Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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86 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER CANADIAN INITIATIVE ISOBEL JORDAN writes of an important first step towards the international co-ordination of the class-room film the production of educational films to meet the school curriculum has always suffered from the severe economic handicap of unco-ordinated curricula in different areas of the English-speaking world. To obtain a common denominator, certain agencies in the United States, Canada and Great Britain have recently begun to conduct negotiations. Mr. W. R. Speight, a member of the Audio-Visual Aids Committee of the British Ministry of Education, paid a two months' visit to the National Film Board of Canada and brought back a selection of Canadian films to be adapted for use in British schools. Among the films chosen were Canadian Landscape, a film showing the Canadian artist A. Y. Jackson at work; Salmon Run, a film describing the migration of salmon in the Fraser River; Life on the Western Marshes, the story of how bird life is protected on the prairies; and Great Lakes, a film about shipping on Canada's inland water-way. British Films Used In reciprocation, the Canadian Film Board has undertaken to distribute certain British films in Canadian schools. Two such films at present being shown to schools by the Board's mobile units are Man: One Family and Your Children's Eyes. Meanwhile, one of the leading U.S. 16 mm. distributors is conducting negotiations for the adaptation to the U.S. curriculum of a series of school films produced by the educational unit of the National Film Board. The films will be made with the documentary rather than the textbook objective in mind; they will not attempt to give a visual exposition of a particular lesson in science, geography, mathematics or other topic of a set curriculum, but will strive to acquaint the child with aspects of life related to his own experience in his community, his country and his world. The first group of films, the Junior Community Series, for example, has been designed for primary grades. It will show the child what part is played in his life by such familiar figures in the community as the postman and the policeman, and will describe how such everyday services as water and electricity are brought to the child's home. Local Variations There are several reasons why the National Film Board of Canada decided to produce school films of this broader kind. The first is the fact that the Board is an agency of the Federal Government, while education in Canada, as in the United States, is largely under the jurisdiction of the regional authorities. It has therefore been found uneconomic to produce films dealing with specific topics of a particular curriculum so long as local and regional variations in the curriculum make such co-ordination impractical. Documentaries for Children The actual pattern of these films has been based upon the Board's wartime experience in conducting film showings in schools. While the Board did not make films specifically for school children during this period, being chiefly concerned with producing material for adult showings to rural and urban audiences, it did show its programmes in rural schools. These programmes included documentaries like Salmon Run, Great Lakes and Life on the Western Marshes. It was found that if these documentaries were presented after the teacher had been supplied with background material, lesson guides and class-room questions, they were not only readily adaptable for direct teaching purposes, but capable of stimulating the children to engage in discussions and to embark on projects related to the themes of the films. Visual Units Now that the Canadian Film Board has undertaken the production of school films, it is adapting this lesson to the production of a complete visual teaching unit made up of a film, filmstrip, wall sheet and teacher's manual. In one of these units, dealing with the function of the postman in the community, for instance, the film describes the work of the postman and the post office through a meeting between a little boy, Bobby, and the postman who brings a letter to his home. The filmstrip gives an account of stamp collecting and touches upon the geography of countries from which stamps come. A silent segment is included showing Bobby writing a letter. His mother shows him how to address and mail it properly. The wall sheet depicts the people who speed the mail to its destination, the sorters and dispatchers in the post office, the rural mail carrier, the engineers on the trains and the pilots who fly the planes. A second wall sheet describes the correct way to address and stamp envelopes and parcels. The teacher's manual provides a lesson guide and discussion questions. Advisory Committee In order to ensure that the films produced will be of proper pedagogical standards, the Board has enlisted the support of the Canadian Educational Association, a body reflecting the interests of education in each of the provinces. The C.E.A. has set up a Film Adv isory Committee composed of teachers, Directors of Visual Education in the provinces and members of the National Film Board. The Canadian Teachers' Federation and Provincial Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Education have also been consulted. Policy The educational production unit in charge of the scries has drawn up its editorial policy which reads in part as follows: 'The curriculum is not our doctrine. We accept its facts but remain free to interpret it with the freedom allowed to all teachers. In approaching each subject we will remember human needs, human ambitions and human achievements in that order. We will place our camera on the inside of every subject and look outward with its people. Our thinking will be in terms of people; the family unit in relation to the larger community ." Guidance for Film-makers The Film Advisory Committee laid down a few guiding rules for technical treatment which may be summarized thus: (1) Technical treatment should be simple since a child is bewildered by fade-outs and similar photographic devices. (2) There must be continuity in the story as a child tends to remember things in the order in which he sees them. Flash-backs are to be avoided as confusing. (3) Scenes must not be too short nor follow one another too quickly — the tempo must be slow. (4) Major characters in films should be children as a child is interested in other boys and girls of his own age. (5) Commentary should be used sparingly at points where it is essential; the visuals should tell the story. (6) The musical score and sound effects should be kept to a functional minimum. (7) Each film should contain a recapitulation at the end. Appraisal by Teachers The second task of the Film Advisory Committee has been the preparation of film evaluation sheets for use with each film which will be screened by an evaluating panel of teachers. These sheets will ask for a grading of each film indicating its suitability for primary, elementary, intermediate or senior high school; they will request an opinion of the sound and photography, and seek comments as to the film's teaching value. The sheets will also contain a synopsis of the film, its curricular classification, the name of producer and distributor, and the date of production, a description stating whether it is black and white or colour, sound or silent, and a statement of the length and price. Tie-ups In conjunction with this project, the educational unit of the Board has undertaken to correlate its own films as well as British, American and other foreign films in its possession with the curricula of each of the nine provinces. The British film Your Children's Eyes, for instance, is being classified thus: suitable for Grades VIII and X in Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, and for Grade IX in Ontario. Master Catalogue In addition to this classification scheme, the Educational Division of the Distribution Department of the Board is preparing a master catalogue of all the school films, from Government, private and international sources that are available in each of the nine Prov incial Department of Education libraries. Provincial Directors of AudioVisual Education have been asked to forward copies of their catalogues with the films suitable for teaching that have been in frequent demand appropriately marked and graded. These film titles will be catalogued alphabetically with producer, length, grading and price indicated together with a listing of the provincial libraries where thej maj be obtained. W hen completed. this catalogue will have classified all the backlog of school films in Canada, and will be the first project co-ordinating the work of all Canadian provinces in anv field in the sphere of education. If work of this sort can be adapted to a still larger area, the plan of an international school film exchange may well become a feasible project.