Documentary News Letter (1940)

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER MAY 1940 I demonstrated his skill with professional actors in This Man is News and This Man in Paris, has found it necessary to substitute real lightship men for his crew of actors in the lightship story he is directing for the G.P.O. Film Unit. It is clear that for films where the details of a character's job are important to the story, the professional actor is seriously handicapped. What Robert Flaherty called "the gesture which time has worn smooth" is essential to the characterisation, and it is easier to teach a glass-blower to act than to teach an actor to blow glass. It may well prove that the beginnings of a solution to the whole problem is implicit here. In the past the tendency has been to adjust story and treatment to bring characterisation within the power of the actor. If he were required to play the part of a glass-blower the scenario was arranged so that he was never seen at work. In realistic films it is possible to plar the story, not for the professional actor but for the non-actor I. The scenario must be written so that the impersonations re \ \ quired grow out of the experience of ordinary people am therefore lie within their acting capacity. The style of dialogui must be based on the player's own natural style, action basec on his natural movements. This procedure not only will sim i , plify the problems of the actor: it will give the film a realistiij,,, quality which can be achieved in no other way. L, If we are to make films about ordinary people the realisn , must come in at the start when the story is planned. Today it i hardly necessary to prove that everyday life does not lacljL drama and that such films will not be dull. The material i waiting for the method. PIONEERING WITH A PROJECTOR The Scottish Evacuation Film Scheme by one of the teacher-operators. SINCE LAST September we have been living in eventful days. For myself, not the least eventful was Friday, September 29th. At the time I was teaching in Balfron, Stirlingshire, having been voluntarily "scattered" from Glasgow. On that day I received a request to attend a meeting the following morning at the Scottish Film Council offices. Here I heard details of the scheme to provide film shows for evacuees, and I agreed, if it went through, to run a mobile unit. A week later my Austin 10 was out of cold storage and I set out for Stirlingshire again on what was to prove one of the richest and most satisfying experiences of my life. I must confess I began with forebodings, but everywhere I received co-operation and willing assistance, not only from education officials and teachers, but from what I call for want of a better word "outsiders". Many school buildings, for example, were unsuitable through lack of accommodation, want of electric power, difficulty of blacking-out, etc. In many of these instances alternative accommodation was gladly made available by welfare committees, churches and even private individuals. Each operator was equipped with a 16 mm. silent projector — or projectors, as a battery model was often required in remote districts — a screen and all accessories. On each circuit I had eight to ten reels of film : natural history, geography, travel, and two reels of comedy. Most of the educational films came from the Scottish Central Film Library in Glasgow ; the comedies were hired from Kodak. During the course of my service, between October 9th and December 30th, I completed six circuits. 1 showed, therefore, some forty educational films in all. I cannot attempt to discuss each one individually, but I can indicate the types which seemed to me to be most successful. Only silent films were used, naturally, and they proved wholly acceptable. Nature films were generally well received. G.B.I'.s Zoo films and The Tawny Owl were special favourites and made a great appeal to all ages. Wood Ants, though an excellent film, did not fit in quite so well. Insects apparently do not have for young s;!H Ite mi ilere jclaii fflrni acliei Vki children the same entertainment value as most animals ainjif, birds. Similarly with the Kodak films : Beavers and The Adven tures of Peter (a little fox-terrier), were very popular whil Birds of Prey — probably because of the somewhat repellen^js H; nature of its "actors" — was not so successful. A beautiful littl film entitled Winter was very popular, but it is interesting t< note that stop-motion sequences of rapidly growing wheat am flowers provoked either criticism or hilarity — or both. Among the geography films, a two-reeler. Igloo, which I wa fortunate to have during the Christmas period, was an out| jj standing success. It was the record of a sledge-and-ski holidaij in northern Norway and Sweden, and apart from its seasons j, appeal, I think much of its success was due to its strong coDj ^\ tinuity. The Kodak film Overland to California, had this advaDj |k, tage in some measure, and of course the "covered wagons" ainj "pony express" received due appreciation. Argentina, Peru an^ ^ London, from the same source, were more static, and were onl| jj, partly successful. During showings of Argentina I had beq puzzled by hearty laughter at what appeared a most incor gruous moment, the scene being obviously one of city arch: tecture. I discovered finally that what was tickhng the youBffl sters was something amusing in the walk of a pigmy pedestriai] ^^ whom I had not previously noticed at all. Before I leave thi class, I should mention two Scottish teacher-productions, Port(\ Glasgow and Crofting in Skye, both of which were very populai Comedies were rather a problem, as there was keen coffj petition to secure the "plums". I was quite fortunate, howeveit and can testify that I was positively scared at times by th excitement which Charlie Chaplin, Our Gang, and a very earl Stan Laurel evoked. I was dubious about sound cartoons i silent form — and still am — but the Flip the Frog cartooDi which I showed on three occasions proved acceptable despi^ ||^ the absence of sound. In one of these an obliging spider plays piano, and I was startled one day when a boy solemnly assureMjjj me that he had heard that piano! By careful inquiry, I dii covered later that quite a number of children had equall powerful imaginations. Later, I provided a suitable musia Con «i( «!l