the Army and the Air Force, that the power of film has become recognised, in a matter of two years, as something unique. The organisations for handling it are still developing, a large number of young men have been trained as film makers. In the Air Force, the very dynamic nature of the work it does probably has the effect of selecting into that service mainly people whose personality has also a dynamic quality. They take readily to films. The relative lack of emphasis on the training film may arise because the skills needed for flying operations depend so much on bodily and mental agility —things which can only be acquired by doing rather than watching. As regards the use of the film internally the Admiralty appears to be doing work whose importance to the other services, and potentially to the community at large is very considerable. It is to be hoped that the silent tradition will not hamper the eventual spread to the wider educational fields of civilian life, of the knowledge that is being gained due to (Continued on page 214)